Ivanka Trump 'sidelined' as Donald unveils 'new Right Hand woman' at victory party

Ivanka Trump appeared on stage with her father when he won the US election in 2016, but she was conspicuously standing to the side during his speech today, unlike Lara Trump

Donald Trump appeared ditch his own daughter as his right-hand woman in favour of his daughter-in-law during his debut as President-Elect today.

Mr Trump, 78, has been declared the formal victor of the 2024 US election over Kamala Harris after sweeping the 270 electoral votes required to net the honour. His win was a major political upset and unprecedented comeback for a Presidential candidate, and he has spent the first few hours of his win thanking close aides and family members.

He appeared to drop some of his typical self-aggrandisement while heaping praise on his wife in a bizarre brag about her literary prowess, and hailed what he called the "greatest political movement". His appearance may have betrayed one early and potentially major shift in his team, with Lara Trump taking centre stage alongside her father-in-law instead of Ivanka.

She appeared centre stage with the incoming Commander-in-Chief in Mar-a-Lago today, standing to his right as he delivered his speech from Palm Beach. Ivanka Trump, on the other hand, was seen far off to the side in a move that could be construed as political rearrangement by some onlookers.

Ivanka Trump has typically served as her father's closest aide and confidant since he took to the political stage, initially in a personal capacity following his election in 2016 and later as the "First Daughter and Advisor to the President". In recent years, however, Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, has taken a more significant role in his political sphere.

Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, a Republican power couple, have stepped back their involvement since Mr Trump's first term concluded in 2020. Lara cemented her family's hold on the Republican National Committee earlier this year when she was elected the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, giving her massive influence over the party's overall policy goals.

She was hand picked for the role by Mr Trump himself, and has been credited for massive fundraising goals that have been reported since her election. Michele Merrell, a state committeewoman for the Republican Party's Broward county branch in Florida, said her appointment made a " world of difference" in March.

She said: "The fundraising is going through the roof… we were not doing very well before in that. The change in leadership has been all the difference. It’s reignited the party, it really has." Like Ivanka's centre-stage appearance in 2016, Lara's may signal coming major involvement in the second Trump administration.