Trump Blindsided Jared And Ivanka With Transgender Military Ban

Image by Getty Images

By Daniel J. Solomon July 31, 2017

Ivanka Trump was reportedly shocked by President Trump’s announcement last week of a transgender military ban, Political reported Sunday.

Trump apparently learned about the decision by reading it on Twitter, Politico reported. She and husband Jared Kushner have been open about their support for LGBT rights.

Trump and Kushner were reportedly responsible for stopping efforts to rescind federal anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people early in the Trump administration, but their power has proven to be limited — they were unable to stop the president pulling out of the Paris climate agreement against their wishes. She is rumored to be trying to refocus her attentions on core issues like paid family leave and women’s empowerment.

“She’s in there doing what she can,” R. Couri Hay, a public relations expert and Trump family friend, told Politico. “It’s unrealistic, unfair and cruel to expect her to change climate policy and pre-K and women’s issues in six months.”

Still, Trump appears to have influence with her father – she’s one of the rare people to have walk-in privileges for the Oval Office. When the presidentfired chief of staff Reince Priebus last week, he was reportedly acting on the advice of his daughter and Kushner, who according to Politico had long urged the reshuffle.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO