At a meeting of female business leaders in Berlin, Ivanka Trump was booed for referring to her father as “a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive.”
I understand that many people do not like the president and they are entitled to that opinion. I also fully grasp the fact that many women see the president as “anti-woman.” I don’t see it that way, but I respect those who do.
However, I’m not really sure what booing Ivanka Trump is supposed to accomplish.
I realize this incident occurred in Germany and pales in comparison to some of the other negative reactions she has faced – most notably verbal harassment by fellow passengers on JetBlue flight – but quite frankly, I don’t understand the thought process here.
For starters, Ivanka Trump loves her dad and is going to defend him. You can dislike that all you want to, but that is what children who love their parents do. I have three wonderful, beautiful daughters who disagree with me strongly on most political issues. However, I am quite certain that they would defend me from what they saw as incorrect assessments of my character. It is fine to hate her father and be upset at her for defending him, but it is exactly what any proud daughter would do.
More importantly, booing, hissing, and – in more extreme cases – harassing Ivanka Trump seems to be antithetical to achieving the goals of those who say they oppose the president’s supposedly “far right” agenda.
Take a look at the donation histories of both Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner. Then take a look at some of the policies that Ivanka has publicly pushed, such as paid maternity leave and universal child care. Ivanka and Jared are lifelong liberals and Ivanka couldn’t even vote for her father in the primary because she never changed her registration. Truth is, if her father hadn’t been running, it seems likely Ivanka and Jared would have both voted for Hillary Clinton (they may very well have donated to her as well).
Stephen Miller over at Heat Street cleverly pointed out that he was far less concerned about Ivanka’s business ties and relation to the president than her actual policy beliefs. Many on the right feel the same way about her husband. They see Jared Kushner’s rumored rise and Steve Bannon’s supposed fall as a sign that the president is going to be pushed towards the left.
And if you look at the histories of both Jared and Ivanka, that fear from the right certainly seems to make sense. So to those on the left, may I humbly suggest that you are approaching this all wrong.
You should, in fact, be cheering and not booing Ivanka, even when she is defending her dad, who you hate so much. The simple fact is that she is largely pushing policies you support and the more power and influence she has over her father, the more likely you are going to see some policies that resemble what we would have seen from a Hillary Clinton presidency.
If your main objective is to show the world how much you hate Donald Trump, then I guess booing Ivanka makes sense. But if you actually care about liberal policies being enacted, then you should be cheering her every chance you get.