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Donald Trump’s administration has been the most tumultuous in modern history, with a record number of secretaries and cabinet officials resigning or being fired.
But through it all, the president has relied on an unchanging group of advisers who have offered him unwavering support: his family.
His loyalty was shown again this week when Trump launched one last legal effort to prevent his successor Joe Biden from entering the White House.
On Thursday, his second oldest son, Eric Trump, appeared alongside his wife Lara, who is also a campaign advisor, at a hastily scheduled press conference in Philadelphia that exposed the president’s unsubstantiated charges of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, flew to Atlanta, where he claimed in front of boisterous fans that “magic boxes” of ballots were popping up at polling stations across the country.
Their role as cheerleaders-in-chief has become even more important as few in the Republican establishment have been willing to support the president’s unfounded claims of massive voter fraud, a betrayal that did not go unnoticed by Trump Jr.
“I think Democrats are used to this in a Republican party that hasn’t had a backbone. He’s not going to see that this time, ”Trump Jr. declared, with his girlfriend, Trump’s campaign finance director Kimberly Guilfoyle, at his side. “That party is gone and anyone who doesn’t fight. . . I should go with him. “
It was emblematic of the unusual role that Trump’s adult children have played in his administration and during his two campaigns. His immediate family is among the few Trump surrogates who have the president’s ear and can present a more nuanced portrait of the man.
Each of the children and their partners has played a different role in Trump’s White House drama, which has at times felt like a cross between The west wing Y Succession.
Eric and Trump Jr have taken on the role of “pit bulls,” as one person who knows the president’s eldest son put it, aggressively attacking his father’s enemies.
The president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, has taken a softer approach. This week, he borrowed talking points from some of the top Republican leaders, taking to Twitter to express his support for “free and fair elections” while insisting that “all legally cast votes should be counted.”
Eric Trump and his wife Lara have spearheaded allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections © REUTERS
Her husband, Jared Kushner, has remained behind the scenes. The New York Times reported that he was working on the phones to find a reputable Republican figure who could present a credible legal case for Trump’s continued path to victory, so far without much success.
While the role of Trump’s sons in his administration and business affairs is unprecedented in modern history, their work as surrogates in recent days echoes the scandals of the Nixon administration.
“What Eric, Don Jr. and Ivanka are doing now reminds me of the Nixons’ daughter Julie, who once even served as her father’s understudy during a press conference as the Watergate investigation progressed,” said Kate Andersen. Brower, author of several books on the White House, including Team of five Y First women.
“Their backs are against the wall and they are coming together, no matter how foolish their efforts may seem,” added Ms. Andersen Brower.
Since Trump announced his possible presidential candidacy in 2015, his three adult children from his first marriage to Ivana Trump, and their spouses, have been by his side. They are among the few to have survived the president’s four-year tenure, as Trump fired one aide after another for perceiving their disloyalty.
In the White House, Kushner managed an expanding policy portfolio that ranged from criminal justice reform to Middle East peace, while Trump had a broad mandate that at one point included temporarily taking over his father’s position at the G20.
Trump’s two oldest sons stayed in New York to run the family business. But they have continued to engage in ceremonial duties, such as traveling with the administration on a state visit to the UK.
All of her adult children, including Tiffany Trump, were given a prime venue to speak during this year’s Republican National Convention, as were Guilfoyle and Lara Trump.
And when Trump revealed that he had tested positive for coronavirus in early October, forcing him out of the campaign, it was his sons who took his place at the fundraisers and toured the country to keep his reelection hopes alive.
People who know them say that it is not clear what the children will do now that they are not the first family.
Trump Jr., who has embraced his father’s “red meat” lure, is likely to try to stay in politics, supporting pro-Trump Republicans and perhaps one day running for office, person who knows him said. .
One person who knows Trump and Kushner said the couple hadn’t spent much time thinking about their next steps because “they thought they were going to win.” But it would be surprising if either of them simply went back to their previous business ventures – their eponymous fashion line and real estate portfolio.
“It is a question of what [president Trump] wants to do, ”said the person. “If he wants to run again in 2024, that could affect what they can do too.”
While the couple may have once had the ambition to return to their own life and social status in New York City, little by little they have come to terms with the fact that some of their old circle would not welcome them to Manhattan. .
“They were trying to have their cake and eat it too; remain friends with his friends in New York and have Trump, “the person said.
“Over the years they realized that it was impossible. . . I think they have gone with everything [the idea of] ‘We don’t care about our previous life. We are Republicans of Trump and that is our world. “
