Is trouble brewing for Ivanka Trump and Don Jr? They’re certainly acting like it
My father, you won’t be surprised to hear, is not a billionaire who, until a few months ago, served as the 45th president of the United States. But if he was, do you know what I would be doing right now? Swigging champagne on a yacht in the Med with the internet off, I reckon. You know what I would absolutely not be doing? Selling sad little videos of myself saying “Hello!” and “Happy birthday!” for $500 a pop on a video messaging service called Cameo. And yet, according to recent reports, it seems Donald Trump Jr is spending his days doing exactly that.
What gives? Is the former president’s eldest child desperate for attention or desperate for money?
At first glance, the former might seem more likely. Don Jr, after all, has shown himself to be as addicted to social media as his dad – and there is no obvious financial need for him to hawk personalised videos. Indeed,
Don Jr sold the fancy Hamptons house he owned withhis girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, a few months ago for more than $8m – almost double what they paid for it in 2019. When you are pocketing profits like that, why bother flogging yourself on online video platforms?
Expensive lawsuits, maybe? For legal reasons, I should make it clear that I am in no way insinuating that the Trump family is on the verge of being bankrupted and ruined reputationally by a swathe of lawsuits. But I am also not not saying that.
What I am doing is simply observing some interesting developments. For example: Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, recently told a crowd in North Carolina that her mooted 2022 US Senate run is a “no for now”. One imagines she ran a few focus groups, which told her, unequivocally, that no one wants to see another Trump in politics for a very long time.
Ivanka Trump may have heard the same thing. It was long rumoured that she would run for the Senate. Now, however, she seems to be spending her days walking her dog (a very small, very white dog called Winter) in Miami and telling anyone who will listen that she is “focusing on family time”. Thanks so much, Ivanka! I, for one, feel empowered hearing that.