There was a time when Don Jr. might have referred to his sister as the “yummy dummy Demmy” of the family—which is how Kendall Roy described Shiv. This was the moderate, urbane image that garnered Ivanka caché in the Upper East Side social circles she used to inhabit. But as her father rose to power, Ivanka seemed more than willing to abandon her principles, whether earnest or pretended, to ensure her place at his right hand. Always the first woman in Trump’s orbit to defend him against accusations of misogyny; always on hand to pronounce the words, “my father” in a tone of warm reverence; always willing to adjust her positions and rhetoric to suit his whims, however misguided. Perhaps, as has been widely reported in The Washington Post, CNN, and elsewhere, Ivanka had hoped to parlay her father’s presidency into a political career of her own.
Unfortunately for her, Ivanka didn’t disentangle herself from her dad until her own reputation as a moderating influence and crusader for women’s empowerment, not to mention her moral compass, had been well and truly torched. Like, on a global scale.
Just like Shiv, who had already thrown everything away to earn Logan’s approval by the time she realized his sexist attitudes still applied to her. In episode two of season four, after she realizes Logan has advised Tom on the same dirty legal tricks to gain the upper hand in the divorce that Logan used against her own mother, Shiv exclaims, “I’ve been mommed.”
I don’t know when or if this has occurred to Ivanka, but I am reminded of a report in the New York Times that paints a pretty convincing picture of how some of her arguments with the former president went. According to the Times, after the infamous “grab ‘em by the pussy” audio was published, Ivanka pushed her dad to issue a full mea culpa. “As she spoke, Mr. Trump remained unyielding. His daughter’s eyes welled with tears, her face reddened, and she hurried out in frustration,” the article reads. Cut to 2020, when Trump is campaigning hard for a second term, and Ivanka Trump suddenly declares herself, “pro-life, and unapologetically so.”
And now, what? The damage is done. There’s still no clear path for either Shiv or Ivanka to claw their way back to where they started. Women can’t even win Faustian bargains with men like that.
Kathleen Walsh is a contributing writer at Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter @kath_walsh.
