Ivanka Trump 'Desperately' Wants You to Lower Your Expectations of Her

Welcome to WHAT NOW, a morning round-up of the news/fresh horrors that await you today.

Days of our lives were lost reading all those breathless stories about Ivanka Trump’s supposedly unprecedented influence over her father, the president of the United States. So it hasn’t escaped notice that, in real life, Ivanka hasn’t exactly been successful when it comes to curbing the president’s most socially conservative policies. Now comes word that Ivanka would really, really like you to lower your expectations of her, please.

As Politico reported on Sunday evening:

Ivanka Trump has explained to critics that she doesn’t want to ruin her credibility with Republicans, whose support she will need, by being perceived as what she sometimes refers to as a “super-lib” and expressing her personal disagreement with the administration’s most conservative policies.

Meanwhile, she desperately wants to lower expectations of what she can achieve in an administration where she views herself as one person on a large team — even though other White House officials said she still has access to the president whenever she desires it.

The report comes after President Trump said he intends to ban all transgender people from serving in the military, an announcement which apparently came as a surprise both to his eldest daughter, who Politico says learned about the policy reading the tweet, and to the Pentagon.

WHAT ELSE?

• Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been wounded by Trump’s barrage of personal attacks, people close to the former senator told The Washington Post.
• Here’s a video of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, with nachos in hand, confronting a Chicago Cubs fan who heckled him at a Cubs/Brewers game in Milwaukee over the weekend.

• The Supreme Court banned mandatory life without parole for juveniles in murder cases five years ago and went even further in a ruling last year, but an Associated Press review of these cases reveals how states are fighting to keep these inmates locked up for life.