On Monday, Ivanka Trump was interviewed by NBC’s Today Show, where reporter Pete Alexander asked her about sexual harassment allegations against President Trump. “Do you believe your father’s accusers?” Alexander asked. Ivanka responded, “I think it’s a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he’s affirmatively stated that there’s no truth to it. I don’t think that’s a question you would ask many other daughters. I believe my father, I know my father, so I think I have that right as a daughter, to believe my father.”
Whether President Trump ought to be believed in his rejection of all accusations of sexual misconduct is one question (the simple answer: no, given his history and the multiplicity of the allegations). But there’s little question that children tend to believe what their parents say. And there’s no question that Ivanka is absolutely right about the media’s variable treatment of Republican children and Democratic children. The question to Ivanka wasn’t inappropriate. But has any member of the media ever asked Chelsea Clinton about rape and sexual harassment allegations regarding Bill Clinton? The media even protected Chelsea Clinton from serious questions about Harvey Weinstein’s donations to the Clinton Foundation — after she ran from questions from The Daily Mail (UK), they never bothered to follow up.
There’s a reason so many Republicans believe the media are biased against Republicans. They’re right. That doesn’t justify the credulity with which so many Republicans have treated allegations against Trump. But it does mean that Ivanka’s pushback is entirely appropriate.