Ivanka Trump Excuses Her Father’s Racism by Saying He is “Very Blunt”

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:48 pm

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Ivanka Trump, the daughter of Donald Trump, told CNN’s Poppy Harlow Wednesday that criticism that her father has faced over controversial comments he’s made about women and their looks is driven by “sensationalism” and “orchestrated largely by the media.”

Even though it is stuff her father has actually said, the media is apparently to blame, not her father. This is typically conservative logic, and it doesn’t fly:

“Look, my father is very blunt. He’s very direct. He is not gender specific in his criticism of people, and people that he doesn’t particularly like or people that he does like but thinks they’re wrong on a particular issue. So I don’t think that he’s gender-targeted at all. Like I said, I wouldn’t be the person I am today, I wouldn’t be a high-level executive within his organization if he felt that way.”

Except that you are his daughter, which makes you the exception that proves the rule.

Watch courtesy of CNN:

Look, he is blunt. We get that. But it’s what he’s blunt about that is the problem, not some perceived need for political correctness. The man openly caters to white supremacists. He is openly racist himself. And he is blunt about it.

Blunt isn’t the problem, Ivanka. Racism is.

This is the guy who won’t stand up to his racist supporters, and who launches into racists rants of his own. This is the guy who said Syrian refugees, who just want a place where bombs won’t be dropped on their heads, would somehow launch a successful military coup in the United States.

In fact, on the same day of Ivanka’s CNN interview, a Trump rally in Virginia turned to violence against immigration activists to cries of “Go back to Mexico” and “Get the hell out of here.” CNN observed of the incident that “what was abnormal was the level of aggression, the level of vitriol we saw.”

Bernie Sanders is very blunt. You don’t see this behavior at his rallies. You don’t see it at Hillary Clinton rallies. You never saw it at Barack Obama rallies.

So no, blunt isn’t the problem, Ivanka. Misogyny is, however.

It is beyond belief that Donald Trump could be, as Ivanka insisted, “amazing” and “incredible for women in this country.” This is the guy who said Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” and asked of Carly Fiorina, “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?”

Donald Trump is bluntly playing to the lowest common denominator. Blunt is not an excuse.

We are well past the point that anybody – Ivanka Trump included – should be blaming the media when it actually bothers to accurately report what somebody says. The media has been rightly attacked, both here and elsewhere, for failing to report the full facts, for falling down in both context and analysis in their reporting, but if somebody says something, the media should be able to quote it without being attacked for doing so. We get that Fox News loves made up quotes and out of context quotes, but actual quotes – accurate, in context votes – are critical.

And her father’s context is clear. He is operating within and catering to a racist, privileged, white society that sees non-whites, non-Christians, non-heterosexuals, as less than equal and even outright dangerous. He is catering to white nationalists and Religious Right demagogues who think America was made by and for white Christians.

No, blunt is not the problem. Donald Trump’s character failings are the problem.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.