Ivanka the environmentalist? Maybe, maybe not.
Ivanka Trump might be warming up to climate change.
A source close to Ms. Trump recently told Politico that the president-elect's eldest daughter plans to address climate change, despite her father鈥檚 opposition to the issue.
"Ivanka wants to make climate change 鈥� which her father has called a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese 鈥� one of her signature issues," . "The source said Ivanka is in the early stages of exploring how to use her spotlight to speak out on the issue."
If this were true, it would mean that Ivanka holds a far different opinion on the environment than her father, Donald Trump, who 鈥� despite聽聽of climate scientists agreeing that global warming is聽occurring聽because of human activity 鈥� has expressed doubts about humans' role in the changing climate.
In 2012 Mr.聽Trump tweeted聽that climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese to make US manufacturing more competitive. The president-elect has also proposed聽聽(EPA), withdrawing the United States from聽the Paris Climate Agreement, and reversing President Obama鈥檚聽Clean Power Plan. He has also nominated Myron Ebell,聽a notorious climate skeptic, to head up his EPA transition team.
Most recently, Republican National Committee Chair and Trump鈥檚 chief of staff Reince Priebus said that Trump will keep an "open mind" on climate change during his presidency, but "he has a default position, which most of it is聽...."聽And in an interview with The New York Times on Nov. 23, Trump said there is ""聽between humans and climate change, but added that his opinion would ultimately be decided by how much climate change is "going to cost our companies."
Some voters 鈥� especially liberal ones 鈥� have seen Ivanka has a potentially tempering force since the beginning of his campaign. And considering that of Americans who worry a "great or fair amount" about climate change, it makes sense that Politico鈥檚 story on Ivanka-the-environmentalist has caught steam.
However, not everyone is buying it.
"There is no evidence in the Politico story nor in any of her past comments that she鈥檒l be a voice of reason on climate change during the Trump administration. A Google search for her public comments on the issue turns up no results," Lydia O鈥機onnor . "That sound bite should not give Americans reason to wonder 鈥� as Politico鈥檚 question-mark headline presumably aims to do 鈥� whether Ivanka Trump will be America鈥檚 climate change champion."
And Ms. O鈥機onnor has a point. The anonymous source never explicitly lays out Ivanka鈥檚 exact view on climate change or the initiatives she plans on pursuing.
But climate change would not be the first liberal issue Ivanka has pushed forward during her father鈥檚 campaign. In early September Trump announced his plan for affordable child care in the United States: six weeks of paid maternity leave plus company incentives to provide employees with childcare.聽
"Spurred on by his daughter Ivanka,"聽writes the Associated Press, "Trump waded into topics more often discussed by Democrats."聽
The Halt Action Group has created a popular ""聽blog and Instagram aimed at using Ivanka as a gateway to the Trump administration. Fans use the social media account to plead for Ivanka鈥檚 help and reason on a number of issues, including climate change.
"We refuse to 'wait and see,' " the group writes . "We look to you as the voice of reason."
