For Donald Trump, the campaign to return to the White House is a family affair.
His sons Donald Jr. and Eric have been ubiquitous at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, flanking their father at almost all his public appearances.
During Trump’s first term in office between 2017 and 2021, they helped him make key decisions, and they now work to ensure the party leadership is comprised of loyal allies.
Most recently, their input helped tip Trump toward picking Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, a new addition to the inner circle.
“He couldn’t choose one of his sons or daughters or daughter-in-law, that just wouldn’t work, of course,” Natasha Lindstaedt, a political scientist at the University of Essex, told AFP.
“J.D. Vance and Don Jr. are very close. So he chose someone that maybe reminds him of his son or is close to his son,” she said.
A notable absence on the campaign trail this year, however, has been former first lady Melania Trump, who has been all but invisible throughout Trump’s rallies and protracted court appearances.
In a marked break from precedent, Melania has been largely absent in recent months from her husband’s political life, with the notable exception of a fiery statement after an attempted assassination attempt on him on Saturday.
Prior to that, however, she had spoken sparingly and not accompanied her husband during court appearances in a case that saw him convicted of covering up hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had a sexual encounter with the real estate tycoon.
“She’s a complete enigma,” Lindstaedt said, adding that the former model did not “play the typical role” of a former first lady.
“Although she seemed to share similar views to Trump on a lot of issues, not on all, but on a lot of issues, she has a very conservative world view, she doesn’t seem to care that much what people think and kind of does her own thing.”
The rest of Trump’s family has offered the former president a way to soften his image in the aftermath of the recent convictions and other legal woes.
His eldest granddaughter, 17-year-old Kai Trump, spoke at the RNC Wednesday night to describe the “very caring and loving” patriarch.
“He’s just a normal grandpa, he gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking,” she said.
The teenage daughter of Donald Jr. spoke of their shared love of golf, even when the former president tries to psych her out when playing against her.
“I don’t let him get to me, but I have to remind him I’m a Trump, too,” she said.
Like wagons hitched to their father’s train, Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka have been pulled along to success, along with their friends and families.
Lindstaedt pointed to two examples of Trump spouses achieving power: Eric Trump’s wife Lara Trump, who was recently appointed co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner, who Trump appointed as an adviser and entrusted with figuring out peace in the Middle East.
“Suddenly people who have no expertise, no training, no ethics training, maybe they’re not even going properly through security clearances, are given access to the most powerful positions,” Lindstaedt said.
“And we see when this happens in non-democracies and the dictatorships, how it usually goes very badly.”
Natalie Koch, who researches geopolitics and authoritarianism at Syracuse University, said Trump’s nepotism is nothing new.
“The Trump organization is a family business, but once he took office the first time, and then you could really see that he brought that into the political realm and into the White House,” Koch told AFP.
Each of Trump’s children has been entrusted with different duties during this campaign.
Don Jr., the eldest at age 46, is a big proponent of his father’s far-right “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) ideology.
Speaking at the Republican National Convention, he extolled the image of his father raising his fist after the assassination attempt last weekend.
Ivanka, 42, had played a role in Trump’s administration but has since devoted herself to personal matters.
Eric, 40, has doubled down on Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was rigged. At the convention, he appeared with delegates from Florida and claimed — without evidence — that the Democratic Party was planning to win this year’s election fraudulently.
Trump’s fourth child, Tiffany, 30, was also in attendance at the Republican National Convention.
His youngest child, 18-year-old Barron, whom he had with current wife Melania, appears to take after his mother’s preference for the background, declining to be a delegate from Florida at the convention this year.