‘THEY THINK THEY'RE SPECIAL'

Ivanka Trump has big ambitions but she and Jared Kushner might find life tricky in the Biden era

- DENNIS CAVERNELIS

ONCE upon a time they were the golden couple, ruling the roost in the corridors of power, rubbing noses with kings and queens and hobnobbing with presidents and princes.

She was regarded as “the unofficial real first lady”, while he had a hotline to the leader of the free world. Wherever Donald Trump went, his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, were bound to follow.

They were his senior advisors – despite the fact they had no experience in politics. Ivanka (39) is a former property estate executive who has her own clothing label. Jared (40) is a former newspaper publisher and property developer who got into Harvard University after his father made a whopping $2,5 million “donation” to the institution.

For the past four years they’ve been a constant presence on the political scene – and were hoping to cement their status as serious political powerhouses, insiders say.

But many believe Trump has taken the lofty aspirations of Ivanka and Jared down with him, especially after the riots on Capitol Hill.

People who once clamoured to enter the couple’s orbit are now steering clear.

“The stink of his family is nearly impossible to get off,” a former friend of Ivanka’s says. “How do you associate yourself with individuals many regard as the worst, most toxic people in US history?”

In many quarters Trump seemed to get away with rejecting the result of the election, refusing to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration and going on a pardoning spree to free supporters who’d been convicted of crimes.

But after the 6 January invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters, Ivanka and Jared’s political capital suffered.