Ivanka Trump and Cosmopolitan are beefing. Ivanka reportedly walked out of an interview after being asked about her father’s past comments about women and how they relate to the plan the two of them unveiled earlier in the week.
According to CNN, the offending question was, “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 about those comments, and perhaps what has changed?” Ivanka questioned the veracity of the statement—he said it—before decrying the “negativity” of the interview, walking out, and taking to Twitter to shame Cosmopolitan for doing journalism.
1/3: Politics aside, I'm working to raise awareness on issues that are of critical importance to American women and families.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) September 15, 2016
2/3:Regardless of who you support, policies benefiting women+families are becoming topics of mainstream conversation & that's a good thing.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) September 15, 2016
3/3:@Cosmopolitan, your readers do & should care about issues impacting women & children. Keep the focus where it belongs—advocating change.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) September 15, 2016
Ivanka Trump is, of course, Donald Trump’s daughter. She works for his company and for his campaign, and was widely touted as being the architect of his childcare policy. Which is all to say that this is an exceptional response to a totally predictable question. Ivanka absolutely should have been prepared to answer for her father’s multiple misogynistic comments while pushing this plan. It’s possible that Ivanka’s naive response—you can’t start a defense of a political plan with the words “Politics aside!”—is the result of inexperience. Perhaps she wanted to be treated as a socialite pushing a pet project, not as a politician. But it’s also possible that overreacting is the whole point and that Ivanka is sending a message to other lifestyle mags and brands: Ask me pointed questions and you’ll lose access.