Ivanka Trump Saw Herself as First Woman President, Even Making 'Earnest Deal' With Husband: Author

The tumultuous years of Donald Trump's presidency also featured an intriguing subplot— the reported ambition of Ivanka Trump to become the first female president of the United States. According to Michael Wolff's tell-all book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, published in 2018, Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner certainly had big plans, which is why they chose to work with Donald's administration despite being warned by others in their circle. As per the author, "It was a joint decision by the couple, and, in some sense, a joint job... Between themselves, the two had made an earnest deal: If sometime in the future the opportunity arose, she’d be the one to run for president."

Wolff continued, "The first woman president, Ivanka entertained, would not be Hillary Clinton; it would be Ivanka Trump." However, the thought of Ivanka possibly running for president is not new news; back in 2015, during an interview with Town & Country when her father was in the race for president, she hinted at her own political ambitions. She had said, "It's not something I've ever been inclined to do, but I'm 34, so who knows? At this point, I would never even contemplate it, but that doesn't mean that when I'm 50 I won't have a change of heart," as per HuffPost. 

Many, nonetheless, found the idea far-fetched at the time. Republican strategist Rick Wilson quipped that Ivanka was "much more likely to be driving a Volvo... to visit her husband in a correctional facility than she is to be president of the United States at some point," as per The Guardian. Others, however, acknowledged the possibility of such a scenario. After all, Ivanka had already made herself a fixture on the world stage during her father's presidency. She had participated in high-level meetings at the G20, discussing African migration with world leaders.

Moreover, Ivanka had some pretty interesting moves when it came to politics in the White House. Steve Bannon nicknamed her the 'queen of leaks.' He claimed that she was always leaking info to make herself and Kushner look better, and this, in turn, helped her keep a good reputation with some groups.

Her father's administration faced constant turmoil at the time but polls conducted showed that Ivanka maintained a level of popularity that crossed party lines. A Politico/Morning Consult poll from July 2017 found that 43% of U.S. voters viewed her favorably. Even among Democrats, perception of her brand remained relatively positive, according to YouGov research from late 2017.

The notion of a female president coming from a political dynasty rather than rising through traditional political ranks wasn't without precedent. As Allison Smith pointed out in a 2020 CNN opinion piece, women in government were more likely to have family ties to politics than men. This 'dynasty effect' in the United States was particularly strong from the start. A study of every U.S. legislator from 1789 to 1996 found that nearly one in three congresswomen had a relative enter Congress before them, while for men it was less than one in every 10 men.