Donald Trump's Reported Reaction to Ivanka Trump's Political Exit Shows How Much He Depended on Her

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When the Trump family packed up and moved out of Washington, D.C. in 2021, several family members were rather excited to leave the political life behind. While Melania Trump might be the top person on that list, Ivanka Trump followed closely behind her.

As a senior White House adviser to Donald Trump, Ivanka may have felt the sacrifices from her former New York socialite life the most. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience for her, husband Jared Kushner, and their three children, Arabella, 12, Joseph, 10, and Theodore, 8, and they looked forward to planting roots in Miami, Florida. However, there’s one family member who is missing her the most on the 2024 campaign trail, Donald Trump. “I know he is disappointed and saddened,” said NYC publicist R. Couri Hay to The Times. “She was a secret weapon for the president.”

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 13: Ivanka Trump attends the grand opening of Fontainebleau Las Vegas on December 13, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 13: Ivanka Trump attends the grand opening of Fontainebleau Las Vegas on December 13, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hay praised Ivanka for doing “a great job supporting her father” during his administration, but he understands why she exited political life for good. “But the criticism from her New York friends was intense and she is fiercely protective of her children,” he added. “I think she felt like she did her tour of duty and doesn’t want to go through it again.” Her father and brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric didn’t avoid the business fraud case in New York like Ivanka did, so she’s breathing a sigh of relief to have dodged that bullet. It’s best not to be in the Trump family business right now.

“I think she’s the smart one in all this,” explained Meghan Milloy, co-founder of Republican Women for Progress. “She’s seen what happened to her dad and her brothers. She probably has the best head on her shoulders. She has a family; she doesn’t want to get caught up in all this.” That isn’t necessarily good news for Donald Trump, whose wife is absent from the campaign trail, and he no longer has Ivanka and Kushner to bounce ideas off of.

Ivanka held true to her 2022 statement when her father announced his third run for the Oval Office. “I love my father very much,” she wrote. “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. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”

Before you go, click here to see every time Ivanka Trump has tried to distance herself from the Trump family:

Ivanka Trump
Ivanka Trump

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