According to journalist Mary Jordan, whose book The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump came out this week, all is not well between First Lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, who is the president’s daughter from a previous marriage. Ivanka currently serves as an adviser in the White House — although it’s unclear what all she actually does other than personify nepotism — and reportedly, she at one point wanted to rename the First Lady’s office as the “First Family’s office.” During an appearance on CNN this week, Mary Jordan confirmed that Ivanka and Melania have a “frosty” relationship, adding that President Donald Trump sometimes acts as the “referee” between the two of them.
Host Alisyn Camerota posed the question:
‘Let’s talk about [Melania’s] relationship with Ivanka, because much has been speculated about that as well. You write, Melania has been heard calling Ivanka ‘the princess’ out of earshot. When she was younger, Ivanka privately called Melania ‘the portrait,’ telling classmates that her father’s girlfriend spoke as much as a painting on the wall. Do they have as frosty a relationship as has been reported?’
Referring to one another as the “princess” and the “portrait” doesn’t exactly sound like the two of them get along.
Jordan confirmed that yes, their relationship is “frosty.” She explained:
‘I mean, by all accounts, I spoke to many people and, inside the White House, particularly at certain times, tense times, there’s been Team Melania and Team Ivanka, and there’s a lot of tension there.’
Jordan continued, explaining some of the background for the tension:
‘When Ivanka came to the White House, she really loved it immediately. Melania was up in New York, Ivanka all of a sudden said you know I think we should rename the first lady’s office the first family office. You know then, of course Melania put her foot down and said no way. They’re both former models and they’re only 11 and a half years apart. Ivanka grew up wealthy, Melania grew up very modestly and worked her way up the modeling world. At 14, Ivanka was already known. as soon as she started modeling at 14 — and they’re very different, they don’t really get along, and Donald Trump is often the referee.’
Watch below:
Jordan’s book is not actually the only new window into the Trump family’s interpersonal dynamics. There’s also a new book coming soon from Mary Trump, who is the president’s niece and a trained clinical psychologist — and who apparently served as a key source for a bombshell New York Times story about the president’s taxes. In her book, Mary Trump “explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office.” The publisher’s description for her book, which is set to publish on July 28, adds that she is “the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.”
❗️❗️❗️So, Amazon just posted a description of Mary Trump’s book – the president’s niece. Publisher confirms July 28 publishing. Read —> pic.twitter.com/sqFx6kL7gw
— John Santucci (@Santucci) June 16, 2020
In the meantime, there’s another new book scheduled to come out soon covering some of the political side of the Trumps. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has a book coming out in coming days, which Trump has tried to block from publishing.
Trump unloads on Bolton at White House and says it’s inappropriate for him to publish a book. “I will consider every conversation with me as president to be highly classified,” he says — which is not how this works.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 15, 2020
