Toward a Trump Dynasty?

Donald Trump Jr. openly acts like a candidate in the making. And Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, could set her sights on a Senate seat in the 2022 midterms. The Trump name is at no risk of fading away into the background of American politics any time soon.

Among the many things that deviated from the norm when Donald Trump launched his unlikely candidacy for the White House in 2015 was the nature − and the extremely slender limit − of his team. As well as a small group of sometimes surreal advisers (Roger Stone), among the count were a campaign manager (Corey Lewandowski) who, until that point was largely perceived as a marginal figure, and a communications director without any political experience (Hope Hicks). That was about it.

With the exception of one thing: the candidate’s family.

Trump ran his presidential campaign, and then his presidency, as a real family business. Entrusted with the role of special adviser, his daughter, Ivanka Trump, used the position to attend and give her two cents in almost all the high-level meetings that struck her fancy over the four years. Trump even gave a specific role to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The White House’s top man for criminal justice reform, Kushner was also responsible for the process of ratifying the United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement … as well as the Middle East peace process.

And we haven’t even yet mentioned the family members actively eyeing a career in politics.

With this in mind, the president’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., openly acts like a candidate in the making. Having increased the number of campaign appearances of several big names in the Republican Party in the 2018 midterms (among them Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and the current governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis), Trump Jr. has become one of the most in-demand spokesmen for Republican candidates across the country in 2020.

Far from wanting to silence the rumors, the president’s son shared a photo of himself all smiles scarcely a week after the November election, with a banner saying “Don Jr. 2024.” Since the election, he has thrown himself headfirst into Georgia’s Senate race, which will occur in January, appearing in advertising prepared by his personal political team, supporting the two incumbent Republican senators in the state.

Perhaps even more importantly, his efforts seem to have been noticed by the party’s voters. Two different national surveys carried out since the November election put Trump Jr. in third place among the favorite candidates for the Republican nomination in 2024, coming in behind only his father (the incumbent president) and the outgoing vice president, Mike Pence.

Of course, many things could happen between now and 2024 − including the simple decision as to whether the outgoing president will run again or not − which would have an impact on Trump Jr.’s potential candidacy.

But we might not have to wait until 2024 to witness another Trump candidate.

In fact, Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law (and wife of his second son, Eric Trump) is reportedly considering running for a seat as senator in North Carolina in the 2022 midterm elections. Outgoing Republican Sen. Richard Burr is grappling with serious ethics allegations (having been the subject of an investigation for possible insider trading), and has already announced his retirement, leaving the seat vacant.

The state’s other Senate seat, which was up for grabs in 2020, was the subject of the most expensive Senate campaign battle in American history − some $300 million in campaign costs. In such a competitive environment, Lara Trump, having previously had her own career in the media world, could benefit from the not insignificant advantages of having an established name and an automatic ability to raise funds and gain public visibility.

Clearly, everything is still in play, and nothing has yet been announced. In fact, the dust from the 2020 election has not yet completely settled. Nonetheless, for someone who was largely presented as a national joke when he launched his almost-amateur candidacy five years ago, Donald Trump’s name now evokes a very different word for some people: a dynasty.

Who’s laughing now?