That’s Ivanka Trump, daughter of the Republican Party’s surprisingly lead front-runner in this country’s next highest office election, talking to Town & Country Magazine.
Gracing the February cover in a Carolina Herrera gown and Mokuba ribbon, the accomplished business woman expecting her third child, was commenting on her father Donald’s provocative comments on Fiorina (regarding her face) and Megyn Kelly.
“You could also list a few comments he’s made about men that are unflattering. I think my dad is highly gender-neutral. If he doesn’t like someone, he’ll articulate that, and I think it’s also part of what resonates about him. He’ll say what he’s thinking.”
Here’s more of the interview:
Ivanka Trump on her father, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and beliefs:
“He is running for the highest elective office in this country, and arguably the world…it’s amazing to see how his message has resonated and what he’s been able to accomplish as a non-politician with a very strong point of view…he’s my father and I love him and I fully support him. I’m always there for him if it’s helpful.”
On whether she ever admonishes her father for his more outrageous assertions and personal insults:
“Well, I’m his daughter. In a political capacity, I don’t. It’s his campaign. I don’t feel that’s my role. But I would challenge him as a child. That’s what children do. [My daughter] Arabella challenges me every day. People ask me, do I ever disagree with my father? It would be a little strange if I didn’t.
On her father and his respect for women:
“If he didn’t feel that women were as competent as men, I would be relegated to some role subordinate to my brothers. I think this is one of his great strengths: He fully prioritizes merit and accomplishment and skill and ability over background, education, and gender. This company, over four decades, has always had women in its highest ranks… I think he’s one of the great advocates for women, and he has been a great example to me my whole life… He 100 percent believes in equality of gender… [He has] confidence in women to do any job that a man can do, and my whole life has been proof of that.”
On working, motherhood and “having it all”:
“I abhor this question of ‘having it all.’ People talk about balance. Balance is an awful measure of things, because it implies a scale that inevitably tips. I like to look through the filter of ‘Is the life I’m leading consistent with my priorities?’ For me, my family is the ultimate litmus test. Do I feel I’m giving my children what they need? But I don’t do everything. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do professionally if I did. I don’t go to the afternoon classes. I don’t take my son to the sports playgroup in the middle of the day. For some people that’s a compromise they aren’t willing to make, and I respect that.”
On the possibility of entering politics herself:
“It’s not something I’ve ever been inclined to do, but I’m 34, so who knows? At this point I would never even contemplate it, but that doesn’t mean that when I’m 50 I won’t have a change of heart.”
Issue on newsstands January 5.
townandcountrymag.com/