Ivanka Trump has "gone full MAGA" in the final days of her father's administration as she weighs her options for a future political run, according to reports.
Donald Trump's oldest daughter, who was long seen as a moderating influence on the President's populist agenda in her role as White House adviser, has in recent months adopted a much more aggressive tone, pushing back against her critics.
Last week, confirming she had been deposed as part of a state investigation into alleged misuse of funds during the 2017 inauguration, the 39-year-old attacked the investigation as a Democrat-led, "politically motivated demonstration of vindictiveness and waste of taxpayer dollars".
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) December 3, 2020
The week before she had similarly attacked an investigation by New York authorities into her father's taxes as "harrassment pure and simple", a "fishing expedition" and a "continued political vendetta". "This 'inquiry' by NYC Democrats is 100 per cent motivated by politics, publicity and rage," she tweeted.
The Trumpian shift in Ivanka's public comments comes after gradual conversion to the right, bringing her viewpoint more in sync with the President's own brand of conservative politics, according to CNN.
"(She has) gone full MAGA," an anonymous source told the broadcaster. Another said, "Ivanka definitely has political ambitions, no question about it. She wants to run for something, but that still needs to be figured out."
CNN's article cites "two friends and a small group of White House associates", "a source familiar with her thinking", a "source", "a source who has been working closely with the Trump family" and "another source close to" Ivanka.
She is reportedly considering a possible run for Florida governor in the near future, or for Congress in New Jersey, both states where the Trump family has holiday homes. Trump officially changed his primary residence from New York to Florida last year.
Florida's current Republican governor Ron DeSantis has been one of the President's staunchest allies, urging him to "fight on" in his efforts to overturn the election results. DeSantis has been floated as a potential 2024 candidate – his current term ends on January 3, 2023.
According to CNN, Ivanka's decision to begin "speaking out more" and stop "sitting back and letting people say what they want and distort facts" comes with the blessing of her father. "Of all the children, Trump is focused on her running," the source said. "He sees Ivanka as the heir apparent."
Another source, however, told CNN the speculation was premature even though she had not "closed the door" on a political run. "Right now, all she cares about is her policy initiatives, accomplishing what she can on behalf of the administration in the weeks that remain, and looking out for her three young children," they said.
Trump has previously said his eldest daughter would be "very, very hard to beat" if she ever wanted to run for President, despite insiders suggesting her progressive leanings are a turn-off for the "MAGA" base.
"Whether she was or not, she was always supposed to be the 'moderating influence' (on her father), which doesn't make you very popular with the average Republican voter," The Atlantic's political writer McKay Coppins told The Times last month. "There are not a lot of people calling out for Ivanka to run."
Critics inside the White House nicknamed Ivanka as "HABI", or "home of all bad ideas", while her husband Jared Kushner was dubbed "secretary of everything" for his wide-ranging meddling, investigative journalist Vicky Ward wrote in a book about the couple last year.
Ward's book, Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, painted the couple as ruthlessly ambitious and loathed by many who were forced to work with them.
The President's more right-wing advisers grated at Kushner's focus on progressive causes such as criminal justice reform, which many believed had hurt him politically.
In July, Axios reported that Trump regretted listening to some of his son-in-law's advice and would follow his instincts more. "No more of Jared's woke sh*t," one adviser told the site, interpreting his comments.
The Trump base's animosity towards "Javanka" was epitomised by the couple's fiery relationship with Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist who left the White House after a falling out with his boss in 2017.
In Ward's book, Bannon recalled clashing with the couple as he attempted to turn Trump's nationalistic campaign rhetoric into government policy, describing Kushner as a "f***ing devil".
He also claimed to have told Ivanka to "go f**k yourself … you are nothing" in front of her father during an argument over who was the bigger leaker to the media, with Ivanka reportedly calling him a "f***ing liar".
The day after Biden declared victory, CNN reported that Kushner had approached his father-in-law about conceding – a story many expected had been leaked by the couple as an image-saving move.