Five Reasons To Believe Trump Is A Good Dad
Love him or hate him, we can’t ignore that when it comes to parenting, Donald Trump seems to be a pretty good father. The proof is evident in the behavior of his kids. Certainly, kids who have an ax to grind don’t act like his kids do.
First, adult sons and daughters who harbor deep anger toward a parent never speak highly of him or her, regardless of how famous they are. In fact, fame can be an ideal opportunity for angry kids to humiliate their parents. Trump’s older kids, Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. don’t behave this way. In fact, they have no reason to publicly support their father so enthusiastically other than the belief that their father is a good and capable man. Sure, they may want to applaud him to further their own careers, but they don’t need to do this. They are each highly successful on their own. If they had lukewarm sentiments about their dad, they would at least fade into the background. But they haven’t. They have taken advantage of large public platforms to convince us that he has strong character and extraordinarily strong abilities to improve America. They wouldn’t do this if they believed that his intentions were other than altruistic. The fact that they have successfully convinced millions of Americans that he has what it takes to lead our country can only come from sincere sentiments.
Second, both his daughter-in-law and son-in-law are two of his most ardent supporters. How many in-laws boast about their father-in-law not only privately, but also publicly? Lara has no motive to boast other than genuine admiration and Jared could certainly stay silent.
When it comes to his business life, Trump puts his grown kids front and center. Fathers who want to dominate the spotlight, don’t do this. They own the public space and keep their adult kids in the background, in part, to avoid the risk that their kids will make derogatory statements about them. Trump takes the risk because he is confident they won’t humiliate or criticize him. He knows they will always support him.
When Trump’s older kids were young, he protected them from the paparazzi. He worked to keep his kids out of the spotlight until they wanted to jump into it of their own volition. His first three kids went away to school so that the press would leave them alone. Tiffany and Barron now enjoy that same privacy so they too can live their own lives. The president-elect could easily push all of them into the spotlight to make himself look like a good father, but he doesn’t. Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr., along with Lara Trump, put themselves in the public and political arenas to bolster President-elect Trump’s career.
When it comes to raising his family, Trump appears to have nothing to hide. Most fathers would be afraid to give their kids the freedom to say what they want about their dad. Who among us would have the confidence to give our kids such a large media presence to say whatever they want about us? Not me. Only a father who feels confident about the job he has done would do so.
Many divorced couples carry resentment and anger after their breakup with their spouse and psychologists know how damaging the animosity can be on the couple’s kids. Donald has kept his kids from a lot of pain by embracing friendships with his two ex-wives. And while Ivana Trump passed away in 2022, we still see photos of Marla Maples, Melania, and Donald standing together smiling for the camera at Tiffany Trump’s wedding.
The peculiar thing about the president-elect’s life is that he seems to have successfully split himself into two men: the father and the political genius. In his former role, he appears to have worked hard at having close relationships with his kids. To the best of his ability, he has tried to spend as much time as possible with them. This is no easy task when you are running a multi-million-dollar real estate empire and then while being president. Succeeding at both takes impossible time and energy and yet, with these challenges, he has somehow stayed close with his kids.
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The other side of Trump is hard to applaud. He has been accused of multiple incidents of sexual harassment and harmful sexual behavior toward women. He has admitted to being a poor husband at times, and his numerous public affairs with women confirm this. Good husbands don’t cheat on their wives or sexually harass other women. The peculiar part is that his five kids know this and still publicly support and encourage him. This occurs only because, in some genuinely incredible feat, Trump has found a way to communicate to his kids that being their father is a much higher priority than even being a husband, businessman, or politician. His life as a father is completely separate from his work life, and his kids must feel this. If they refused to forgive or ignore his deep flaws they would take every opportunity to denounce him on the worldwide stage.
Donald Trump is a complex man. He is both a good man and a villain. This is hard for people to understand. The truth is, however, that we are all complex beings. Like him, we are not simply good or evil, kind or cruel. We are both. Certainly, as a man, Trump has made poor decisions, and offended many people to the point where they despise him. But clearly, he has done something well when it comes to his kids. And their behavior is a testimony to his personal success as a father.
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Meg Meeker, M.D., has spent more than thirty years practicing pediatric and adolescent medicine and counseling teens and parents. Dr. Meeker is a fellow of the National Advisory Board of the Medical Institute, and an associate professor of medicine at Michigan State School of Human Medicine. She is the author of the international best-seller “Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.