Ivanka Trump Gave an Interview to Cosmo. It Didn’t Go Well.

‘I Think That You Have a Lot of Negativity in These Questions’

Ivanka Trump Tuesday evening introduced her father who delivered a speech introducing his plan for child and maternity care, one that Ivanka, an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, helped develop. In that speech, the GOP nominee blatantly lied, saying Hillary Clinton had no plan for child care. In fact, Clinton has a much further-reaching plan that has been on her campaign website since at least February. Ivanka Trump since Tuesday has also been lying, saying Clinton has no plan, saying Clinton has not done anything about child care, and saying the Trump Organization offers extensive paid family leave, which is incorrect.

Tuesday evening, Ivanka Trump went on Fox News and lied: “There’s no policy on Hillary Clinton’s website pertaining to any of these issues, childcare, eldercare, or maternity leave or paternity leave for that matter,” she said. “There’s no policy that’s been articulated on how to solve the problem.”

Again, it’s been on Clinton’s website since at least February, and she’s began talking about it in the speech she gave launching her  presidential candidacy. 

Wednesday morning, Ivanka Trump gave a telephone interview to Prachi Gupta at COSMOPOLITAN magazine. It did not go well.

Of note, the first question was, “Hillary Clinton released [aspects of] her plan over a year ago. Why did the Trump campaign wait so long to release this policy?”

Now, Ivanka Trump later in the day would lie by telling Good Morning America Hillary Clinton has no paid leave policies, yet Wednesday morning, to Cosmo, Ivanka did not refute the question at all. 

This next Cosmo question didn’t go well either: “I’m wondering — and this speaks to the maternity leave aspect of the plan — paternity leave is said to be a great factor in creating gender equality. So I’m wondering, why does this policy not include any paternity leave?”

Ivanka Trump’s response?

“This is a giant leap from where we are today, which is sadly, nothing. Both sides of the aisle have been unable to agree on this issue, so I think this takes huge advancement and obviously, for same-sex couples as well, there’s tremendous benefit here to enabling the mother to recover after childbirth. It’s critical for the health of the mother. It’s critical for bonding with the child, and that was a top focus of this plan.”

So Trump admits same-sex parents are left out of the equation, right?

Here how it devolved from there:

COSMO: OK, so when it comes to same-sex—

TRUMP: So it’s meant to benefit, whether it’s in same-sex marriages as well, to benefit the mother who has given birth to the child if they have legal married status under the tax code.

COSMO: Well, what about gay couples, where both partners are men?

TRUMP: The policy is fleshed out online, so you can go see all the elements of it. But the original intention of the plan is to help mothers in recovery in the immediate aftermath of childbirth.

COSMO: So I just want to be clear that, for same-sex adoption, where the two parents are both men, they would not be receiving special leave for that because they don’t need to recover or anything?

TRUMP: Well, those are your words, not mine. [Laughs.] Those are your words. The plan, right now, is focusing on mothers, whether they be in same-sex marriages or not.

Next question!

“In 2004, Donald Trump said that pregnancy is an inconvenient thing for a business. It’s surprising to see this policy from him today. Can you talk a little bit about those comments, and perhaps what has changed?”

Ready for Trump’s answer?

“So I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions, and I think my father has put forth a very comprehensive and really revolutionary plan to deal with a lot of issues. So I don’t know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this if you’re going to make a comment like that.”

Ouch.

It gets worse.

Ivanka Trump goes on to say, “you said he made those comments. I don’t know that he said those comments.”

The Cosmo reporter had the perfect response: “This is quoted from an NBC [interview] from 2004. I definitely did not make that up. I do want to talk to you a little bit beyond the plan, as well—”

So, here’s how it ended. Ivanka Trump says, “I’m going to jump off, I have to run. I apologize.”

Ouch.

 

Image by Disney | ABC Television Group via Flickr and a CC license