For most people, the Trump family’s entanglement with official presidential business is already pretty hard to swallow—but things could have been much, much worse. Donald Trump repeatedly pushed the idea of naming his daughter Ivanka as his running mate in 2016, according to Trump’s former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates. In an account of a June 2016 meeting in Gates’ upcoming book, Wicked Game, he writes that Trump’s top aides were discussing who to pick when the candidate chipped in. “I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?” Trump is said to have asked the group. He reportedly added: “She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!” Trump brought up the idea repeatedly for weeks, according to Gates, and only relented when Ivanka herself told him it might not be a great idea.
