Since the election, courtiers have been swarming around Mar-a-Lago like bees in a honeypot to pay homage to Donald Trump. The Florida Versailles, with its ballroom, chandeliers and disco lights, has attracted various oligarchs and power-brokers night after night. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of a famous family, Tucker Carlson, America’s best known broadcaster, and politicians JD Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tulsi Gabbard, have all been hanging out there.
“You can always tell when the king is here,” Trump’s former butler Anthony Senecal once said. There is plenty of gossip, intrigue, plotting and feuding, as jealous parties vie for the president-elect’s ear. But a new dynasty is in the making and the Trump brand name counts for more than any other. The people Trump trusts most are members of his own family. He has long believed in the efficacy of good genes – “We’re smart people… like racehorses. You know the fast ones produce the fast ones,” he said at a rally in Nevada this year.
There are enough Trumps to sustain his political legacy
With ten children and 15 grandchildren, there are enough Trumps to sustain his political legacy and the gossip columns for decades. Like the Kennedys, America will be living with the Trumps for generations. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Bill Clinton thought his wife Hillary should become president. The Bush family hoped Jeb, the younger brother of George W, would be the third Bush to reach the White House. But even the youngest Trumps are gaining a national profile. We are entering royal family territory.
Maga radicals won’t mind. Curtis Yarvin, a national conservative (NatCon) thinker associated with billionaire Peter Thiel and Vance, the incoming vice-president, has argued for an American “Caesar” or “monarch of everyone” to seize the reins of power on Day One. “When Caesar crosses the Rubicon, he doesn’t sit around getting his feet wet, fishing,” Yarvin has said. He uses “all force available” so the world can be “remade”. Trump, one suspects, is less interested in Yarvin’s theories of government than in ruling like a monarch. As in Britain, having heirs helps to boost the family image.
On election night, Kai Trump, 17, the daughter of Don Jr, posted a vlog of the Trump family party on election night at Mar-a-Lago on her YouTube channel, where she has nearly 300,000 followers. She has double that number on both X and Instagram. “He has worked his butt off every single day…since 2016 for this country,” she said admiringly about Trump. “He’s such an incredible person.” When Kai, an accomplished golfer, delivered her debut speech at the Republican national convention in July, she helped to humanise her grandfather.
“He calls me during the middle of the school day to ask how my golf game is going and tells me all about his," the teen influencer said. “But then I have to remind him that I’m in school, and I’ll have to call him back later."
There are 15 Trumps in Kai’s post on X of the “whole squad” at the election celebrations. “Uncle Elon”, as she calls Musk, was also there with his 4-year-old son X in Melania’s absence, leading to jokes about “Elonia”, Trump’s newest sweetheart. How long Musk stays in the family orbit remains to be seen – he is already squabbling with Trump confidants over control of various appointments, including the post of Treasury secretary. (For Yarvin, Musk is the ideal Caesar, but disbarred by his South African birth.)
The youngest Trumps, the children of second son Eric and his wife Lara, are already gaining their political training wheels. Carolina, 5, said, “Make America great!” at a North Carolina rally. Luke, 7, added, “Vote for grandpa!” Typically, Trump doesn’t believe in sugar-coating the rough side of politics. He said about Carolina, “She’s beautiful and she’s sweet and she doesn’t know how evil life is.”
Showing off his son Barron as a baby in 2007, Trump said, “He’s vicious, he’s violent, all the ingredients you need to be an entrepreneur.” Barron, now 19 and a student at New York University, is polite and well-mannered but his sharp political instincts were on display when he advised his father to appear with podcasters with millions of Gen Z listeners.
The most immediate beneficiary of Trump’s favour could well be Lara
The most immediate beneficiary of Trump’s favour could well be Lara. She married into the family rather than inherited the name, but has recently assumed favourite daughter-in-law status. In the victory night photo she stood next to Trump, far closer than his daughter Ivanka – a big turnaround from Ivanka’s presence at her father’s side from 2016-2020.
Lara, 41, headed the Republican National Committee (RNC) during the election and promoted Trump non-stop on cable news shows. Named after Lara in Dr Zhivago (played by Julie Christie) she is a tall, tanned blonde who looks to have styled herself after Ivanka. Lara has been open about what she wants in return for her efforts. She has her eyes on the Florida senate seat soon to be vacated by Marco Rubio, who has been nominated by Trump for secretary of state.
It would be great to have a “young mom” in the Senate, Lara said. “I have not been asked yet but I certainly would strongly consider it if it is presented to me.”
Lara’s potential candidacy, backed by Maga supporters, has put former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on the spot. It is up to the Florida governor to appoint a temporary replacement to serve until 2026, by which time his own term of office will have expired. Though he dare not say so, he would prefer to select a placeholder that could leave him open to running for the Senate himself.
DeSantis has so far couched his response in loyal terms, but is resisting being railroaded into appointing her. Lara admitted on Monday, “I have not had a conversation with him,” but added pointedly that she did “know the Make America Great Again, America First agenda better than anyone.” If DeSantis vetoes Lara, he risks reawakening Trump’s wrath and poisoning his own presidential prospects.
I used to think Ivanka had a fair chance of becoming America’s first woman president but, as Trump’s “wokest” child who worked on issues such as “women’s empowerment” at the White House, she has never been popular with the Maga movement. Staying away from her father’s criminal trials, as well as his campaign appearances, has not improved her reputation in Trumpland but she has returned to the fold after his re-election.
Don Jr, Ivanka’s older brother, who likes to hunt and shoot (and troll people on social media), is a far better fit with Maga supporters, but even they consider him wild. This may not be a disadvantage, as far as Trump is concerned, given that some cabinet nominees, such as Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Pete Hegseth as defence secretary – are a massive two fingers to the Republican establishment.
Don Jr is no more crazy than Robert F Kennedy Jr, for instance, who was nominated as health secretary as much for his name as for his anti-vax credentials. Owning a Kennedy is the ultimate “owning the libs”. Topping that, though, is the prospect of forging an even more durable Trump dynasty.
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting and a contributing editor to the London Standard.
