Ivanka Trump Gives a Very Diplomatic Answer to a Question About Chelsea Clinton
A well-groomed Trump family worked very hard to put a more genteel face on Donald Trump's erratic and sometimes uncouth campaign Tuesday night, appearing alongside the ruddy-faced candidate in an hour-long town hall with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Perhaps none were more politically astute than Trump's daughter Ivanka, however, who artfully dodged a question about her friendship with Chelsea Clinton and insisted that her dad is great for women.
Rumors have been swirling for weeks that, amid a brutal political contest between their parents, Ivanka and Chelsea's friendship has been put on hold. On Tuesday, Trump masterfully evaded a question about whether the competing campaigns - and increasingly personal attacks coming from each candidate- have damaged their relationship.
"Well, look, we're children and we love our parents, so that's the great equalizer, and that's the great common ground," Ivanka said, adding, "So I'm incredibly proud of my father. I'm amazed and truly in awe of what he's accomplished and what he's accomplished throughout the course of his life up until this point."
Then she spoke about Clinton in a manner that definitely did not make it seem like the two have been chatting lately: "But, you know, the last 10 months have really been a whole different level. So I think that she would probably say the same about her mother, so she's probably very proud of her mother, and we certainly would share that, I would think."
Contrast that language to Clinton's, when she told Cosmopolitan.com in January that "friendship is more important than politics," and that the two do not discuss their parents' campaigns with each other. "And we were friends before the campaign and I have no doubt that we'll be friends after the campaign," she said.
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