The White House has canceled Tuesday’s meeting to discuss whether the U.S. will pull out of the historic climate accord, the second such cancellation in less than a month. It’s further proof that President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, an alleged voice of moderation in the White House, is largely powerless.
Ivanka, who serves as a senior advisor, reportedly intervened last week as Trump leaned toward withdrawing from the agreement. “Sources inside the White House say the president’s inclination has been to pull out, but Ivanka has set up a process to go through the decision and ensure he hears all the facts before making his decision,” according to Axios, which wrote that Ivanka “is passionate about combating global warming and turned heads when she brought climate activist Al Gore to Trump Tower during the presidential transition.”
But Ivanka’s supposed passion has failed to convince Trump that climate change is an urgent global crisis. Since taking office, he has proposed cutting nearly all U.S. funding for climate research, appointed climate-change deniers to serve in key energy and environmental cabinet positions, and started the process of rolling back Obama-era policies to fight global warming. Clearly, Trump is not taking his daughter’s advice. She may want to follow the lead of other White House officials, and ask her friend Justin Trudeau to give Trump a call.