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Donald Trump beside man in black suit
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Trump Said He Likes It When Ivanka Calls Him ‘Daddy’ & The Internet Lost Its Collective Mind

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Katherine Speller

It’s not a secret that President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka have a special bond. Folks of Weird Twitter™ are particularly fond of pointing out their special relationship and making it just a little bit weird (and a little bit Game of Thrones-y).  So, on Wednesday, when Trump was giving a speech on tax reform in North Dakota and mentioned something just a little bit off while discussing how his daughter likes to accompany him on trips, the Internet lost it just a tiny bit. 

“Look at Ivanka. Come on up honey. She’s so good,” Trump said as he called Ivanka on stage and hyped her up to the crowd. “She wanted to make the trip, she said, ‘Dad can I go with you?’ She actually said ‘Daddy, can I go with you?’ I like that.”

(FYI: It’s that last part that made it weird.) 

Now plenty of older girls and women privately call their fathers something like “Daddy” and fathers who want to think of their kids as little forever are allowed to think it’s sweet. 

But, there’s also a kinky (but sort of mainstreamed as of late) sub-culture that exists that makes the Internet prone to [Side-Eye Emoji] this sort of exchange. Add in Trump’s comments about his daughter’s looks in the past, his “pussy-grabbing” past and the fact that Ivanka is 35 years old and it’s a recipe for sexual innuendo.

Also: Deeply uncomfy. 

And, like, look: Nothing wrong with loving your parents and we aren’t kinkshaming. But there are probably some better ways that conversation could’ve been framed — for the Internets’ sake. 

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Katherine (or Katie) is the News Editor and resident witch at Her Campus. She first fell in love with journalism while attending SUNY New Paltz ('14). Since then, she has worked on the staffs at MTV News and Bustle writing about politics, intersectional social issues and more before serving as staff researcher at Lady Parts Justice League. Her work has been published in Women's Health, the Daily Dot, Public Radio International (PRI) and WNYC and she's been a regular panelist on a few podcasts (mostly screaming about repro rights.)  She is a Libra with a Taurus moon and a Scorpio ascendant, which either means nothing or everything. She loves strong diner coffee, reading tarot for strangers at the bar and watching the same three horror movie documentaries. She lives in the Hudson Valley with too many animals.