Cosmo Nails Ivanka Trump on Childcare and Family Leave in Hard-Hitting Interview
Ivanka Trump made her first major campaign blunder in an interview with Cosmopolitan on Wednesday, September 14.
The 34-year-old businesswoman spoke with Cosmo after helping her father debut his new childcare and family leave plan on Tuesday. The candidate cited Ivanka as the driving force behind his new policy. She also spoken passionately about the issue during her Republican National Convention address.
So Prachi Gupta, a senior writer for Cosmopolitan, questioned her on the details of the plan.
She started by asking why Trump’s plan, unlike his rival's, does not include leave for fathers. As Revelist has covered before, providing maternity leave without paternity leave could cause women to fall back further in their careers than men.
Trump made a passing mention to same-sex couples in her interview, so Prachi attempted to clarify:
Cosmo: OK, so when it comes to same-sex—
Trump: So it's meant to benefit, whether it's in same-sex marriages as well, to benefit the mother who has given birth to the child if they have legal married status under the tax code.
Cosmo: Well, what about gay couples, where both partners are men?
Trump: The policy is fleshed out online, so you can go see all the elements of it. But the original intention of the plan is to help mothers in recovery in the immediate aftermath of childbirth.
Cosmo: So I just want to be clear that, for same-sex adoption, where the two parents are both men, they would not be receiving special leave for that because they don't need to recover or anything?
Well, those are your words, not mine. [Laughs]. Those are your words. The plan, right now, is focusing on mothers, whether they be in same-sex marriages or not.
After determining that the Trump family leave plan doesn't apply to gay fathers, Gupta moved on to a more pressing question: Why would a candidate who claimed pregnancy is an "inconvenience for business" release a plan promoting paid maternity leave? Trump balked at the question.
"So I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions," she responded, "and I think my father has put forth a very comprehensive and really revolutionary plan to deal with a lot of issues. So I don't know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this if you're going to make a comment like that."
Later, Trump accused Gupta of "editorializing" and fabricating her father's quotes. Though Gupta apologized for the perceived negativity, Trump abruptly ended the interview shortly thereafter.
"I'm going to jump off, I have to run," she said. "I apologize."
Twitter had a field day when the story broke, lampooning Trump for her testy responses and praising Gupta for her persistent questions.
I guess Ivanka Trump thought her Cosmo interview was gonna be more along the lines of What Nail Polish To Wear While Not Paying Your Interns— Dumb Idiot Riley Fox (@Dumb Idiot Riley Fox) 1473911463
"I'm going to jump off, I have to run. I apologize" translates as "WTF I'm getting destroyed by Cosmo abort abort." https://t.co/K9G0jZYuRx— Seth Mnookin (@Seth Mnookin) 1473907825
Even well-known model Chrissy Teigen jumped in on the action.
But apparently this guy could only focus on the horror of reading a "women's" magazine.
Gosh, we all feel so darn sorry for ya, Craig.
Moral of the story: Don't go into an interview unprepared, and never underestimate a women's publication.
