By the time you read this, the midterm elections will be over and the fate of the nation will have been sealed. Politics aside, the one thing we can still all agree on is family values—which was a central theme at the Republican rally in Sioux City last Thursday coming from the keynote speaker and America’s Most Dissatisfied Billionaire, Donald J. Trump.
“Some of us have horrible children!” bleated Trump to his supporters who were prepared to cheer at absolutely anything he said but might have been confused about what he was getting at here. And, for his part, Trump—always the performer—must have sensed he was losing his audience. “Do you have any horrible children?” he implored, scrambling for sympathy?
It’s not always possible to follow Trump’s train of thought but it turns out the former president was attempting to brag about how he had changed the estate tax law so that rich people can now leave more money to their children. But what if you don’t like your children? “You pass away, you can—if you like your child,” he explained. “I always say, if you don’t like them, leave it to charity.”
If he talks long enough, whatever Trump is saying turns into a confession. He can’t help himself. It’s why his lawyers fight tooth and nail to keep him off the witness stand. Charities are a sore subject with him because it was revealed that he has not given nearly as much to charity as he claimed and Trump knows that bringing up charities will only remind people that his own charity was shut down by the courts as a fraudulent enterprise.
Trump’s relationship with his favorite child Ivanka soured after she publicly agreed with former attorney general Bill Barr that Trump lost the 2020 election. Plus, now that The Trump Organization is under indictment as a criminal enterprise, as its directors, his children are under pressure to rat him out. And if they know what’s good for them, they’ll do it. So, instead of extolling the virtues of Charles Grassley and Kim Reynolds as he was supposed to be doing, Trump used their rally to sew seeds of doubt about his potentially disloyal children, preparing his followers that, like elections, the media and his own many scandals, his kids are rigged, fake. Only suckers would trust them.
“Does anybody have like a child where you are really not going to leave your farm?” Trump inquired, setting the hook. “Any farmers?” This was a classic Trump dog whistle to his own children. If they turn state’s evidence against him, when he “buys the farm” he will leave them nothing. Are his kids hearing this? You bet they are! He’s leaving all his money to charity. Or how about Stormy Daniels? That’ll show ‘em.