Donald Trump’s niece has claimed that Ivanka trump and Donald Trump Jr do not have the charisma to run for US president.
Speaking in an interview with Insider on Tuesday, Mary Trump claimed that Ivanka and Mr Trump Jr, the former president’s two eldest children, would struggle to win votes if they decided to run for office in the future while comparing them to their father.
“He has a certain charisma that appeals to people’s lowest and basest instinct and gives permission to people to be their worst selves. He can be charming. It makes sense to me that people can be taken in by him,” Ms Trump said about the former president.
“They don’t have that,” Ms Trump then added about Ivanka and Mr Trump Jr, who were both embedded in their father’s administration and are rumoured to be running for president in 2024.
Although Ivanka ruled herself out of a run for Senate in Florida last month, she is tipped to campaign in 2024, while Mr Trump Jr has also been rumoured to run in the next election and was a fixture at his father’s rallies.
However, a Politico-Morning Consult poll released last month showed that 54 per cent of Republicans would still back Mr Trump in the 2024 primary, while Donald Trump Jr was in third place in the survey on only 6 per cent.
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The former president’s niece, who was a prominent critic of Mr Trump during last year’s national election campaign and released a book describing him as a “narcissist”, then claimed to Insider that he will not be able to run in 2024 because he will be embroiled in court cases.
“That is the only saving grace at the moment: Donald and possibly two or three of his children are going to be embroiled in lots of legal actions, starting in the future and the not too distant future,” Ms Trump said.
“Thanks in large part to their dad but also to their own anti-social tendencies, going to be defending themselves I’m guessing in a fair number of civil and criminal cases going forward,” she added.
The Trump organisation is currently facing a probe from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R Vance Jr, who is investigating whether Mr Trump and his family business inflated the value of assets for better loan terms.
Ms Trump also sued the former president last September, claiming that Mr Trump and his siblings cheated her out of her inheritance, writing in the lawsuit: “Fraud was not just the family business – it was a way of life.”
The former president denies any wrongdoing in both cases. The Independent has contacted the Trump Organisation for comment.
