How Donald Trump's Children Influence His Presidential Campaign
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Who is really pulling the strings behind the Trump campaign? According to a report from Bloomberg's Kevin Cirilli, Donald Trump's children deserve a lot of the credit.
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From the ousting of Trump's controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to his praise of Planned Parenthood, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's campaign has been directly influenced by his three eldest children, Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. They advise him on "staffing and fundraising" as well as "political strategy and policy ideas," Bloomberg reports.
Trump acknowledges as much. While he dismissed claims that Ivanka facilitated the firing of Lewandowski in an interview Monday with NBC's Today, Trump's children reportedly lend their advice on a "daily" and sometimes "hourly" basis. There's evidence that their advice has impacted his policy, too.
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Ivanka, for example, reportedly encouraged her father to show compassion for the LGBT community in his formal response to the Orlando mass shooting. He did so, and the outreach effort apparently earned him the favor of some gay conservative leaders, as ATTN: recently reported. She also played a role in shaping his platform on women's health and expressed concern over his tone as he proposed a ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S.
On the role of Trump's sons, Cirilli had this to say:
"Trump's sons have also influenced their father's politics. Don Jr. — a devout hunter — has worked tirelessly as a Second Amendment rights activists. Both he and Eric were instrumental in introducing their father to the hunting community, both at a grassroots level and also from a business standpoint. They helped coordinate a meeting with CEOs of hunting businesses in Las Vegas ahead of the Iowa Caucuses.
They have also directly helped interview several top aides before they officially joined Trump's political team, and in some cases they are also often the contact people for lower-level policy staffers looking to connect with the campaign."
To what extent Trump actually acts on his children's advice is unknown, of course. As the candidate enters into the general election competition, however, it's clear that they're making their voices heard.