Ivanka Trump says it’s “unrealistic” for people to expect that she can change the decisions her father makes.
In an interview with the Financial Times, U.S. President Donald Trump‘s daughter opened up about facing criticism over her silence. She explained that she thinks Americans overestimate how much influence she has over her father — even though she is an adviser to the president.
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“Some people have created unrealistic expectations of what they expect from me,” she said.
“That my presence, in and of itself, would carry so much weight with my father that he would abandon his core values and the agenda that the American people voted for when they elected him. It’s not going to happen.”
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Her silence was heavily criticized in August, as she unplugged while on vacation in the aftermath of deadly white supremacist unrest in Charlottesville, Va.
According to the Financial Times article, the businesswoman decided not to watch her father’s press conferences while on vacation in Vermont. She decided to remain quiet in order to have a united front with the Trump administration.
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“To voice dissent publicly would mean I’m not part of the team,” she said. “When you’re part of a team, you’re part of a team.”
“That doesn’t mean everyone in the White House has homogeneous views. We don’t, and I think that’s good and healthy – but that doesn’t mean we’re publicly undermining [each other] and this administration.”
Trump told the Financial Times that instead of worrying about things she can’t change, she’d rather focus on things such as equality in the workplace.
This is far from the first time Trump has defended herself amid criticism of her supposed inaction.
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In an April interview, she admitted she was “complicit” with her father’s actions — if the world meant a “force for good.”
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Later in June, she told Fox News’ Fox and Friends that she prefers to “to stay out of politics,” while working at the White House.
“I leave the politics to other people and really lean into the issues that I care deeply about,” she said at the time.
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