Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Breeding Tells

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

After eight years of stories about the presidential children being a couple of sweet girls struggling to lead ordinary lives under the glare of the White House floodlights, shifting gears to deal with the Trump children, particularly the three oldest - Ivanka, Donald, Jr., and Eric - is more than a bit disconcerting.  It is almost as if the families raised their kids on two different planets.

Ivanka, Donald, Jr., and Eric appear to be anything but sweet.  If the White House is, as it is often characterized, a "fish bowl," the Trump children are more closely related to sharks than they are to goldfish.

Ivanka does seem to have an interest in some issues that are of particular importance to women, such as paid maternity leave, but her statements have had little or no impact on the actions her tempestuous father.  Ivanka maintains a status, of sorts, as a label for a line of apparel manufactured in the third world by extremely low-paid individuals whom some describe as modern-day slaves.    Ivanka, the daughter and granddaughter of slumlords, married a slumlord, and seems to be well acclimated to her status in life - which is higher than the status of almost all other Americans.

Eric Trump had made a bit of a name for himself as a promoter of a charity that addresses childhood cancer, and, in fairness to him, much of the money that his charity raised has gone to respectable causes - such as St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis.  But it is also beginning to become clear that some of the money raised by Eric's charity has been plowed back into enterprises run by the Trump family.  New York's attorney general has been investigating that situation.

And then there is Donald, Junior.   The young Donald has been in the news for the past two weeks regarding a meeting that he had with a Russian lawyer right after his daddy became the nominee-apparent last summer.  The story has developed in drips and drabs, and Donald, Jr. has adjusted his version as more and more of the tale became public.  The latest version is that a former tabloid reporter approached Trump via an email saying that a Russian lawyer wanted a sit-down with Donnie, Jr., and that she had political dirt to share on Hillary Clinton - and that the Russian government had an interest in the senior Trump winning the election.

His reply to the invitation:  "If it's what you say, I love it!"

Donald Trump, Jr., did not bother to tell the FBI that he had received information that a foreign government was talking about influencing the American election.   Instead, he jumped at the chance to meet with the lawyer and brought along his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner (Ivanka's husband) and Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.  Trump, Jr. is apparently still maintaining that nothing related to the election was discussed at the meeting - no matter how much he may have wanted to hear some dirt on Clinton.  Some wags are describing his behavior in the matter as "treasonous."

So Sasha and Malia be gone!  The times have changed and the goldfish have swum out of view.   Now we are seeing a different type of presidential offspring.  The Trumps aren't cute, they're sharks - inept sharks, but sharks nonetheless.

Breeding tells.

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