Through the coronavirus pandemic — a time of extended nationwide mourning — the president has hardly ever provided public shows of empathy or grief
Through the coronavirus pandemic — a time of extended nationwide mourning — the president has hardly ever provided public shows of empathy or grief. Many who knew Fred Trump say that is one more instance of his affect on his son.
Our reporters Annie Karni and Katie Rogers spoke to over 20 of the president’s associates, relations, political allies, administration members and enterprise associates for an article inspecting the difficult relationship between father and son.
Annie answered a number of questions on what she realized whereas reporting the piece.
In the event you might sum up the core values that Fred Trump sought to instill in Donald, what would they be? How would you describe the significance of Fred’s affect on his son’s private and non-private persona?
The core worldview that Fred Trump handed on to his son was a black-and-white outlook the place individuals are loyal or disloyal — the place you win or lose, dominate or submit. He additionally handed on this concept that work was valued above all else (see additionally: Trump refusing to ever name his weeks {golfing} in Bedminster, N.J., something greater than a “working trip”), and that success within the household enterprise was mainly all that counted.
Within the article, you write that Fred Trump pushed his son exhausting to succeed — but in addition that he invested lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} in backstopping Donald’s enterprise ventures, usually serving to him get out of economic jams. In the event you had to decide on between one, would you say that Donald Trump was inculcated with extra of an emphasis on “successful,” or on really doing the exhausting work wanted to get forward?
It’s exhausting to separate out nature and nurture, or to determine how a lot of Donald Trump’s character comes from his upbringing and the way a lot is just because he was born that means. However it’s clear that what issues to him is successful, and the notion of successful. All through his profession — possibly all the best way till the coronavirus — he has been capable of spin his personal losses as wins, and more often than not, it labored.
I interviewed individuals who labored with each Donald and Fred Trump, they usually mentioned that Fred all the time marveled at his son’s advertising and publicity abilities. This was the place father and son differed: Fred was a behind-the-scenes participant, not a family title, and by design. He was scared and astounded by his son’s preternatural curiosity in promoting himself. That half Donald Trump made up himself, and Fred was very pleased with it.