“DON
JR. THINKS TRUMP IS ACTING CRAZY”: THE PRESIDENT’S COVID JOYRIDE HAS THE FAMILY
DIVIDED
The president’s recklessness at Walter Reed has Don Jr. pushing for an intervention, but Ivanka and Jared “keep telling Trump how great he’s doing,” a source says.
OCTOBER 5, 2020
Donald Trump’s erratic and reckless behavior in the last
24 hours has opened a rift in the Trump family over how to rein in the
out-of-control president, according to two Republicans briefed on the family
conversations. Sources said Donald Trump Jr. is deeply upset by his
father’s decision to drive around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
last night with members of the Secret Service while he was infected with
COVID-19. “Don Jr. thinks Trump is acting crazy,” one of the sources told
me. The stunt outraged medical experts, including an
attending physician at Walter Reed.
According to sources, Don Jr. has told friends
that he tried lobbying Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump,
and Jared Kushner to convince the president that he needs to
stop acting unstable. “Don Jr. has said he wants to stage an intervention, but
Jared and Ivanka keep telling Trump how great he’s doing,” a source said. Don
Jr. is said to be reluctant to confront his father alone. “Don said, ‘I’m not
going to be the only one to tell him he’s acting crazy,’” the source
added.
One area where the family seems united is over
the president’s manic tweeting early Monday morning. After Trump sent out more
than a dozen all-caps tweets, the Trump children told people they want Trump to
stop. “They’re all worried. They’ve tried to get him to stop tweeting,” a
source close to the family told me.
The Trump family’s private concern about
Trump’s behavior could raise questions about his fitness for office. Trump has
been prescribed drugs that medical experts say can seriously impair his cognitive
function. Last night the New York Times reported that
steroids, which Trump is reportedly taking, specifically dexamethasone, are
known to “affect mood, causing euphoria or a general happiness.”
There is a long history in the Trump family of
denying serious illness. According to a Trump family friend, Trump’s father,
Fred Trump Sr., insisted on working even after his Alzheimer’s disease advanced
in the 1990s. “To retire is to expire!” Fred Sr. would say. The friend said
that as Fred Sr.’s disease worsened––he once came down the stairs wearing three
neckties––the family created a system so that Fred could think he was still
running the Trump Organization. Every day Fred Sr. would go to the office in
Brooklyn and they would give him blank papers to sort through and sign. The
phone on Fred’s desk was set up so that it could only dial out to his
secretary. “Fred pretended to work,” the family friend said.
The White House did not immediately respond
for comment.
