President Donald Trump keeps his family members close in what many take as an impressive display of nepotism — but notably enough, Ivanka is the only one of his children with an actual job in his administration. During a phone conversation with reporter Elaina Plott, the president heaped praise on his daughter and skimmed over his other adult children, including Donald Jr. He did not indicate any apparent particular vision for Donald Jr.’s future, although he went so far as to say he considered Ivanka for a position at the World Bank and thinks she’d be successful if she ran for president.
He added:
‘She went into the whole helping people with jobs, and I wasn’t sure that was going to be the best use of her time, but I didn’t know how successful she’d be. She’s created millions of jobs, and I had no idea she’d be that successful.’
Ivanka has not created millions of jobs, although the flub lets a light shine on the president’s opinions of his high-profile children. It’s not like he said the same of Donald Jr. and Eric, who together are running the family business while their father and sister serve in government.
Of them, Trump simply offered:
‘Don is, uh, he’s enjoying politics; actually, it’s very good. And Eric is running the business along with Don, and is also very much into politics. I mean, the children — the children have been very good.’
Those are notably distinct impressions of the president’s kids from Trump himself. One of them has (supposedly) created millions of jobs, while the other is “uh, enjoying politics.”
During her time as an adviser to her father, Ivanka has worked on the National Council for the American Worker, which President Trump created via executive order. Alongside co-chair Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Ivanka has presided over the program meant to facilitate training opportunities for American workers, and under the council’s purview, companies have pledged millions of training opportunities — which is, by all appearances, where the Trump team got the idea that Ivanka has created millions of jobs. In reality, those training opportunities are just that, training opportunities, and they are available to already employed workers all the same. They’re not new jobs, and in reality, many of the pledges match up with tracks the companies were already on, without Trump-ian intervention. It’s just for show.
Meanwhile, as the president indicated, Donald Jr. has been involving himself with politics even while running the supposedly separate Trump Organization. He’s appeared at a number of rallies, including as an opener for his father in Michigan recently. There, he attracted attention for notable moments like sparking an “AOC Sucks!” chant from the crowd targeting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
In line with that, he’s long been the one with the most obvious political ambitions among his siblings, even hinting he could run for president not too long ago. His father doesn’t seem to know or care to know.
It’s not the first time something of this nature has surfaced. During his recent public Congressional testimony, former longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen explained that Trump had “frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world.”
Featured Image via screenshot
