USA: Police repeatedly charge protesters as Portland chaos continues1:59
Violence continued in Portland, Sunday morning, as protesters rallied for the fifth night in a row against President-elect Donald Trump. Police officers fired round of teargas and pepper balls, before repeatedly charging protesters. Some 19 demonstrators are thought to have been arrested over the course of Saturday night and Sunday morning. According to local police, the protest devolved into a riot with protesters reportedly throwing objects at police, vandalising property and blocking streets. After Trump's win was announced earlier this week, there have been multiple large demonstrations against the president-elect in several large US cities, including in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Seattle. Most the demonstrations have been peaceful, with several, namely in Portland, descending into sporadic violence. Trump declared victory in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton called him to concede defeat following a bitterly fought election battle. Trump beat Clinton in a surprise landslide victory, garnering 278 of the Electoral College votes, while the Democratic candidate received 218.
Billionaire Donald Trump and his then-wife Ivana on December 4, 1989. Picture: AFP/SWERZEY
NOW that her ex-husband is president-elect, Ivana Trump is ready to serve her country.
“I will suggest that I be ambassador for the Czech Republic,” Ms Trump told The New York Post. “[That] is where I’m from and my language and everybody knows me. I’m quite known all around the world. Not only in America. I have written three books, and they were translated in 40 countries in 25 languages. I’m known by the name Ivana. I really did not need the name Trump.”
(No word yet on whether Ms Trump, who was born in the republic when it was known as Czechoslovakia, has adopted its punchier new name, Czechia.)
Ivana Trump wants to be Donald Trump’s ambassador for the Czech Republic. Picture: GoldStar Media/Splash NewsSource:Supplied
The 67-year-old socialite, who was the mogul’s first wife, warned that Midtown Manhattan will be in for plenty of traffic headaches, as The Donald will not want to forgo his life at Trump Tower — even if the Secret Service wants him to.
“I don’t think he will ever give up [his apartment at] the Trump Tower,” she said. “I know it is probably inconvenient for the residents, but he is going to work it out. But he is moving to White House [as his primary residence].
“To be perfectly honest, I think probably the Trump Tower and my town house in New York is much better than the White House,” she added with a laugh. “But Donald is very right. He said if a lot of presidents before can live in here, so can [he] ... I don’t think he’s going to do gold leafing in the White House.”
Donald and Ivana Trump on board their yacht The Trump Princess in New York. Picture: AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, FileSource:AP
She also expects her ex to forsake the jet that typically serves as Air Force One for his personal $US100 million Boeing 757.
“I think he probably will keep his own plane,” she said. “He’s very happy in his own plane.”
He’s just not happy with the idea of travel, she says.
“Donald is like a good French wine. He doesn’t like to be moved and travelled,” Ms Trump said. “The last 18 months, he travelled as much as he ever has in his life. Thank God he has his private plane, but still, it was brutal. It’s not going to get any better; it will get worse in the White House.”
She predicts he will continue to take holidays at his Palm Beach, Florida, country club, Mar-a-Lago.
“In his spare time, he’ll have to play golf,” she added. “I don’t think it will happen in the first 100 days in office, because he will be working from morning to night, which he loves. He only sleeps three hours a night.”
The Trumps (from left): Vanessa Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivana Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Picture: Grant Lamos IV/Getty ImagesSource:Supplied
Ms Trump can rest a little easier herself now that the stresses of the campaign are finished.
“I had the problems with The New York Times, who sued me to try to reopen my divorce documents from 26 years ago. And I’m not running for president of the United States. I’m just a citizen, and I have a right for privacy. I had enough of that,” she said.
“They were trying to find some kind of dirt on Donald because they were very unfair to him. The New York Post was quite fair to Donald ... I did not want to give the interviews to The New York Times or CNN. They asked me 100,000 times and I said no.”
Ivana and Donald Trump in December 1982 in New York City. Picture: Sonia Moskowitz/Getty ImagesSource:Supplied
The former model is ready for her ex to take office and implement his policies, including deporting illegal immigrants.
“We do need the immigrants. They are fantastic. I actually had an Arabic woman wearing the scarf working for me for five years, and then she moved to Texas. She was wearing the headscarf and I said, ‘I really don’t care. As long as she’s doing a good job and in the country legally and is paying the taxes and speaks a little bit of the English’,” she said.
“We need the immigrants. But what is wrong is when an 18-year-old Mexican girl goes over the wall — which is the height of my chair, four feet — she gives birth in the American hospital, her child becomes automatically American. Who is paying for the birth, and who is paying for her food and upkeep? Us taxpayers. And that needs to stop.”
Ivana Trump models for designer Gai Mattiolo in Rome in 1996. Picture: AP Photo/Bruno MosconiSource:AP
She is ready for her ex to take office and implement his policies, including deporting illegal immigrants.
Ms Trump said she is unsure whether her children with Donald — Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric — will play a role in his Cabinet, although she notes that the mogul and Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, have gotten “very close” during the campaign and that Kushner would do “very well in some capacity.”
It has been speculated that Kushner might be in the running for Donald’s chief of staff. On Friday, it was announced that the New York Observer, the newspaper owned by Kushner, was shuttering its print edition.
Republican president-elect Donald Trump with wife Melania and son Barron. Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP
And while she thinks her own kids are prepared for the spotlight, Ms Trump has sympathy for Melania and Donald’s young son, Barron.
“Barron is 10 years old. It’s so new for him. He has to go and change the schools and get new friends. It’s going to be a huge transition for him. He’s the one I feel the most for. It’s going to be a whole new world for him, with security and all that,” Ms Trump said.
As for her missed opportunity to be first lady, Ms Trump is just fine being a civilian.
“I don’t have envy for Melania [because she has] to start to pack the clothes and everything,” she explained.
This story originally appeared in The New York Post and has been republished here with permission.