Less than five minutes from the beginning of the performance Ivanka trump on Tuesday, just as the audience began to Boo and taunt her.
It was almost inevitable, given the theme and place of the meeting. The daughter of the President of the United States came to Berlin at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to take part in the discussion about empowering women. This topic clearly was at odds with the vulgar and sexist comments to her father about women, which he did in the past.
So naturally, when Ivanka called his father “a great fighter” for women’s rights, in particular the right to paid leave after the birth of a child, in the hall of the Berlin hotel Intercontinental could be heard giggling and ridicule. Who conducted a meeting journalist Miriam Mekel (Miriam Meckel) interrupted Ivanka, with a predilection to interrogate her about the controversial comments of his father about women.
Booing in the hall, and a series of issues became a major topic in the American media, and overshadowed the event itself, and the performances powerful women gathered together with Ivanka to Berlin hotel. Among them was the Queen of the Netherlands maxima, the Director of the International monetary Fund Christine Lagarde (Christine Lagarde) and the canadian Minister of foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland (Chrystia Freeland). But when the crowd turned against trump, no one has blushed as Angela Merkel.
For the German Chancellor’s visit Ivanka was an exceptional opportunity to establish bonds of friendship with the administration, which early cold attitude toward Berlin. During his election campaign, trump has repeatedly turned Merkel into a whipping boy, as she is called immigration policy “a catastrophic mistake” and accusing the Chancellor of “the destruction of Germany.”
After winning the trump in the election relations have not improved. Breaking with a long diplomatic tradition, his command of the transitional period did not allow the state Department to organize meetings with foreign leaders. Therefore, the office Merkel was forced to seek the advice of a native of Germany and former U.S. Secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who recommended to establish contacts with administration via Ivanka husband Jared Kushner. “The recommendation was very useful” — said to me at the time, Merkel’s Advisor for foreign policy Heusgen Christoph (Christoph Heusgen).
Kouchner, currently holds the post of senior adviser to trump, helped to organize the first meeting of Merkel with the administration of the tramp, which was held last month in Washington. It is not very smooth. Posing for photographers in the oval office, Merkel several times offered the Trump shake her hand in front of the cameras, but he did not respond. Another sign of neglect is that during the meeting with business circles of the USA and Germany Chancellor sat next to Ivanka, which accused the White house of discrimination against women.
But Merkel saw this as an opportunity. Knowing what a huge influence Kushner and Ivanka have the President of the United States, she invited the daughter of trump’s debate within the Berlin Women’s summit for women, held on the eve of the summit of “Big twenty” scheduled for this summer.
Ivanka reacted to the invitation seriously. On the eve of the Berlin meeting, she wrote an article in the Financial Times, calling it “Investing in women global give the profit.” There trump urged to reform legislation to help women achieve equality. She obviously came prepared and wanted to address these issues at a roundtable on Tuesday. But the presenter insisted to first ask their questions.
“The German audience unfamiliar with the concept of first daughters, she said, representing the American guest. — What is your role? Who do you represent? His father, the President of the United States? The American people? Or your business?”
Trump, in response, is widely, albeit somewhat nervously smiled. “Definitely not the last,” she said. Her answer was well-rehearsed performance of modesty, emphasizing the Ivanka willingness to learn, settling in a new position in the White house. Her work she described as “absolutely unknown.”
It can serve as Ivanka lesson. Because in the coming months it will continue to settle into his new role in international Affairs, she should be prepared for tough questioning about his political competence. In the process she probably will have to answer for the horrible things that have in the past said her father.
It is also a warning to Merkel. Their attempts to establish a working relationship with the White house, it is unlikely to deserve the praise of the electorate that was angry and scared at some of the statements trump made during the election campaign last year. Showing excessive attachment to the new American administration, Merkel is in danger of even their own ratings on the eve of elections that will be held in the fall. Trump likes to watch cable news, and he won’t like negative media attention to the speech Ivanka and how he was publicly humiliated his daughter. Merkel knows how quick-tempered President, and realizes that he can accuse her of humiliation Ivanka.
