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Because Ivanka Trump billed herself as a champion of LGBTQ rights, shes come under fire for remaining silent on her fathers announcement Wednesday that transgender people would be banned from the military.

In June, the White House assistant to President Donald Trump tweeted out her proud support for her LBGTQ friends and fellow Americans who have made immense contributions to our society and economy. She also wished everyone a joyful #Pride 2017, proclaiming the month of June a time to celebrate and honor the #LGBTQ community.

Given that proclamation it was natural for people to wonder if Ivanka would have anything to say about her fathers transgender ban. He announced his ban through a series of tweets first thing Wednesday morning. But thechairman of the joint chiefs of staff said Thursdaythere would beno modifications to the transgender policy andthat the military will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.

In any event, Ivanka stayed silent following her fathers announcement. But people shouldnt have been surprised to not hear from her, especially if they were aware of where she had been the night before.

She was at a $1 million fundraiser,offering a glowing introduction to Vice President Mike Pence, who is known for his anti-LGBTQ rights positions and opinions.

In fact,The Daily Beast reports that Pencehad been pushing hard for this kind of policy shift in the military, as had senior officialssuch as chief strategist Steve Bannon, who expected it to play well with the socially conservative elements of Trumps political base.

But independent of the Pence fundraiser in Washington D.C, people have come to expect Ivanka to keep her mouth shut on the controversial things her father says or does even if they undermine causes she claims she cares about: womens rights, climate change research, education and LGBTQ rights.

In fact, many have given up on the narrative that she and her husband Jared Kushner, an adviser to the president, represent a moderating influence in a White House thats enamored with hard-line conservative positions on health care, immigration, tax reform and LGBTQ issues.

Moreover, they either suspect that Ivanka has no real influence over the presidents decisions or worse. They see her as an opportunist who doesnt really care about anything beyond being a loyal daughter, keeping her father in power and promoting her familys businesses and personal brand.

Once upon a time, Ivanka could expect to be the subject of glowing Vogue cover stories and New York Times profiles about how the beautiful daughter of the bombastic real estate mogul is making her way in the worlds of business, fashion and motherhood.

Now those publications and others regularly raise concerns about nepotism and conflicts of interest that have come with Ivanka and Jareds appointments to key White House positions. Both Ivanka and Jared also face media and congressional scrutiny over Jareds contacts with Russian officials.

Amid increasing reports about a dysfunctional, chaotic and possibly corrupt White House, with themselves at the center, Ivanka and Jared appear to be in a circling-the-wagons mode and doubling down on their loyalty to the president and his agenda.

They reportedly urged the president to push out Sean Spicer as the White House communications chief in favor of the more aggressive Anthony Scaramucci, whose brief tenure is already generating plenty of controversy.

Increasingly critiqued by members of the media and the liberal elite, in which she once moved with ease, Ivanka appears to be pulling closer to her fathers hard-line conservative allies. Maybe Ivanka was essentially conservative all along.

In addition to Ivanka introducing Pence at his Tuesday night fundraiser, CNN reports that shes been spending time with Matt Drudge, the tycoon founder of the conservative website The Drudge Report. CNN says that Drudge, one of the presidents most ardent supporters, is at the White House all the time and has also been doling out advice to Kushner.

It appears that Ivanka knew the transgender ban was coming down. According to asenior White House official, quoted by the Daily Beast, Ivanka and Jared have been opposed to all the anti-LGBT initiatives of the Trump administration. But when it came time for Trump to make this shift in military policy, they decided their political capital should be spent elsewhere.

So, Ivanka spent her political capital Tuesday offering her support for Pence. Earlier in the day, she expended some of that capital teaming up for a project with another staunch Trump ally, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Ivanka and Betsy were at the Smithsonians National Museum of American History Tuesday to read a book to a group of 6- to 10-year-olds about the importance of girls and young women going into STEM-related careers.

Trump critics will no doubt see an irony in their presentation. DeVos may also hold positions on education that would seem to contradict Ivankas proclaimed interest in this field.DeVos, who has no experience with public school education, is leading Trumps effort to slash billions of dollars that fund public school programs. DeVos wants to boost private school vouchers.

But maybe Ivanka, like DeVos an heiress and product of private school education, is fine with all this.

Or maybe given her track record of appeasement or complicity in whatever advances her fathers agenda, she has probably decided to go along with whatever DeVos wants to do with public education just like she has tacitly agreed to go along with her fathers ban on transgender people in the military.

So, her silence on the ban Wednesday definitely wasnt at all surprising.

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Ivanka Trump's silence on transgender troop ban not surprising: She honored Mike Pence the night before - The Mercury News