Donald Trump has always had a very special relationship with his daughter Ivanka. In addition to some eyebrow-raising comments over the years about how physically attractive Ivanka is, Donald has never made it a secret that she is his favorite child. And he most certainly proved that when he gave Ivanka an official White House position as his advisor, making her the only Trump kid who got to help her father with what is arguably the world’s most important job.
Now, with Donald Trump’s surprising 2024 presidential victory, both his supporters and critics have wondered if we were going to see her working in the White House yet again. However, Ivanka has taken some very big steps back from her father’s political career, and there are growing signs they may have had a massive falling out behind the scenes.
What are those signs, and just what has Ivanka been up to lately? Keep reading to discover the answers!
Ivanka accepted Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential loss before he did
While Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential victory was quite the surprise, it made many people across the country (if not the world) breathe a sigh of relief. That’s because, to put it mildly, Trump didn’t take his 2020 loss to Joe Biden very well, insisting that the election was somehow stolen from him. These claims kept getting shot down in court, and many believe they led to the infamous January 6th, 2021 attack on the nation’s Capitol by Trump supporters who shared his beliefs about the election being stolen.
Interestingly, as the Jewish Chronicle reports, neither Ivanka Trump nor her husband Jared Kushner bought into Donald’s claims that the election was stolen. In the congressional investigation into the January 6 attack, Ivanka testified that she believed her father had lost the election as early as December 1st, 2020, believing what Attorney General William Barr said about the election. She still publicly supported her father, but after reports of her testimony were published, the entire world knew that she privately didn’t believe what Donald had to say. And this, many say, was the beginning of the end of their previously close relationship.
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Ivanka Trump got her own legal counsel to protect herself
Ivanka Trump working so closely with her father over the years was a high-risk, high-reward decision. For example, Vanity Fair reports that she and Jared Kushner collectively made up to $640 million from their time working in Donald Trump’s White House. Before that, though, she worked for the Trump Organization, and that put her in the crosshairs of a recent fraud lawsuit along with siblings Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. Those siblings hired Clifford Robert and Michael Farina as legal representation, and these lawyers had the apparent blessing of Donald Trump himself.
However, as Newsweek reports, Ivanka split from her family and hired her own team of Washington, DC-based lawyers. Now, there are any number of reasons she might have decided to do so, and this decision isn’t even that uncommon when multiple wealthy defendants are named in the same suit. It was still bad optics, though, making it look like Ivanka was trying to separate herself from her family, including her father, whose legal battles increasingly encompassed his family.
Ivanka is completely done with politics
As Ivanka Trump continues to distance herself from her father and even her siblings, critics have often claimed she is doing so simply to protect herself. However, she openly declared that she was completely done with politics altogether, and she did it for a reason that even her biggest haters can respect: her children. As reported by CNN, she took to social media to declare that “I love my father very much. This time around I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.”
She has stayed true to her word, too. Ivanka didn’t really appear on the campaign trail to help support Donald Trump, nor has she shown any apparent interest in working with her father again now that he is about to be back in the White House. In addition to helping her avoid scandals and spend time with her children, this decision may help Ivanka avoid one of the sadder consequences of her original political career: losing many of the close friends who disagreed with her father’s politics.
RELATED: All the Ways Ivanka Trump Changed After Leaving the White House
Ivanka decided she could no longer help her father
If there has been a massive falling out between Donald and Ivanka Trump, it’s not one they have discussed publicly. Instead, many have been reading the tea leaves of Ivanka’s actions and ultimately determining that she wants to get as far away from her controversial father as possible. Interestingly, though, one source’s claim might explain the bittersweet reason behind this falling out.
Back in 2023, Donald Trump was facing another major legal drama: the investigation into (and potential indictment for) his alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. According to People, a source close to Ivanka claimed she had reached a decision that many of her father’s critics reached long ago: “Donald does what he wants, and she can’t help him now.”
However, Donald Trump famously rewards loyalty and relentlessly goes after those who have betrayed him. And if Ivanka is truly committed to never helping her father again with his political and legal woes, it may completely unravel their once-close relationship over the next four years.