- June 25, 2015 -
Ivanka Trump touts dad’s softer side
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Ivanka Trump defended her reality-TV dad, Donald Trump, from attacks over his controversial comments about illegal Mexican immigrants yesterday, as a new national poll showed the real estate mogul soaring to second place behind Jeb Bush.
“My father has so many amazing friends from Mexico,” Ivanka Trump said at her father’s campaign office yesterday. “His statements were completely misconstrued and truthfully, it was very unfair how the media picked it up and twisted his words. He was talking about illegal immigration and a porous border between the U.S. and Mexico.”
She also dismissed the cynicism from pundits who claim her father is only entering the race as self-promotion.
“It’s truthfully ridiculous,” she said. “Because it’s a very hard thing to want to do. To be a politician, you subject yourself to so many attacks. To run for political office in this country is quite ruthless and quite vicious. So he didn’t need to do it.”
Trump offered a softer side to her tough-talking father, who has referred to President Obama and even fellow Republicans as failures and disasters.
“He’s an employer of tens of thousands of people and I see how he inspires them,” she said. “I see how he motivates them. I see how he teaches people and really nurtures people.”
The daughter spoke to dozens of supporters at a newly opened campaign headquarters here that so far has four staffers. The walls were adorned with handmade signs, Donald Trump quotes and framed photos of Trump through the years.
Meanwhile, a new Fox News poll put Trump in second place nationally with 11 percent, just 4 points behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
