Politics - News Analysis

Damning Book Exposes ‘Casual Cruelty’ Lodged at ‘Red-Haired Stepchild’ Tiffany Trump by Her Family

Over the past couple of years, Ivanka Trump has been talking about women’s empowerment and in her reality TV career and clothing company, she’s portrayed herself as someone who advocates for women becoming successful and realizing their goals.

But it seems that at least sometimes, this doesn’t always extend to her younger half-sister Tiffany Trump, The Mercury News reports. This was especially true when Tiffany, 26, tried to move into a role in her father’s life that Ivanka apparently felt belonged solely to her, writes Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, in his tell-all book “Disloyal: A Memoir,” which was released last week.

Cohen noted the family often disparaged Tiffany, calling her the “red-haired stepchild,” and that Ivanka joined in the “casual cruelty” because she “jealously guarded her position as Trump’s favorite and surrogate, even at the expense of her vulnerable, younger sister.”

Let’s not forget that during the Republican National Convention, Tiffany Trump, in her speech tried to hold her father up as someone for Americans to look up to.

“A vote for my father … is a vote to uphold our American ideals,” she said.

Perhaps she’s doing this as a way to gain her father’s favor, but some political observers found it surprising that she didn’t try to make Donald Trump seem more human by sharing fond memories of her childhood as she spoke. Instead, she offered up the usual GOP talking points about the Trump administration’s policies.

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Happy Birthday dad! I love you!🎈

A post shared by Tiffany Ariana Trump (@tiffanytrump) on

Cohen shares a measure of sympathy for Tiffany Trump and added that his own daughter Samantha was “amazed and appalled” treated the only daughter he had with second wife Marla Maples. Samantha and Tiffany became close friends while both attended the University of Pennsylvania. Samantha, he writes, soon came to dislike the Trumps because of their “incessant competitiveness and egomania.”

“I also really felt for Tiffany and the way she was treated,” Cohen writes. “The pecking order of the kids was painfully apparent. Trump was very specific about his views on the importance of female beauty in measuring the value of women, including his own family.”

Apparently Tiffany was somehow outside of that beauty standard and Trump sometimes boasted he liked to have Ivanka step in on his behalf to meet with his business associates because he believed the men would be taken in by Ivanka’s “charms.”

“They can’t think straight when they’re around her,” Trump told Cohen. “They can’t keep their eyes off her.”

But Tiffany wanted to apply for an internship at Vogue magazine, Cohen recalls, noting he and Ivanka were present when Trump pondered whether to support Tiffany’s ideas of a career in fashion.

“I just don’t think Tiffany has the look,” Trump said to Ivanka in Cohen’s presence.

Trump and Ivanka referred to each other as “‘Daddy’ and ‘honey,'” Cohen writes. Apparently there wasn’t a lot of room for a perceived interloper.

“I agree, Daddy,” Ivanka said.

“She just doesn’t have the look is the right way to say it, Daddy,'” she added.

I don’t know if this obviously cruel behavior has taken its psychological toll on Tiffany Trump but I have little sympathy for her. She could have used her speech at the RNC to advance something worthwhile but all she did is support her father. Because she’s so rarely heard from, she could have added nuance or enlightenment. She could have, unlike Ivanka who claims to advance the empowerment of women, actually done so.

But she didn’t. She acted like a sad little cheerleader for her father. A cheerleader who knows she’s not really allowed to be part of the team.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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