America’s first family is always in the spotlight. Since Trump was elected President of the United States four years ago, Ivanka Trump, the “first daughter”, has become the focus of global media attention. However, thirty years east and thirty years west, next January 20, after the Democratic President Joe Biden was sworn in, her daughter Ashley Biden will become the new “first daughter”. Similar to Ivanka, Ashley has worked as a fashion designer and has also found a Jewish husband. Ashley has kept a low profile until now, but will she be as popular with the media as Ivanka?
Ivanka persuades Trump to admit defeat in election
As the election results became clear, many speculated about what Ivanka, 39, would do after stepping down as special adviser to the president. Prior to Trump’s move to the White House, Ivanka was in charge of development and acquisitions at The Trump Group. In addition, she owned her own fashion brand (which was shuttered in July 2018) and was a judge on Trump’s workplace reality show, The Apprentice.
Returning to her father’s real estate company seems like a natural choice, but the Guardian notes that it may not be the “ironclad job” when Trump is no longer president. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is seeking Trump’s tax returns through a “complex financial investigation,” a public report on “the Trump Group’s extensive and long-standing criminal conduct. Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told the U.S. Congress that Trump had inflated the value of his property to get better loans and insurance.
Some time ago, the Trump family was invited by a number of reality TV shows, with Ivanka being the most popular member of the family, including the dance show “Dancing with the Stars,” which is widely loved by Americans. But there is currently no follow-up.
Over the years, Ivanka has appeared as a presidential adviser to many international organizations or U.S. foreign visits, establishing a public image as the “First Daughter. Although the consulting work is essentially unpaid, the fame gathered by the public figure could bring her considerable future income – from public speaking engagements, endorsements and the like. For the billionaire’s daughter, making money may not be a priority right now, but even if she were to stay home, she would be more comfortable than the tens of millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the neo-crowning epidemic.
According to a 2019 report by Forbes magazine, Ivanka’s net worth is around $375 million, which includes her business investments, fashion brands, and marital assets with her husband Jared Kushner. And according to US media reports, the combined net worth of Ivanka and her husband should be worth more than $5 billion.
For the past three years, Ivanka and Kushner’s three children have attended a luxury private school in Washington, D.C. However, they just recently withdrew their children from the school, according to CNN. Sources say the Ivankas withdrew their children from school after receiving requests and complaints about changing their behavior – such as wearing masks, keeping social distance and self-isolation after contact with people carrying the virus.
In a recent statement, Ivanka said she would maintain a continuing interest in public life and politics. Ivanka also said that she is a pragmatist about everything.
Sources say Ivanka recently quietly urged her father, Trump, to admit defeat as she looked at the current state of affairs and was “afraid of burning bridges to her future presidential run.” At a senior staff meeting, she said, “It’s an honor to serve the people, and people should be happy with their accomplishments.”
Also according to US media reports, Don Jr. of the Trump family is also interested in running for the US presidency in the future, “but even Melania (Trump’s wife) is skeptical”.
Ashley has “wanted to change the world since she was three years old,”
Compared to Ivanka, most people aren’t too familiar with Ashley Biden, who has been trying to keep a low profile. Ashley is also very beautiful, in good shape, and her upbringing was apparently much warmer than Ivanka, the daughter of a business mogul.
Born on June 8, 1981, Ashley is the only child of Biden and his second wife Jill. In addition, she has two half-brothers, and the whole family holds her in the palm of their hands.
Ashley was born to a high-ranking Biden Senate official, and she grew up watching her father run for president. As a child, she watched her father run for president and saw a lot of action at an early age. She went to private school, then to Tulane University, and finally to the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a master’s degree in social work.
Biden values his family very much, and even in high government positions, his family always comes first. In his early years, Biden and his first wife, Nalia, had two sons and one daughter. In 1972, however, a serious car accident took the lives of his wife and daughter, and his sons, Bo and Hunter, were seriously injured. After that, for about 37 years, Biden commuted by train four hours a day between his home in Delaware and his office in Washington, D.C., to spend more time with his children.
Many people don’t understand why he does it, and Biden, who has experienced the loss of his wife and daughter, says, “A lot of things can change in an instant, and the real reason I go home every night is because I need my kids, not because they need me.” Biden also gave his subordinates the rule that if his children call, they must let him know at once, even if it means interrupting his official duties. A thought from a child, he said, can be kept for up to 12 hours, after which it disappears and is never heard from again.
Children who grow up in a highly pampered environment can also have rebellious periods. Ashley was very active when she was in college and was known as a party queen. But she was arrested twice by the police, once for illegal possession of marijuana, with no conviction on her arrest record, and once for throwing bottles at police officers outside a bar with her friends, even threatening them, and eventually she apologized in court and the charges were dropped. However, Biden has never publicly commented on his daughter’s “dark history,” and when asked by reporters, he said, “It’s a family matter.
What is known is that Ashley had a model mother: Jill Biden started working at 15, married at 19, divorced at 23, remarried at 26, got her first master’s degree at 30, her second at 36, her doctorate in education at 55, became the vice president’s wife at 58 and went on to teach in public schools, and now she is on the verge of becoming the first doctor in U.S. history. “The First Lady.” With such a mother as a role model, it’s only natural that Ashley wouldn’t run off the rails.
Ever since she was a child, Ashley has been adept at spotting injustices around her. When she was in elementary school, she found out that a cosmetics company was testing their products on animals and kept writing letters to that company asking them to stop doing so. A few years later, she became interested in protecting dolphins, which led to Biden working with members of Congress to write the Dolphin Protection Act and lobbying Congress to pass it.
Ashley says her family helped her become concerned about social welfare and charity. When she graduated she didn’t initially think about what she wanted to do after that and worked as a waitress at a pizza parlor, but soon found her career path as a social worker from her parents. “My passion started at a very young age …… My dad has been a civil servant all his life and my mother is a public school teacher – that’s in my genes.” She told the media.
Ashley has worked as a social worker for the State of Delaware’s Children, Youth and Family Services Department, and after earning her master’s degree, she worked as a case manager for a youth adoption center in her hometown of Wilmington’s West End neighborhood. 2014-2019, she served as the executive director of the Delaware Justice Center, a local nonprofit organization focused on Reform the state’s criminal justice through initiatives, policies and practices. It’s a continuation of the unfinished business of justice reform of her brother, Beau Biden, who passed away from brain cancer.
Like Ivanka, Ashley is a fashion designer and has released her own clothing line, though she doesn’t make as much noise as Ivanka did.
In 2017, Ashley created her own fashion brand, Livelihood, which the brand’s website says is “a socially and ethically conscious clothing company founded for ordinary people.” The company reportedly donates 10 percent of its revenue from the sale of organic cotton sweatshirts to charities throughout Delaware.
In honor of his brother, Beau, the logo was made into an arrow through the brand’s initials, LH. “Beau was my bow, and his cancer brought me to my knees. I had no choice but to continue to follow my dream,” Ashley said.
Biden is very proud of his daughter. “She’s wanted to change the world since she was three years old, and I think she can do it.” He has said so at the brand’s new product launch.
Ashley has designed new uniforms for the Hamilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., and has attended New York Fashion Week several times, sharing a frame with Upper East Side debutante Olivia Palermo or attending the Oscars with her mother.
Ashley admits that she is very private and doesn’t like to be overexposed. But as a celebrity, she has her own problems. A so-called friend tried to sell a video of her early marijuana use to the media for $2 million, and while it didn’t end up coming out, it caused some political controversy. After all, Biden is a recognized anti-drug fighter in the U.S. and has spared no effort in legislating against drugs.
Campaigning for their father, the Ashley’s walk to the front of the stage
Like Ivanka, Ashley has found a Jewish husband. His name is Howard Klein, an assistant professor of otolaryngology and neck surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and co-founder of the Jefferson Center for Facial Aesthetics. He is 14 years older than Ashley and they were introduced to each other through Ashley’s brother, Beau. At first Ashley wasn’t interested, but her encounter with Howard while Bo was hospitalized for brain cancer made her realize just how reliable this man was.
But unlike Ivanka, Ashley didn’t convert to Judaism. This may be because when Ivanka married Jared back then, Trump was still a mere real estate developer, no match for the Kushner family, which was a Jewish powerhouse. So when the Kushner family demanded that Ivanka had to convert to Judaism, she had no choice but to do so. And with Biden active in American politics for many years, and Howard not having much of a background, it was natural that his daughter would not have to convert to the faith if she married.
In 2012, the two were married at the Roman Catholic Church in Greenville, Delaware, where Ashley was baptized as a child, and a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi officiated at the interfaith ceremony. Ashley wore a wedding dress designed by Chinese-American wedding dress designer Vivian Wang, which was handed over from her father to her husband. Biden later said in an interview, “I was worried that I would lose control of my emotions that day.”
Ashley and Howard have since been living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city, and both couples keep a very low profile. On August 17, 2011, she visited China with her father.
She is also close to former President Barack Obama’s family and often attends White House state dinners. After Biden’s decision to run in the 2020 election, Ashley temporarily put her job on hold to help along the way. Introducing her father at the Democratic convention, she said, “I admire my father and I’m also convinced that he has the character and the vision to lead this country, that he will help us solve the challenges that face our generation, that he will respect everyone, no matter who you are, and that he is proud of your success.” The way she dressed and spoke, she was quite the “first daughter”.
Stepping up to the plate also naturally comes with questions. There have been reports that Howard, who participated in daily conference calls to brief Biden on the neo-crown epidemic, may have a conflict of interest between advising Democrats on the neo-crown virus while investing in medical startups that provide solutions to the virus.
Trump has faced many conflicts of interest during his time in office – and many have questioned how Trump hotels and golf courses have benefited from the president. In response, a Biden official clarified that Dr. Klein did not have any official policy or advisory role in the campaign.
In two months, Biden will officially be in the White House. Because of Ivanka’s glamorous predecessor, Ashley, as Biden’s only daughter, is bound to raise eyebrows. How will she conduct herself and interact with the public as the “first daughter”? Let’s wait and see.
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