Surprise, surprise. Ivanka Trump has finally jumped ship and joined the White House in an official capacity herself. Her new title as ‘Assistant to the President’ means that she will become part of her dad’s inner circle administration team, but her role will be unpaid.
This surely begs the question, just because Ivanka is the daughter of The President of the United States, should she be allowed to become part of the government’s administration? Of course, her husband Jared Kushner is Trump’s senior advisor, but then he’s not technically a relative so that’s ok? We guess? The two together have been called the ultimate ‘power couple’ by NBC News.
All this nepotism surrounding Trump’s team is surely indicative of the fact that he couldn’t find many senior politicians who wanted to work with him closely. Or maybe he’s just stolen the idea of a binding ‘Circle of Trust’ from Robert De Niro in Meet The Fockers to safeguard the secrecy of his proposals.
Either way, this ‘federal role’ is clearly legitimising Ivanka's expanding - and unofficial - role in running the country. Just last week it emerged that Ivanka was to have her own West Wing Office in the White House, despite not being a formal employee. This caused an outcry of criticism concerning the ethics of her serving in a more informal capacity, so now she's ‘Assistant to the President,' which sounds like a very made up job title, but whatever.
Interestingly… in 1967, a law on nepotism, nicknamed the ‘Bobby Kennedy Law’, was implemented to ensure that the government was hiring on ethical grounds. The law states that ‘A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment [] any individual who is a relative of the public official.’ Which begs another question, is Ivanka’s post even legal?
In preparation for her new role, the First Daughter has handed management of her fashion label to the company president and stepped down from her role at the ‘Trump Organization’, but in true Trump fashion, continues to receive a salary from the real estate firm.
The White House has said that her new role will ‘harness her talents to impact policy.’ Let’s see.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.