Former US President Donald Trump was asked about his stance on Roe v. Wade during the 2016 debate with Hillary Clinton. Video / PBS
There is an unexpected tension running through Trump Unprecedented, the new, hotly anticipated documentary series that delves into Donald Trump's final months as president of the United States.
Trump is as controversial and dominant a presence as ever throughout the series' three-hour runtime, but its most fascinating insights actually concern the competing fortunes and ambitions of his two eldest children: Donald Jr and Ivanka.
British film-maker Alex Holder gained exclusive access to the Trump family between September of 2020 and January of 2021, a period which encompassed the closing weeks of the presidential election campaign and the fraught aftermath of Trump's defeat.
It features multiple interviews with the former president, Don Jr, Ivanka and younger son Eric, as well as a number of experienced political journalists.
And it reveals far more than we'll be discussing below, so if you are at all interested in the Trump family or US politics in general, do make sure you check it out.
(To avoid confusion, we shall refer to Donald Trump as Trump in this article, and use his children's first names.)
Forever seeking approval
"Donald Trump's rhetoric is always about setting people against each other. That's a tough way to run a business. It's a tough way to run a country," notes Gwenda Blair, a professor at Columbia University, in Unprecedented's opening minutes.
She could have added that it's a tough way to run a family.
The documentary paints the Trump children as lifelong competitors for the attention and approval of a distant father. It's a narrative Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric all reinforce during their interviews as they shower Trump with praise, as though vying to see who can fawn over him the most.
"Nobody takes more incoming than the president. Most people would be under their desks, in the foetal position, sucking their thumb and crying," Ivanka gushes.
"Most politicians don't have the strength or the conviction to withstand that pushback. This president does."
At one point she compares Trump to Winston Churchill, bringing up a famous quote in which the wartime British prime minister said his nation "had the lion's heart" and he merely "had the luck to be called upon to give the roar".
"I think about that with my father," she explains.
Donald Trump Jr speaks to the crowd gathered at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi, in June. Photo / AP
Don Jr and Eric manage nothing quite so poetic.
When they aren't raving about Trump's work ethic, fortitude or political instincts, the siblings are all surprisingly open about their childhoods.
"My father was not conventionally a family man, in the sense that he didn't go to our sports games. That wasn't really his thing, and he was pretty unapologetic about it," Ivanka says.
"None of us ever questioned whether or not we were his top priorities."
This assertion is juxtaposed with Don Jr's explanation that he and his siblings only spent time with Trump when "it was on his terms".
"With him, it was, 'We're walking to a job site,' or, 'We're doing this.' I would play with Legos and trucks and stuff like that in the boardroom, while he was closing deals to build Trump Tower," he said.
"He's just a workhorse. That's his passion, that's his hobby, that's his vocation ... it didn't necessarily mix as well with a six-year-old kid."
Eric describes his father as an intimidating figure; a "larger than life" character who was "one of the greatest (property) developers in the world".
It is Ivanka who finally notes, albeit jokingly, that she and her siblings were "competitive in a playful, sometimes not so playful way".
Those outside the family frame it more bluntly.
"This is a father who was really distant from his children," says Marc Fisher, a senior editor at The Washington Post, drawing a comparison between Trump's treatment of his kids and the former president's own childhood.
Trump's father, Fred, built the real estate empire his son would later inherit. The psychologist Mary Trump, Trump's niece, spent much of her 2020 book describing Fred's cold approach to parenting and the effect she believes it had on his son.
According to Fisher, Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric were all "brought up from the beginning" with the same all-consuming aim Fred drilled into their father before them: to continue the Trump family's "multigenerational brand".
"They all were groomed to be that way. And they naturally took it upon themselves to be that way; to win their father's attention and love," he says.
"He had them compete at every turn."
"To Trump, there's no better surrogate than someone with his last name. You are here to serve and represent your father and to compete for his attention and approval," agrees The Atlantic's McKay Coppins.
"That's really how they have lived most of their lives."
Ivanka Trump speaks in the documentary. Photo / Discovery Plus
Ivanka vs Don Jr: Who is truly Trump's heir?
As the documentary progresses, a two-way rivalry between the eldest children comes into clearer focus. While Eric seems content to take a long break from politics and return to his business career, Don Jr and Ivanka hint at broader ambitions.
They're no longer competing just for Trump's affection. Now his considerable political influence is at stake as well.
Neither commits to a future career in politics. But tellingly, neither is willing to rule one out.
"I feel eternally grateful and privileged that my father, when he became president, believed in me, wanted me to be by his side, and empowered me to help him in some small way," Ivanka says.
"I'm just enjoying every second I'm having with my kiddos, and that is what I'm focused on for now. And we'll see. We'll see what is next beyond that."
Asked directly whether he might run for president, Don Jr says he has "no plans" to do so at the moment.
"I'll stay involved in politics. I don't know if I want to run as a candidate," he hedges.
"It's one of the great compliments I could possibly receive. When we started doing the primaries, before all the lockdowns, I'd open up for my father. And there's 15,000 people in an arena chanting '46' for me. That's pretty cool. I mean it's just an honour."
Trump was the 45th US president. Biden became the 46th last year.
"We need someone who is willing to initiate those conversations that a lot of conservatives are, perhaps – let's call it too prude to ever go there."
Polar opposites clash
Holder includes footage of all three Trump siblings campaigning for their father, contrasting their personal styles. The difference between Ivanka and Don Jr is stark.
Ivanka is polished and diplomatic; one of the documentary's participants describes her as being like a "princess". The woman herself frames her time in Washington DC with the kind of noble sentiment you hear from most politicians: she wanted to "give back" to her country.
She is also the most moderate Trump. It has been widely reported that Ivanka spent Trump's years in the White House lobbying him to go against the instincts of his political base, and pulling him towards the centre.
Former US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP
Don Jr lacks his sister's polish. But he makes up for that with a greater understanding of, and appeal towards, Trump's base.
His style is far more confrontational and "conspiratorial". Unlike Ivanka, he shares Trump's belief in debunked theories about widespread voter fraud in the last election. And he echoes Trump's rhetoric about the national identity of the US slipping away.
"When I see the socialist platform that's taking over the Democratic Party today, that actually scares me," he tells Holder.
"(I campaign) for my country, for our freedoms, for our liberties. I fight for young children. I want them to grow up in an America they actually recognise, and that is not what I am seeing from the left."
Don Jr's campaign speeches in 2020 were full of "red meat" – where Ivanka would focus on the Trump administration's economic record, he would spend his time talking about Hunter Biden, or claiming Joe Biden was senile, or mocking gender pronouns.
"(We) need you to mobilise. And when you do, we will make liberals cry again!" he boasts in one clip, at the very end of a speech.
As the election drew closer, it was Don Jr – not Ivanka – who took on the role of rock star at campaign events.
"It's Don who has the connection to Trump's political base, who has the inside track at this point," one of the journalists concludes.
'Politics is not over for this family'
In a recurring scene, the documentary makers show Trump footage of each of his children on the campaign trail and await his assessment of their talents.
"He's a good businessperson. I think he actually loves real estate, or likes it better than politics," he says of Eric.
"Ivanka's a very good person. She's very smart," he says of his daughter.
Don Jr gets the closest thing to a political endorsement: "Don is a really good politician. I think he loves it more than real estate, to be honest with you."
"All three have a tremendous following," Trump says. Though in characteristic fashion, he proceeds to remind his children of the family hierarchy.
"They each have their own base. It's part of my base."
Whoever emerges as his heir, the name Trump is not going to recede into the background.
"Do I think politics is over for this family? No," says Eric.
"I can assure you politics is not over for this family in some way, shape or form."
