Of course, the Trumps plan to be a political dynasty
CNN
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Donald Trump spent most of the 2016 campaign denouncing the Clinton dynasty, making the idea of a husband and wife both presidents exactly what was wrong with US policy.
That’s why what Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale said over the weekend in California was more than a little odd:
“The Trumps will be a dynasty that will last for decades, propelling the Republican Party into a new party. The one who will adapt to the evolution of cultures. We must continue to adapt while keeping the conservative values in which we believe.
A dynasty, you say? For decades, you say?
The honest truth is, Parscale doesn’t say anything that Trump himself a) doesn’t think and b) hasn’t said in the past.
“So nice, everyone wants Ivanka Trump to be the new United Nations ambassador”, tweeted Trump from her eldest daughter in October 2018. “She would be amazing, but I can already hear the songs of nepotism! We have great people who want the job.
“If she ever wanted to run for president,” Trump told The Atlantic earlier this year. “I think she would be very, very hard to beat.” Added Ivanka’s trump card:
“She is very calm. … I saw her under tremendous stress and pressure. She’s responding very well – it’s usually a genetic thing, but it’s still one of those things. She has a huge presence when she walks into the room.
Heck, even Trump’s children themselves sometimes openly contemplate their own political future.
“I really like the fight,” Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, told Bloomberg in March. “I really love being there and I love being able to see the impact and the difference it makes on the lives of these people that I can see across the country. ”
And Don Jr., who currently co-runs the family business with his brother, Eric, has become a fixture on the Republican fundraising circuit; there are plans to make a series of appearances and fundraisers for such figures as Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), John Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina).
Never Trumper Rick Wilson even wrote an op-ed in the Daily Beast earlier this month suggesting Don Jr. would run for president in 2024 (!).
According to McKay Coppins of the Atlantic, the issue may not be whether other Trumps run for office, but who runs first. Writes Coppins:
“The president and his children – who declined to be interviewed for this story – strove to project an image of unity. But over the past few months, I’ve spoken with dozens of people close to Trump, including friends, former employees, White House officials, and campaign aides. The succession battle they described is marked by old grievances, small rivalries – and deceptively high stakes.
All of this was, and is, quite predictable. Trump considers himself and his offspring not only unique, but better than average (or, really, anyone).
“Well, I think I was born with the will to be successful because I have a certain gene,” Trump told CNN in 2010. “I’m a supporter of the gene.… Hey, when you connect two horses from race you usually get a fast horse.… I had a good gene pool from that point of view so I was pretty motivated.
Trump’s belief in the innate superiority of himself and his family is also extremely hypocritical given that he ran for President as everyone’s voice – against the so-called “elites” who have ruled politics, in both parties, for decades.
Trump’s victory over Jeb Bush in the 2016 primaries was, at least in part, rooted in the Republican electorate’s rejection of the idea that three presidents should come from the same family. And his victory over Clinton in the general election hinged on the same turning away from family dynasties.
But the truth is – and always has been – that Trump doesn’t like other people’s family dynasties, but is totally cool with his.
This is example number 3,287 of Trump’s belief that the rules and standards he expects from others are not the same rules and standards that he and his family must adhere to. They are assets, after all.
