Whether Ivanka or Chelsea, America’s next first daughter will hold unusual power

While Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton promise to take the country in vastly different directions, the two women auditioning to be Anna Roosevelt’s successor have much in common. Like FDR’s daughter, both Chelsea and Ivanka grew up as children of privilege in families shaken by severe marital discord and infidelity. And just as the young Ivanka was constructing towers with Legos in her father’s office, Chelsea has been accompanying her mother to campaign rallies since age 2. As girls, each one turned serious early in part because neither enjoyed much unstructured playtime with her parents. Though she may well become America’s first first mom, Clinton the parent has resembled the vast majority of the 43 men who have served as president. Like Trump, she, too, has held extraordinarily demanding jobs, and work has been one of the primary ways in which she has bonded with her daughter. Today, just as Ivanka serves as an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, Chelsea serves as vice chair of the Clinton Foundation.

Politically, Ivanka Trump, who last week described herself as neither “Republican or Democrat,” and Chelsea Clinton are not all that far apart. Ivanka’s allusion in Cleveland to the importance of equal pay for equal work seems lifted not from anything her father has ever said, but from one of Hillary Clinton’s stump speeches. The major difference between the two is that Chelsea, who holds a trio of advance degrees, is more wonkish — she’s an expert on health policy, for example — and seems a bit more uncomfortable in the media spotlight.