What Ivanka Did This Week: Robots, Poll Numbers & Omarosa Drama
What Ivanka Did This Week is a weekly column that explores what Ivanka Trump, first daughter and adviser to President Donald Trump, does all day.
Ivanka's schedule has not been made public, so each week, we will do our best to cover the public events and forums she attends, the meetings she has with lawmakers and government officials, and her social media presence.
Saturday, August 11
• Ivanka commemorated the one-year mark of the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA, with a series of tweets, calling the incident "an ugly display of hatred, racism, bigotry & violence."
2:3 While Americans are blessed to live in a nation that protects liberty, freedom of speech and diversity of opinion, there is no place for white supremacy, racism and neo-nazism in our great country.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 12, 2018
3:3 Rather than tearing each other down with hatred, racism & violence, we can lift one another up, strengthen our communities and strive to help every American achieve his or her full potential!
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 12, 2018
Tuesday, August 14
• Ivanka visited the Girls of Steel robotics team in Pittsburgh, where she got to test-drive one of the robots the girls made. The organization, founded at Carnegie Mellon University, helps young women "explore the field of robotics."
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Test driving The Girls of Steel’s robot today. These impressive young ladies make it look easy!#Pittsburgh #Robotics #STEM pic.twitter.com/gH9sQus9BF
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 14, 2018
Ivanka Trump receives a tour of Astrobotic from CEO John Thornton and members of the Girls of Steel robotics team on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, in the Strip District. (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette) pic.twitter.com/h7WGcXnJ6f
— Steph A Chambers (@StephChambers76) August 14, 2018
Wednesday, August 15
• Omarosa Manigault-Newman has been on a scorched-earth media tour for her book Unhinged, which chronicles her time working in the White House — until she was unceremoniously fired. No one in the Trump administration seems to be safe, including Ivanka. In the book, Omarosa writes that the first daughter was not happy about the Saturday Night Live skit which labeled her as complicit and couldn't stop talking about it.
"We'd all been hit, many of us in that same week's show. But Ivanka would not stop talking about being ripped. Like her father, Ivanka was thin-skinned and could not seem to take a joke," according to not-at-all-unreliable-narrator Omarosa.
Omarosa also claims Ivanka and Jared Kushner called her after she was fired, telling her that they had no idea she was being axed. "Omarosa, we're here for you always," Ivanka reportedly said. According to Politico, Omarosa has a recording of the convo.
• Ivanka tweeted an article about the importance of encouraging girls to practice and enjoy math.
“In fact, the more we try to make all learning fun, the more we do a disservice to children’s ability to grapple with and learn difficult topics. Some learning just plain requires effortful practice, especially in the initial stages.” #STEM
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 16, 2018
OpEd:
https://t.co/CRrTKvU79r
Thursday, August 16
• According to a Refinery29/CBS News poll, only 18% of millennial women said they view Ivanka favorably — which is a lower approval rating than her father.
“Ivanka Trump is obviously a liberal, whereas her father governs as a conservative,” one Republican woman told Refinery29.
• Ivanka tweeted about the death of Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, calling her "an artistic genius and trailblazer."
Friday, August 17
• Politico reported that Ivanka's former business partner Moshe Lax has been sued by the Department of Justice for massive fraud. Ivanka is not mentioned in the suit, but Madison Avenue Diamonds, a business she had been involved in for years, figures prominently in the case.
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