Ivanka Trump's very high profile during Trump's trip to G-20, Koreas, has people puzzled, concerned, smirking
After Ivanka Trump returned from the North Korean side of the DMZ on Sunday, she pronounced the experience "surreal." Christopher Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and a North Korea nuclear negotiator, had a different word for Trump's high-profile participation in her father President Trump's visit to the DMZ and the preceding Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan: "Increasingly problematic."
"It looks to the rest of the world like we have a kind of a constitutional monarchy," Hill told The Washington Post. "It says to our allies, to everyone we do business with, that the only people who matter are Trump and his family members." At the G-20 meeting, Ivanka Trump "was everywhere," her "hybrid and often inscrutable role" as stand-in first lady, quasi-diplomat, presidential daughter, and White House employee on full display for unknown reasons, the Post reports. And her presence at meetings sometimes "puzzled other participants."
The most public manifestation of this was International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde's "impatient side-eye" at Trump when she appeared to try unsuccessfully to add to a conversation between the elected leaders of Britain, France, and Canada. "It may be shocking to some," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted about the video, "but being someone's daughter actually isn't a career qualification."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ivanka Trump's high profile was evident right away, when President Trump, "after posing for the official welcome picture with Japan's [Shinzo] Abe," summoned "over two other Americans to join them for a photo — not his secretary of state or national security adviser but Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner," noted The New York Times' Peter Baker.
Ivanka Trump also addressed U.S. service members at a rally-like speech her father gave in South Korea, did some White House communications work, and performed diplomat-like duties, though, the Post notes, "her unfamiliarity with some elements of diplomacy were on display on this trip." To be fair, Ivanka is probably not the person most out of place in this photo of world leaders at a side meeting on empowering women. Peter Weber
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Supreme Court to resolve Louisiana gerrymander
Speed Read The court will hear a case challenging the second majority-Black district in the state
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Boeing machinists approve contract, end strike
Speed Read The company's largest union approved the new contract offer, ending a seven-week strike
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
America might be in a second Gilded Age
In the Spotlight The first Gilded Age was marked by rising inequality and a push for social change
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91
Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76
Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproar
Speed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Kevin Hart awarded Mark Twain Prize
Speed Read He is the 25th recipient of the prestigious comedy prize
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is Downton Abbey set to return for a final film?
Speed Read Imelda Staunton reveals that a third movie may be in the pipeline
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
'Oppenheimer' sweeps Oscars with 7 wins
speed read The film won best picture, best director (Christopher Nolan) and best actor (Cillian Murphy)
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Rust' armorer convicted of manslaughter
speed read The film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by actor Alec Baldwin during rehearsal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Beatles are getting 4 intersecting biopics
Speed Read Director Sam Mendes is making four separate movies, each told from the perspective of one band member
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published