Ivanka Trump has come under fire for failing to intervene to stop her father’s explosive comments about Jewish loyalty – even as a top Democrat called for a ‘clinical intervention’ to address the president’s public ‘meltdown.’
The first daughter, who converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, did not attend the White House during a Medal of Freedom ceremony for Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy Thursday.
Neither was Kushner, who was at the White House Wednesday and met with the president before Trump doubled down on previous remarks and said Jews who voted for Democrats were being ‘disloyal’ to Israel and other Jewish Americans.
Kushner was previously a Democrat and his brother, Joshua Kushner, is a registered Democrat. The Kushner family has long promoted Israel and backed settlements there. The couple are both Orthodox Jews.
Kushner traveled to New York, where he was to speak Thursday at a Milken Institute event. He was accompanied by his wife, according to an administration official. Kushner is slated to go with the president to France this weekend for the G7 meeting.
The power couple are often under pressure from critics who want them to use their influence to try to get the president to dial back some of his controversial positions. A CNN headline declared them ‘publicly missing in action again.’
First daughter Ivanka Trump faced criticism for failing to restrain her father’s remark that Jews who vote for Democrats are ‘disloyal.’ She converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner
Their absence came as CNN host Anderson Cooper delivered a sarcastic monologue where he ripped the president’s daughter, saying she must be ‘very proud of her dad’ – who was unusually quiet Thursday and uncharacteristically restrained online.
“Ivanka Trump must be very proud of her dad tonight,” Cooper intoned Wednesday evening on his show. “And you can probably just watch for an Ivanka leak in the coming days about how she tried to talk her father, you know, to change that kind of language. It’s a classic Ivanka move,’ he mocked.
Aaron David Miller, who has advised numerous presidents of both parties on Middle East policy, pounced on Twitter: ‘Trump’s pro-Israeli policies; his son-in-law’s Judaism; his daughter’s conversion cannot mask his shameful effort to weaponize one of the antisemitism’s primary tenets – disloyalty. Opportunism, politics and Trump’s prejudiced views of Jews mix easily in a nasty witches brew,’ he said.
The couple, who both serve as senior advisors to the president, have long chafed at expectations they take on the president in public, amid expectations from Trump critics that they operate as a moderating influence.
The focus on Ivanka and Jared’s whereabouts and calls for them to confront the president over his statements about Jews came as the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus called for the Trump family to take part in a ‘clinical intervention.’
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York also called for the cabinet members to take action to declare President Trump unfit to serve. Jeffries made the plea online late Wednesday night, hours after President Trump declared himself ‘the chosen one’ to take on China, after retweeting praise from a conspiracy theorist who said he is the ‘king of Israel’ and the ‘chosen one.’
‘This guy is having a complete and total meltdown,’ Jeffries tweeted at 10:30 pm Wednesday. ‘The sycophants in the cabinet lack the guts to deploy the 25th Amendment. Will his family have the good sense to engineer a clinical intervention? We can only hope,’ he wrote.
President Trump called himself the ‘chosen one’ to take on China Wednesday and explained the collapse of his effort to buy Greenland, prompting a Twitter trend for #25thamendmentnow
Jeffries joined the fray as the hashtag #25thamendmentnow was trending on Twitter. By accusing Trump’s cabinet of lacking fortitude, he was needling them to take action to vote to declare Trump unfit to serve – in a constitutional move designed for when a president is incapacitated or otherwise unfit.
Jeffries didn’t explain what he meant by a family clinical intervention. Trump has decided to run for reelection, and has been aggressively campaigning around the country, while attacking political rivals.
On Wednesday, in another remark blasted by critics, Trump accused Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats of being ‘disloyal’ to Israel and fellow Jews. Democrats including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, who is Jewish, blasted the president for using the ‘trope’ of dual loyalty, which has been used to target Jews for centuries.
Under the 25th Amendment, In a case where a president resists, the matter gets thrown to the Congress, making it a highly unlikely gambit.
That is an argument that Jeffries and others have been making against impeachment, where even if the House were to act, the effort would almost certainly die in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Jeffries wants the Trump family to have the ‘good sense’ to intervene. First lady Melania Trump is pictured
‘This guy is having a complete and total meltdown,’ Democratic Caucus chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries tweeted
Jeffries said cabinet members lack the ‘guts’ to invoke the 25th Amendment
Jeffries said Trump family members should stage a clinical intervention on Trump. Here Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and delegation at the Apostolic Palace on May 24, 2017 in Vatican City, Vatican
Jeffries pointed to Trump calling himself the ‘chosen one’ and tweeting about being the ‘King of Israel’
Twitter users immediately noted that the impeachment mechanism is one Jeffries has so far rejected. He has not signed onto the drive to begin an impeachment investigation, although a majority of his caucus (127) now has.
Like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Jeffries wants existing investigations to continue before committing to an impeachment path. During former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s House testimony, Jeffries tried to grill him to get Mueller to admit that Trump’s actions could meet the definition of Obstruction of Justice.
A hashtag about the Constitution’s 25th Amendment was trending on Twitter Wednesday after a landmark day where President Donald Trump called himself the ‘chosen one’ to take on China and lashed out at the prime minister of Norway after his idea of buying Greenland collapsed.
Celebrity Nancy Sinatra, lawyer George Conway, and relatively unknown Twitter users joined in the fray, on a day when the president blasted out a glowing accolade from a conspiracy theorist who said Israeli Jews considered him the ‘second coming.’
Conway, the husband of counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, tagged a tweet to his 642,000 followers: ‘So, Mr. Vice President, members of the Cabinet, members of Congress, what’s it going to take for you all to acknowledge what you and we all know: that the President of the United States is mentally unstable and unfit to serve?’
Conway also tweeted out a psychological ‘word of the day’ – ‘decompensation,’ defined as ‘a breakdown in an individual’s defense mechanisms’ leading to loss of function.
Former White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson, who Trump nominated to run the Veterans Affairs Department but who withdrew after his nomination was imperiled, declared Trump in ‘excellent’ mental and physical condition after he took office.
But that didn’t take Twitter users from reaching their own diagnoses, on a day when Trump began by quoting Wayne Allen Root, who has backed numerous conspiracy theories, and who said Israeli Jews love Trump ‘like he is the second coming of God.’
Later in the day, Trump looked to the sky as he defended his unique role confronting China, saying he was ‘the chosen one.’ He also blasted comments by the Danish prime minister after she blasted his proposal to buy Greenland, calling it absurd and saying it was not for sale.
By 6 pm, #25thAmendmentnow had 110,000 tweets. ‘Chosen One’ had 144,000 and ‘King of Israel’ had 162,000.
The 25th amendment came up in 2017 after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey and former DOJ official Rod Rosenstein brought it up in what he claims was a joking manner
The hashtag #25thAmendmentNow was trending on Twitter
Lawyer George Conway called on the vice president and cabinet to take action
The unusual comments came in sequence Wednesday
Wrote Twitter user Ryan Knight, whose handle is @ProudResister: ‘When the president of the United States starts declaring that he is: “The King of Israel, ‘The Chosen One,’ ‘The Second coming of God,’ It means he is out of his goddamn mind & it’s time for the #25thAmendmentNow.’
That hashtag was trending in the afternoon.
The 25th Amendment gives a special role to the vice president. Under it, the VP and the cabinet, if they vote by a majority, can write Congress saying the president is unable to discharge his office. A two thirds vote in each chamber would be required to remove him.
As it happens, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley sent out an odd tweet about Pence Wednesday.
Wrote Haley: ‘Enough of the false rumors. Vice President Pence has been a dear friend of mine for years. He has been a loyal and trustworthy VP to the President. He has my complete support,’ she said.
Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley called out ‘false rumors’ about Mike Pence in a tweet she did not otherwise explain. The vice president has a role outlined in the 25th Amendment process
Trump on Wednesday repeated his earlier claim that Jews who vote for Democrats are ‘disloyal.’
Said Trump: ‘In my opinion you vote for a Democrat you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people and you’re being very disloyal to Israel, and only weak people would say anything other than that.’
He added: ‘If you vote for a Democrat, you’re very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people.’
Trump told Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams at an event in Kentucky Wednesday: ‘That was a big day, Medal of Honor. Nothing like the Medal of Honor,’ recalling the ceremony.
He added: ‘I wanted one, but they told me I don’t qualify, Woody. I said, ‘Can I give it to myself anyway?’ They said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’”
The medal is usually given out in a solemn ceremony. Trump did not serve in Vietnam and received multiple deferments.