Fact Check

Did Ivanka Trump Say, 'Let's Ask What We Can Do for My Dad'?

The U.S. president's daughter drew harsh criticism in India after tweeting support for an impoverished girl who cycled her wounded father 750 miles.

Published July 8, 2020

 (Albert H. Teich/Shutterstock.com)
Image Via Albert H. Teich/Shutterstock.com
Claim:
Ivanka Trump said, "Let's not ask what my dad can do for us, let's ask what we can do for my dad."

In mid-2020, social media users began circulating a meme holding that U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter (and presidential advisor) Ivanka Trump had said, "Liberals who criticize my dad for exposing them to a mild Chinese virus should read about the girl in India who transported her dad 750 miles on her bicycle. Like her, let's not ask what my dad can do for us, let's ask what we can do for my dad":

ivanka

Ivanka did tweet, on May 22, 2020, about a girl in India who cycled her wounded father about 750 miles because other forms of transportation had been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic:

Ivanka's tweet also triggered a fair amount of scorn from critics who contended she had missed the point of the anecdote:

First daughter Ivanka Trump drew harsh criticism in India after tweeting support for an impoverished girl who cycled her wounded father some 1,200 kilometers, or roughly 750 miles, amid the COVID-19 lockdown transport shutdown. Jyoti Kumari carried her her wounded father -- who lost his rickshaw job after suffering an injury -- on the back of her bicycle for seven days to their family village because he was running out of food and money where he was working in northern India. The pair slept rough and survived on handouts during their journey.

But human rights advocates, including former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, said the president’s daughter missed the point. “Her poverty & desperation are being glorified as if Jyoti cycled 1,200 KM for the thrill of it,” he wrote on Twitter. “Government failed her, that’s hardly something to trumpet as an achievement.”

However, Ivanka did not follow that reference by invoking former President John F. Kennedy's famous 1961 inaugural address in asserting, "let's not ask what my dad can do for us, let's ask what we can do for my dad." The wording of the putative quote reproduced in the above meme was taken from a Tucker Carlson parody account on Twitter, @SuckerCarlson:

Sources

Latza Nadeau, Barbie.   "Ivanka Trump’s Praise of Impoverished Girl Draws Scorn in India."     Daily Beast.   23 May 2020.

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