She Called It

Are you looking to bet on the NBA championship? Perhaps gambling on the eventual winner of the World Series is more your interest. Or perhaps you're looking to get an edge on the stock market.

If so, you should contact Arwa Mahdawi, who penned (typed?) in the Guardian an opinion piece which was posted at 12:53 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday. She noted Ivanka Trump

was loudly jeered at the W20 summit on women’s economic empowerment in Berlin. Speaking on a high-profile panel which included Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Ivanka Trump drew groans and laughter when she defended her father’s attitudes toward women and described him as “a tremendous champion” of working families.

Mahdawi pointed out that the President's favorite daughter

has been accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment by at least 15 women (accusations that he denies). It’s worth remembering that he paid men on his campaign staff one-third more than women, while Hillary Clinton paid equal wages, according to an analysis of payroll data last year.

Those are mere (not "alternative") facts, and with moderate insight Mahdaw argues

If she wants to be taken seriously as an advocate of women, she needs to stop listening and start speaking. Her silence since her father has cut funding for women’s reproductive rights, for example, has been deafening. If she wants to be taken seriously as an advocate for women, then she needs to stop her meaningless platitudes about “empowering women” and actually start using her position to empower women.

 But then Ms. Mahdawi exhibited  impressive psychic powers. She remarked that it was not only appropriate that Ms. Trump/Mrs. Kushner was booed at the summit but should be "booed off the world stage."  She contended

There is no doubt that Trump is influential and that she has her father’s ear. But there also seems to be no doubt by now that she doesn’t plan to use this influence to help empower any women whose last name isn’t Trump. She is still, as she told Gayle King in an interview earlier this month, “her father’s daughter”.

She certainly is.  Mike Allen, formerly of Politico and now of Axios, wrote this morning- approximately nineteen hours after Mahdaw-


Ivanka Trump told me yesterday from Berlin that she has begun building a massive fund that will benefit female entrepreneurs around the globe. Both countries and companies will contribute to create a pool of capital to economically empower women.

"The statistics and results prove that when you invest in women and girls, it benefits both developed and developing economies," she said. "Women are an enormous untapped resource, critical to the growth of all countries."

Under the radar: Canadians, Germans and a few Middle Eastern countries have already made  quiet commitments, as have several corporations, a source said.

How it'll work: The fund will provide working and growth capital to small- and medium-sized  enterprises.

Who's involved: President Trump is a huge supporter of his daughter's idea, and she has consulted     with World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim about how to pull it off in a huge way.


Josh Marshall asks

Is this even envisioned as a foundation and non-profit? Or is Ivanka setting up something like a venture capital or private equity fund? i.e., one designed to make a profit?

As is the case on many other fronts, Trump and his family ran the 2016 campaign not so much against Hillary Clinton but a looking glass Hillary Clinton which was actually what they aspired to be and do if they won.

The conflict-of-interest is obvious. The likelihood that the Trump family will somehow financially benefit, directly or indirectly, by this "pool of capital" is less certain- no more assured than that sometime this July, the temperature will top 80 degrees in Miami Beach. Ivanka truly is "her father's daughter" (video below from early this month).

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