The former First Family’s Shakespearean drama
Flushing: Old King Lear was pondering his legacy and decided it was time for him to retire and, accordingly, he wished to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters: Goneril and Regan, who were married, and his youngest daughter, Cordelia, who was not yet married. Therefore, he asked each of his daughters a question: How much did they love him? Each of the two older daughters gave their father a politically correct response, a profuse affirmation of their enduring love for their father, but Cordelia, perhaps looking forward to the day when she, too, would be married, and in profound bliss would have to share the love of her father with that of her husband, said something to the effect that she loved her father as much as a daughter should love her father, no more, no less. Poor Cordelia, wrong answer! And poor King Lear, who was devastated to the point of madness and who lost his kingdom to his two sons-in-law and his daughters.
Former President Trump made his three oldest children, Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric (all born to his first wife, Ivana) integrally involved in his four-year presidency. He now finds himself in the unenviable position of his daughter Ivanka — by many accounts, his favorite child — having testified against him, divulging that, in a dispute between her father and his attorney general, William Barr, as to a description of events leading up to the purported insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, she is more favorable to Barr’s version.
Will Donald Trump be able to survive the emotional trauma or will he dissolve into madness like old King Lear?