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A photo of Ivanka Trump sitting in her father’s seat at the G20 Summit last week caused a firestorm online, with many questioning whether the daughter of the President of the United States had earned her seat at a table of world leaders.
Ivanka Trump, unelected, unqualified, daughter-in-chief, is representing the US at the G20 summit next to May, Xi, Merkel. Photo @LanaLukash pic.twitter.com/fvs0EMy8z7
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) July 8, 2017
Now Trump has hit back at the criticism, saying it was a “standard” thing to do.
“When I left Conference Room for short meetings with Japan and other countries, I asked Ivanka to hold seat,” he tweeted Monday.
“Very standard. [German chancellor] Angela [Merkel] agrees!”
It appears Merkel does indeed agree with Trump. She told reporters that “The delegations themselves decide” who will sit in for the leader should they need to leave, and that it is “in line with what other delegations do”.
Trump’s tweet took a similar tone to an official comment from the White House, which said Ivanka “briefly joined the main table when the President had to step out”.
The White House spokesperson continued that “when other leaders stepped out, their seats were also briefly filled by others.”
There is something jarring about seeing Ivanka sitting at a table of world leaders, who’ve all earned their place by being elected by their nations. But she is on Trump’s advisory team, and if she wasn’t his daughter we probably wouldn’t think much of it.
Ivanka has tried to position herself as a feminist, and more open-minded than her father on many issues, but that claim was roasted by a recent SNL skit.
