President Trump's tweet praising daughter Ivanka totally backfires

Rarely does a Donald Trump tweet go unanswered, if not unchallenged. And his latest missive, one bearing superlative accolades for his elder daughter is no exception.

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

Within moments, the challenge to find someone better, or smarter, was afoot. Everyone from “anyone else” to Dennis Rodman was quickly nominated to take her place.

The ensuing discussion just goes to show how crucial communication style and choice of grammar can be when attempting to send a message to the masses. Within the span of 19 words and a handful of grammatical errors, Trump begged for scrutiny about Ivanka’s character, intelligence, and suitability for representing the entire population of the United States. And Twitter, above any other platform, did not disappoint in rising to the occasion.

Is all this just mincing words? Perhaps, but words matter. By posing the declaration that one “cannot have a better, or smarter, person representing our country,” he is also effectively throwing a whole swath of officials purportedly qualified to undertake foreign diplomacy under the bus. Is this simply an example of a father’s pride, or is it a vote of the entire government, including himself, who’s supposed to be the numero uno head honcho?

What about his own second-in-command, Mike Pence — is he not qualified to represent the United States? Or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson? What about the elected officials in Congress who are officially second and third in the U.S. presidential line of succession? How about the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley? Technically speaking, the first person on the list to represent the United States in South Korea could have/should have been the current ambassador, but as one smart tweeter pointed out, we don’t actually have one:

And last, but most certainly not least: What about all those athletes?

It’s a tangled web you weave when you hire your own children to work for you. Doing so in a private business is anyone’s right, of course. But to do so in public service just means all that much more scrutiny can and should be applied. The label of nepotism has a lot of negativity surrounding it, for good reason. There are laws against it in government, after all. By definition it is simply the practice of showing favoritism for relatives or friends, particularly by giving them jobs. And in one simple tweet, it seems that Trump has owned up to this notorious practice by disqualifying everyone who isn’t his daughter for one simple, albeit crucial job.

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