By: Kayla Pasacreta

President Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, has caused a lot of discussion about her rather unusual role in the White House. She’s the First Daughter, and she left her position in her first brand to serve as an adviser to the President (many call this nepotism). She also says she tries to stay out of politics.

At Saturday’s G20 Summit, an annual meeting from 19 of the wealthiest countries around the world to discuss the economy and a variety of other topics, Ivanka literally took her father’s seat at the table. During the panel on “Partnership with Africa, Migration, and Health”, Ivanka took her father’s seat and sat next to British Prime Minister Theresa May, just a seat away from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The President had slipped away to meet with an Indonesian leader, and Ivanka took his place in the summit  meeting. Typically, when a President cannot be present in meetings of this prestige, a high ranking official takes their place – not their daughter.

Many have said they have never seen something like this happen before. Ivanka is also not an elected official, and many feel her status as the President's daughter does not give her merit to represent the country in such high-level meetings. To add fuel to the fire, the photo of Ivanka taking her father’s place was tweeted by a Russian attendee – is this a coincidence? It is hard to believe that the Russian attendee who tweeted the picture didn’t expect there to be a public outcry about Ivanka’s seat at the table. 

As always, the internet had fun with this topic. 

What do you think about Ivanka taking her father’s place in such a senior diplomatic conference?