For all of his time in the White House, former President Donald Trump trusted his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, as senior advisors.
Ivanka Trump frequently hobnobbed with world leaders on Trump's behalf and spearheaded a women in business program, while Kushner headed up Trump's policy on the Middle East.
The gifts of government paychecks and security clearances to Trump's family members remained a controversy for all four years of Trump's tenure as President, and made the couple some of the most recognizable faces of the Trump administration.
Now, it seems as if that mutual affection is circling the drain.
A CNN piece released on Wednesday reported that both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have distanced themselves from the former President, their absence noticed at the usual Mar-a-Lago gatherings. Sources also told the media outlet that Kushner's presence has become increasingly rare, "like a parent ... transitioning their kid to day care."
The reason, according to the report, is Trump's continued obsession with the delusion that the 2020 election was rigged against him:
"A large part of the reason for the separation is Trump's constant harping on the past and his inability to move on. The former President has also started to question the role that Kushner -- one of the few people who were able to stay close to Trump throughout his two presidential campaigns and White House tenure -- has played in his presidential legacy."
Even months after Trump's lies about the validity of the 2020 election prompted a mob of pro-Trump extremists to storm the United States Capitol in a deadly failed insurrection, Trump continues to lie that he is the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, despite no credible evidence of this. The report goes on to claim that Ivanka is walking a "fine line" between maintaining her relationship with her father and maintaining a distance from Trump's election lies.
Yet, both Kushner and Ms. Trump have yet to publicly state that President Joe Biden legitimately defeated Trump in 2020, and they continue to correspond with the former President.
Even their critics related to their supposed fatigue with Trump's election fantasies.
According to 12 former Trump White House officials and family friends, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are now estranged from the disgraced ex-President, and want nothing to do with him. They can\u2019t stand his constant harping on the past and inability to move on. Same.pic.twitter.com/SAC2H41PY5— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1624458458
Ivanka and Jared are trying to distance themselves from Trump as if most of America hasn't already been trying to do that since 2016.— \ud83d\udc80DeathMetalViking\ud83d\udc80 (@\ud83d\udc80DeathMetalViking\ud83d\udc80) 1624463940
Can't say I blame them for that. But it still does not make them good or respectable people.— Thea van den Berg (@Thea van den Berg) 1624459128
But more people doubted the veracity of the story.
I don't believe a word of this.https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1407684972408938500\u00a0\u2026— 'There was this movie I seen one time... (@'There was this movie I seen one time...) 1624474148
If Ivanka and Jared wanted to distance themselves from Trump's lies they could just say: "Biden won the election and it was a fair election"\n\nThey have not done that.— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1624460342
Ivanka and Jared made $640 million while in Trump\u2019s White House\n\nJared got an $800 million sweetheart loan from Freddie Mac that taxpayers are on the hook for\n\nNo chance in hell we\u2019re gonna let them \u201cdistance themselves\u201d from Trump— Lindy Li (@Lindy Li) 1624472261
A few even believed Ivanka and Jared planted the story themselves to rebuild their social status.
The Javanka PR machine revs again?https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1407684972408938500\u00a0\u2026— Tal Kopan (@Tal Kopan) 1624467979
As we've seen in the past, stories about Jared and Ivanka's relationship with Trump are totally accurate reflections of reality and not at all hollow PR stunts intended to protect their own profiles while obscuring vile truths https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1407684972408938500\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/LsjmAecYUu— Mangy Jay (@Mangy Jay) 1624470213
And so begins their attempt at a public image rebrand. Don\u2019t let them get away with it. They\u2019re just as bad as he is and enabled him every step of the wayhttps://twitter.com/cnn/status/1407684972408938500\u00a0\u2026— Louisa \ud83c\udf08\ud83d\udc6d (@Louisa \ud83c\udf08\ud83d\udc6d) 1624468325
Either way, it doesn't look like the public will be forgetting their part in Trump's administration any time soon.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social