In a biting column for the Daily Beast, Molly Jong-Fast notes that talk of a Trump family political dynasty has all but disappeared since Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, arguing his children are sliding into increasing irrelevance.
As Jong-Fast notes, it wasn't that long ago when Ivanka Trump was going to use the family name and her father's popularity with a rabid right-wing base to challenge Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for his U.S. Senate seat, Lara Trump -- wife of Trump son Eric -- was looking at an open North Carolina Senate seat and Don Jr. was going to run for office -- somewhere.
Six months after the brutal Trump re-election loss none of those races are happening as Trump's star has dimmed.
According to the columnist, "The family that held the entire Republican Party in their death grips for the last four years is now doing what all formerly famous people do, signing autographs and being sort of pathetic," before adding, "Their father may not have power anymore, but the kids have even less."
With Don Jr. failing to provoke much outrage anymore on his Twitter account, Ivanka living the good life and staying out of the public spotlight in Florida after realizing Manhattan wouldn't welcome her back with open arms, Jong-Fast suggested that the only thing worse than having people hate you is having people no longer care you exist.
Trump's children are "drifting off into the weird political afterlife of people who used to matter," she wrote. "Remember when Don Junior posed with a 'Don Jr 2024' banner at the Fallon Nevada Livestock Auction? That was in October, or, as I think of it, a lifetime ago. Since then Junior has been a busy bee, making apparent false statements in a deposition and maybe being investigated by Manhattan Attorney General Cy Vance's office."
Jong-Fast's analysis isn't entirely fair. Donald Trump Jr. hasn't faded from relevance entirely. He still has 5.4 million followers on Facebook, and more than 11 million on X, and maintains a podcast, "Triggered," on Rumble. He also remains Vice President of the Trump Organization, and oversees the Trump Organization's large property portfolio.
As for Ivanka, the Jong-Fast writes, "Remember Ivanka, the future of the GOP? Well, she's been in the witness protection program, not really but sort of. Since buying a $30 million empty parcel of land in Miami, the political genius has spent her time 'focusing on family time,' walking her tiny white dog on the beach and wearing hideous peach-colored athleisure. She's not going to primary Lil' Marco for the Florida Senate. She hardly has time with all the beach walks and decorating."
Jong-Fast's analysis of Ivanka appears more accurate, as President Trump's daughter has received little press since Trump's leaving office in 2021. However, she has been active in charity. Ivanka Trump has since supported CityServe, an organization that provides generators to churches in Ukraine.
“We literally have hundreds of generators that are now set up in churches that are literal lighthouses, and we’re trying to raise more money," CityServe CEO Dave Donaldson toldWestern Journal. "It’s only $5,000 for a generator, and you think about that. In the midst of all the darkness and coldness, we can light up these churches and people like in Kherson are flocking to them.”
Barely touching on the multitude of lawsuits and criminal investigations hovering over the Trump family, Jong-Fast stated that the farther the country moves beyond the Trump years, the less the chance any of the Trump kids -- or the ex-president for that matter -- have of a future political career.
"Look, there's a chance, a horrible, miserable chance, that Trump does get re-elected in 2024 and democracy dies, and the Trump kids go back to using our tax dollars to promote themselves as members of government who govern with lots of meaningless initiatives. After 2016, I know better than to say that couldn't happen," Jong-Fast conceded. "But if it does not, the baby Trumps have let their moment escape them. Junior could have won a congressional seat, and Eric's horrible wife could have at least grifted a lot of money running for the Senate in North Carolina."
"How are the kids going to pay for all their lawyers' bills if they can't grift campaign donations like their dad? Never mind, I don't care," she added.
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Editor's note: This article was originally published in 2021 but was updated in 2024 with the recent charitable activities of Ivanka Trump.
