Donald Trump officially accepted his party’s presidential nomination tonight at the Republican Convention, which is something many people believed would have never happened. Yet here we are, and his eldest daughter, Ivanka, did the honors of preceding and introducing her dad. Her speech was never going to resemble a talk given by the unhinged Rudy Giuliani or the completely subversive Ted Cruz. Ivanka is likely on board not only to support her father but to reel in women who aren’t quite comfortable with Hillary Clinton. And her speech seemed geared towards that end.
After taking the stage, Ivanka didn’t deliver anything close to the sloppiness of Donald Jr. or the unremarkable-ness of Eric Trump. Nope, she surpassed her brothers. The Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at the Trump Organization spoke with her usual brand of poise. What was surprising — although it should not be — is how Ivanka devoted a portion of her speech to women’s issues. She highlighted the importance of putting mothers first and the gender wage gap. Ivanka promised that her father would make sure that “women are paid equally for the work that we do. And when a woman becomes a mother, she is supported, not shut out.” Ivanka then moved on to discussing student debt, which was a major Bernie Sanders issue that has now been absorbed by Hillary Clinton.
She gave a rather Democratic-sounding speech, yes? You wouldn’t be alone if you thought so.
From a policy perspective, this is basically a mainstream Democratic Party speech.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 22, 2016
Ivanka is now preaching crap about the wage gap and mirroring Hillary's agenda on child care. Wait, is she a Dem?!?!
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/AlexaArchamb/status/756310799082192896
Ivanka is now complaining about the gender wage gap and promising gov't childcare. Guess she wasn't kidding about being not a conservative.
— (Stephanie) Slade (@sladesr) July 22, 2016
Ivanka's now citing liberal stats on the gender wage gap? Good grief. #RNCinCLE
— Melissa Braunstein (@slowhoneybee) July 22, 2016