While the world remains distracted by the constant circus surrounding the Trump White House, I sense a different kind of power play, and potential American future, brewing beneath the surface at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Ivanka Trump becoming the first female president of the United States.
Whatever you think of the character and presidency of Donald Trump, it’s clear he adores his daughter Ivanka, and cherishes the totemic power of his name. And what better way to ensure his family’s legacy than by setting up his daughter, already installed in the West Wing, to assume the presidency? In our current topsy-turvy political era, stranger things have already happened. Let’s take a look at a few potential Twilight Zone scenarios, which aren’t as unlikely as they once might have seemed.
Ivanka’s path starts with the vice presidency. According to Keith E. Whittington, the William Nelson Cromwell professor of politics at Princeton University, the president can nominate whomever he so desires for VP, as long as the nominee fulfills the minimum requirements (natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, etc.) for the presidency. So Vladimir Putin is out, but Ivanka is in. “Presumably the most significant constraint on who the president could nominate to fill the VP vacancy would be the need for congressional confirmation,” Whittington says.
