8 creepy things Donald Trump has said about Ivanka Trump
A running list of the cringiest comments the former president has made about his daughter
Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump attend an American Workforce Policy Advisory board meeting in the White House on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 Photo by Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By Laura E. Adkins June 28, 2023
This article was originally published on Dec. 16, 2016, and has been routinely updated to include new incidents.
When I first wrote this article, I had no idea what it — and Donald Trump’s presidency — would become.
The original list of creepy things was hastily compiled after Donald Trump had been elected to the nation’s office but before his inauguration as the president. Over the years, it has been regularly updated, widely read, and has taken on a life of its own.
None of the incidents were ever particularly funny. But new allegations from the former president’s staff, which now take the #1 spot on this list, are on a whole other level.
And yet, veteran Trump-watchers know it’s far from the first time that our mercurial mogul-turned-leader of the free world has discussed his older daughter in highly offensive ways. Here are some of the Donald’s most icky Ivanka moments over the decades:
#8 Chatty foreplay with Stormy
The anecdote that Daniels offered up to Anderson Cooper was new to some. But she was basically repeating what she told InTouch magazine in 2011.
“Daniels told a magazine six years ago that she had an affair with Donald Trump starting right after his wife Melania gave birth to their son, Barron…He told me once that I was someone to be reckoned with, beautiful and smart just like his daughter,” Daniels said.
#7 I like golf. We both like sex
During a Feb. 27, 2013, interview on The Wendy Williams Show, Trump was asked what he and his daughter both consider their favorite things. Trump answered, “I was going to say sex, but I can relate to [golf and real estate].” (The clip has since been removed from The Wendy Williams Show’s page on YouTube. Below is an archived version retrieved by the Forward.)
#6: ‘If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her’
During a March 6, 2006 episode of The View, Donald Trump made a casual remark that really made my skin crawl. When a host asks how Donald Trump would feel about his daughter posing for Playboy, he says that “Ivanka posing for Playboy would be really disappointing… not really. But it would depend on what was inside the magazine … I don’t think Ivanka would [do a nude shoot] inside the magazine. Although she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said that if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” (The clip has since been removed from Fusion’s page on YouTube. Below is an archived version retrieved by the Forward.)
#5: ‘She has the ‘best body’ — and I created her’
On The Howard Stern Show, way back in 2003, Donald Trump had this to say about his daughter Ivanka: “You know who’s one of the great beauties of the world, according to everybody? And I helped create her. Ivanka. My daughter, Ivanka. She’s 6 feet tall, she’s got the best body.”
#4: Who needs the First Lady when you have a First Daughter
In 2016, there were reports that Ivanka Trump might be taking over the White House office space traditionally reserved for the First Lady.
Journalist Julia Ioffe tweeted, “Either Trump is fucking his daughter or he’s shirking nepotism laws. Which is worse?” The tweet linked to a report in The Hill expanding on the claim.
(Later that same evening, Ioffe posted a series of messages on her personal account, apologizing for what she had written. Her Politico contract was terminated during the presidential transition, but she later landed a new gig at The Atlantic.)
It was a tasteless, offensive tweet that I regret and have deleted. I am truly and deeply sorry. It won’t happen again.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
#3: ‘If I weren’t happily married and, ya know, her father’
During a 2015 interview with Donald Trump for Rolling Stone, reporter Paul Solotaroff praised Ivanka Trump. The soon-to-be president’s response? “Yeah, she’s really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren’t happily married and, ya know, her father…”
#2: ‘Is it wrong to be more sexually attracted to your own daughter than your wife’?
Courtesy of a 2016 Buzzfeed News scoop, the (second) creepiest incident of them all.
In an early draft of a piece by Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, he purportedly wrote that “President-elect Donald Trump once asked, ‘Is it wrong to be more sexually attracted to your own daughter than your wife?’ — but the quote was quietly removed before the syndicated column was published.”
Yes, it’s wrong, Donald.
#1: The absolute worst of them all (and it’s NSFW)
According to a soon-to-be-published book, Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy From the Next Trump, the former president “regularly made lewd comments about his daughter Ivanka and fantasized about what it would be like to have sex with her.”
According to The New Republic, “’Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump’s breasts, her backside and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that once led [former Chief of Staff] John Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter,’ Taylor, who served as a Department of Homeland Security chief of staff under Trump, wrote in his book.”
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go throw up.
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