I had this fairly weird idea recently (the title) and just wanna think aloud in this thread about why this could arguably be the best move for Trump to pull off at this moment, both for himself and for the country as a whole
As part of this side gig I have (online transcriptionist: I type out shit that is heard in videos for cash) I somehow managed to score a job transcribing a gig where Ivanka Trump visited a Lockheed Martin HQ in I think Colorado as part of a meeting to discuss closing the skills gap in the workforce and stuff. The way Ivanka Trump handles herself is unlike her father Donald Trump in damn near every regard. You can probably google any speech she's given and can tell that she is at least 7 levels above her father in terms of having her shit together and being able to form rational thoughts.
I believe that if she were the one who was representing the GOP in 2020, running in place of her father, she would win the election and beat whoever the Dems put out (Warren, Trump, or Biden).... Not only do I think she would win, I think it is something the GOP should do and that America would overall be better off compared to where we are now. Here's why.
1 - Ivanka would not carry Donald's baggage.
Donald Trump has no shortage of actions that Dems can use as rallying cries against his re-election. Locking kids in camps at the border, Russian interference in elections, cozying up to dictators and alienating our allies, the Ukraine thing currently playing out, tax reform that screws over the middle class, etc. All of that are massive issues the Trump campaign has to overcome in order to get re-elected. If Ivanka is made the nominee though, everything that her father did becomes pretty much irrelevant. Ivanka can put forth her own policies and recycle the "I would have done things differently' line as much as needed to, and given how articulate and rational she is compared to her father, Im fairly certain that most people would believe her. Even Democrats I think would be willing to buy the idea that Ivanka would not have done even 7% of the stuff her father has done over time, it would essentially be giving the GOP a clean slate to work with in terms of campaigning for the White House in 2020. Should she win, her administration would almost certainly be smoother and more beneficial than Donald Trumps administration, simply due to the astounding rate of fucking up that her father carries out.
2 - The GOP would coalesce behind her and support her as the nominee.
The percentage of Republicans who approve the job that Donald Trump has done is I think around 88%. I'm willing to bet that the portion who like the President and also like Ivanka is even higher then that, and that even Republicans who don't like Trump would support Ivanka if she were the nominee. Ivanka could unite the base in a way that Trump could not, since Ivanka could play up the beneficial pieces from Donald's administration as much as she wanted while also offering her own vision on how she would do things a bit differently. Trump republicans will support her since she is from the family, and Non-Trump republicans would be open to supporting her since she is also different from her father, in that she is not a vile person and can speak in complete sentences that stay on topic, among other things..... The GOP does have a bit of an issue with alienating longtime conservatives who have been part of the party, Ivanka as the nominee would do a lot to bring them back into the base which would help them in 2020
3 - Things would be (somewhat) civil again.
Regardless of your opinions on Trump, I think everyone of all political beliefs would believe that things would be a lot less ugly and scandalous if Ivanka was the one representing the GOP in the election compared to Donald. I cant name a single Ivanka tweet that caused a scandal or ended up on the media that wasnt reported out of irony for what her father is doing at around the same time the tweet is sent out. Everyone regardless of political beliefs would also probably buy the idea that Ivanka would show a lot more restraint when it comes to attacking her opponent, whoever they may be, in both terms of quantity and quality..... if she won the election, I am also certain that things would be more civil compared to if a Democrat was put in the White House, since under a democratic administration there will likely be outright dogfighting (so to speak) when it comes to passing legislation, whereas an Ivanka administration would likely operate things more smoothly. If people prefer just having a sense of normalcy and calm in Washington more than anything else, they would gravitate more towards Ivanka as the GOP nominee since she has the best opportunity to make things orderly again.
4 - She would defeat any primary challenger from the GOP ranks.
The fact that Ivanka is from the Trump family would convince 80% of potential GOP candidates from trying to primary against her. She basically represents all the positive aspects of the Trump family compared to Donald and his eldest sons. Because Donald has such high support from the party, it's logical to assume that support would transfer over to Ivanka, arguably in even greater numbers since conservatives pissed off at Trump would find Ivanka more acceptable, and make a possible primary challenge against her unwinnable. Who in the GOP would even try to campaign against her? Pence? Lindsey Graham? You need to have a spine in order to run for president, neither of whom have that..... Ivanka would coalesce support of the GOP base behind her since she could play off the traits people like about Donald while also distance herself from him on issues where there is controversy. It's the same shit that Biden has been doing as Obama's former VP, and he's currently leading the Dem nomination (mostly)