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The Only Time Ivanka Trump Addressed Climate Change Was In a Tweet

Donald Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, is vying for the position of "climate czar," according to Politico.
Image: Flickr/Michael Vadon

According to the revolving door that is Donald Trump's incoming administration, the President-Elect may have a new climate change watchdog: his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump. Surprised? Me, too.

The only time Ivanka spoke publicly about climate change was this tweet from 2010. One can almost imagine her father looming over her shoulder as she begrudgingly typed out the tired jab. (It is slightly disturbing, though, that our hypothetical climate adviser doesn't know that cold weather isn't antithetical to rising global temperature.)

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Ironic tidbit of the day…Senate global warming hearing canceled due to the blizzard. http://bit.ly/9nzHsE

Ivanka TrumpFebruary 10, 2010

Yet last week, Politico reported that Ivanka is vying for the role of "climate czar," which could very well be a fictional position, seeing as her father is a noted climate change denier. The news came from an unnamed source who said the businesswoman hopes to champion an entire roster of liberal issues, though little was said about how, exactly, Ivanka plans to make global warming a less icy issue for the Trump Administration.

Maybe it's her deafening silence on the topic of climate change, or the fact that she's betrayed other causes she's claimed to care about. But Ivanka as climate czar seems as mismatched as a conspiracy theorist in charge of national security.

Moving on to related issues, such as carbon emissions, renewable energy, offshore oil drilling, or the fate of the Environmental Protection Agency, we're still zero for zero in terms of opinion-having. While her father argued at length about these subjects on the election trail, Ivanka hasn't uttered so much as a peep.

In fact, Ivanka only recently began orbiting the topic of climate change. As far as we can tell, the future first daughter is currently getting a crash course in climate policy from several big-name environmentalists. According to the New York Times, both Ivanka and the President-Elect met separately with former Vice President Al Gore on Monday to talk shop. Also this week, climate advocate Leonardo DiCaprio is rumored to have given Ivanka a copy of his new documentary, Before the Flood. Happy studying!

But how do these accolades compare to Ivanka's strongest credential: her unrivaled access to her father?

Devoid of any evidence that Ivanka cares about climate change, we're left assuming that she'll continue to campaign for her father like she always has, even when it means abandoning her alleged core values. While the ethical and legal guidelines of Ivanka's potential role in the White House are murky at best, the President-Elect seems eager to push the envelope.

So while it's near impossible to speculate whether Ivanka will be good or bad for climate change efforts, let's hope she surprises us.