I read with interest an article from the New York Times which describes what they call Ivanka Trump’s political transformation from a Democrat to a newly-registered Republican:
Ms. Trump said on Monday that she had made the decision to officially change her voter registration from Democrat to Republican because she wanted to vote for her father in the New York primary, something she did not do in 2016 when she missed the deadline to register as a Republican.
According to the New York City Board of Elections, Ms. Trump made the change on Oct. 22, 2018, just ahead of the midterm elections.
“I am a proud Trump Republican,” Ms. Trump said in an interview on Monday, discussing her political evolution and the role her father played in it. “I believe he’s broadened the reach of the Republican Party, which is really important to me.”
And as for the motivation:
But over the past few months, she has started using her Twitter feed to lash out at Democrats and has appeared at campaign events more clearly devised to appeal to Mr. Trump’s base. Ahead of the New Hampshire primary in February, for instance, Ms. Trump traveled to Portsmouth to participate in a “Cops for Trump” event.
Online, her persona has also become more aggressive and raw, a reflection of her own anger, aides said, over her father’s impeachment.
“This factional fever and incoherent, ill-conceived process has finally ended and the President has rightfully been acquitted,” Ms. Trump tweeted after the Senate impeachment trial ended. “POTUS has accomplished so much and is just getting started. The best is yet to come!”
[…]
“I was not a Republican,” he told reporters at a recent campaign briefing. “Now I’m a Republican. I think the Republican Party is growing now that people like me feel comfortable being part of it.”
The vicious, binary tribalism which has crescendoed to a shriek during Trump’s term is partly responsible for recasting Ivanka Trump as a Republican. The new Republican big tent did the rest. By all reports, she seems closer to an independent, somewhat classical liberal (in the Tocqueville sense, the idiocracy of our time calls for things to be spelled out). As I write in my latest book, Grace Canceled, the polarity resulting from binary tribalism makes allies of the unlikely. It has bound together those who prioritize individual liberty and common sense because we realize uniting on our 80% commonalities is far more advantageous than bickering over our 20% differences. Through defending her father, his positions which she supported, and advising him on other issues, she naturally aligned with Republicans.
The last line to me is key: She feels comfortable being part of the Republican party. I hear this from a lot of callers across the country who previously voted Democrat, some as recently as the 2016 primaries. Like him or not, Trump created the big tent Republicans coveted for years but could never figure out the messaging while maintaining policy principle. Some figured out the formula by incorporating a libertarian tone that prioritizes reduction of federal authority. Others were persuaded to join the coalition by the nastiness of the 2016 general election, the Kavanaugh hearing, the impeachment sham. Binary tribalism has recast many moderate Democrats and independents as Republicans because Democrats overplayed their hand. As Republicans lamented deep state, Democrats played right into it by treating Republicans as perpetual underdogs, disobedient citizens who needed state punishment. Oddly, Bernie Sanders uses this same tactic to collect white male socialists so champion his cause. Sanders has managed to cast the “Democrat establishment” as his oppressor when in truth, it’s his incompetency and craziness.
The First Daughter is smart to jump ship regardless as Sanders is the natural evolution of her former party.
