Ivana Trump had been sitting in the back of the room at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday when President Donald Trump stepped out of the room briefly. Rather than leaving his seat vacant, his daughter filled it. The 35-year-old top White House aide found nothing wrong with sitting at the table among world leaders.
This has been done before when others leaders vacated their seats for a short period of time. However, knowledge of this did not stop some people from criticizing Ivanka. A White House official confirmed that Ivanka had stepped in for her father while he went to attend another meeting.
He also gave the reason for it but did not suggest that it was inappropriate.
The discussion
The discussion at the time Ivanka took the seat was about an issue she is attached to. The World Bank president was speaking about African development, which is an initiative Ivanka Trump has spearheaded to fund women entrepreneurs.
Because of her interest in that particular topic, she moved from the back of the room to the main table. It was reported that she only listened and did not offer any contribution to the discussion in her father's absence. After President Trump's brief meeting with the Indonesian leader was over, he returned and reclaimed his seat between the British prime minister and the Chinese president.
Criticisms
After a photo was posted of the first daughter sitting next to Chinese President Xi Jinping, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the backlash began.
Some folks immediately took to social media to voice their opinion about the situation. Historian Anne Applebaum tweeted that it was an unelected, unqualified, unprepared New York socialite there to represent American national interests.
It has been reported that in similar cases, the delegation takes over and since Ivanka was part of the United States delegation, there was nothing wrong with it. Ivanka has not commented or addressed the many mean tweets on her Twitter page. Other than saying the movement was strange, some of the comments were very harsh.
Some people lashed out at the president.
Some lashed out at his daughter, and others lashed out at both of them. However, a few thought there was nothing wrong with it. What do you think? Do you think Ivanka Trump sitting at the head table with world leaders was acceptable or inappropriate?
