What is it about Ivanka Trump that rankles journalists so? She had the Times' Ruth La Ferla all but calling her a harlot last December, and today on the Portfolio website she is irritating an openly exasperated Lloyd Grove. Theory: She's got (nearly) the looks of Paris Hilton and the mouth of a flack. Hilton is obnoxious but palatable to the media, since she acts out and constantly gives regrettable quotes. Trump was summa cum laude at Wharton (undergraduate), which makes it a touch harder to hate her for her privileged life. Grove seems to be trying, at least:

L.G.: I guess what I'd like to know is how many projects are in the pipeline, with all the financing in place, versus projects that you may want to do but can't because of the absence of credit and just hugely scary economic times?

I.T.: I think new construction is certainly a challenge in this environment.

L.G.: That's such a euphemism, Ivanka. It's a "challenge"?

I.T.: It's almost impossible.
L.G.: Okay, thank you, I want you to speak frankly to me.

Somebody is touchy! But listen to how Trump, 26, handled this crack of the whip:

I.T.: I understand, but that's not true in all markets, and when you have your construction, when you have your financing in place as we're very fortunate to have in most of the jobs that we currently have out there, it's an incredible advantage in certain perspectives. There was an enormous pipeline of potential projects that I think we all knew a year ago would never ultimately come to fruition but were still perceived as competition in certain marketplaces—competition for retail leases, competition for deposit interests, competition from prospective buyers. Those projects will never get built, and people recognize that. People aren't interested in putting down deposits so that they can wait six years for a developer to put together the financing and ultimately have that locked up in escrow....

She goes on like that. In fact, Trump always goes on like that, for every question. Even for Grove's self-described "backdoor" question and a feisty dig about Trump's investments in Vegas.

As well she should, given that Trump is an executive for an international real estate company. But her fluent PR-speak is a surprising competency for someone (rightly) assumed to be a nepotism beneficiary.

Is it possible Trump really is the smartest of the socialites? It's a low bar, but somebody has to jump it!