Ivanka Trump stops in Raleigh in latest campaign visit from presidential family
Speaking to a crowd of around 75 people in Raleigh, President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, touted her father’s track record.
“It’s not even a question of whether the economic agenda was working for the American people and the people of North Carolina,” Ivanka Trump said Tuesday. “In order to see this great American comeback happen and to secure and create the 10 million jobs... We’re going to need somebody like President Trump to do it.”
Trump, who is an adviser to her father, also discussed the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, his rolling back of regulations and creation of “energy independence.”
The invitation-only event was held outdoors at The Pavilion at Carriage Farm in Raleigh, and less than half of the attendees wore masks properly, if at all. North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley spoke at the event.
“We’re 14 days out from re-electing Donald Trump for four more years,” Whatley said. “If you think about what he’s done over the last four years, it’s all about promises made, promises kept for North Carolina. He’s unleashed the economy once; he’s in the process of doing it again.”
It’s not Ivanka Trump’s first visit to North Carolina this month. In early October, ahead of her father’s COVID-19 diagnosis, she made a stop in Belmont at Holly Angels charity, The News & Observer previously reported. Hours after her visit, the president announced his condition. In response, Holly Angels temporarily closed three of its businesses — Cherubs Café, Cotton Candy Factory and Bliss Gallery.
In a conversation on stage with a senior advisor to the president’s campaign, Mercedes Schlapp, asked Ivanka Trump a variety of questions, including one about why, despite her family “being attacked constantly,” she continues to do what she does “every single day.”
“If you’re not angering people, right, the status quo is so easy to maintain,” Trump said in response. “And there’s tremendous resistance to change, so (Trump) views it as a source of pride when the swamp kicks back.”
Trump also said her father approached the coronavirus pandemic with “creativity, and thinking about innovation, and just plain common sense.”
“He, like the rest of America was seeing, in the early days of the plague descending on our shores, lines at food banks,” Trump said. “So he called me and said ‘What can we do to make sure that American amazing produce, fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy get from our small farms to those in this country who are most vulnerable and need it the most during this unique period of time.”
The outcome of that, Ivanka Trump said, was the creation of the Farmers to Family Food Box Program.
She also said her father has helped the economy during the pandemic.
“In 14 days, the Small Business Administration did more loans in the (Paycheck Protection Program passed by Congress and President Trump to respond to the pandemic) than in the 14 years prior of the Small Business Administration,” Ivanka Trump said.
Ivanka Trump also discussed what she said are her father’s accomplishments outside of the coronavirus response, including signing the most “comprehensive conservation legislation since Theodore Roosevelt,” referring to the Great American Outdoors Act, and that he’s “kept more promises than he’s made.”
“He didn’t campaign on criminal justice reform,” Ivanka Trump said. “He did it because it was the right thing to do. Politicians weren’t talking about this issue four years ago. It’s this president who amplified this as an issue and is actually working on advancing real solutions.”
She said Trump helped reintegrate victims into society and signed legislation combating human trafficking.
Presidential candidate Joe Biden visited Durham Sunday, and Donald Trump Jr. made two stops in North Carolina Monday.
President Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Gastonia Wednesday, the same day vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris will make two stops in North Carolina — one in Asheville, one in Charlotte.
Eric Trump, the president’s son, will be in Raleigh Friday.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 6:46 PM.
