opinion

"For all of their faults, the Trumps truly are a modern family."

Look, I’d like to just start this off by saying I don’t particularly like the Trumps.

I don’t agree with Donald Trump’s politics, Ivanka Trump’s silent support of them, Melania Trump’s attempt to cash in on her position as First Lady, the bizarre photoshoot of Don Jr in the woods that was released over the weekend, or Eric Trump’s gleeful takeover of his father’s empire.

When it comes to Tiffany and Barron, well, mostly I just don’t feel anything, which seems to be a fairly universal sensation to the youngest members of the President’s offspring.

But dislike them, hate them, live in fear of them, or love them, the Trump family has one thing that sets them apart from other conservatives who have previously called the White House home: they are truly a modern family.

For what is possibly the first time in their country’s history, the First Lady is not living in the White House. She is doing the minimum required of her and trying to live as quietly and privately as possible throughout the week in not just a separate residence, but a different state.

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The First Lady, Melania Trump, is doing things differently. Source: Getty.
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Melania Trump already has a job, she's previously argued. She is a full-time mother who wants to be there when her son leaves for school and there when he returns each afternoon.

"Barron is the priority for now and he needs me at this age. He needs a parent at home, and I like to keep it as normal as possible," the former model has previously said.

Years ago, the eldest of Trump's children, Donald Jr, recreated his proposal to his now wife Vanessa at a shopping mall in New Jersey in exchange for a free engagement ring. That's the kind of First Son we're now living with. Not drink driving charges being swept under the rug or a penchant for class A drugs, but strip malls and diamond rings.

Listen: Why the world needs to stop mocking Melania Trump. (Post continues after audio.)

Last week Donald Jr said now his father is President, they hardly speak at all - an agreement they both signed on to when Donald Sr signed over the management of his real estate business to sons Don Jr and Eric following the election.

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"I haven’t spoken to him,” Donald Jr told The New York Times.

“Maybe just to say hello. It feels trite. I feel ridiculous bothering him.”

Can you remember or imagine any other First Family members ever admitting freely to the press that now their parents are in charge of a nation, they don't call, write or text? I certainly can't.

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Don Jr, Eric and Ivanka Trump. Source: Getty.
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Then this week, in another unprecedented move, it was announced that Ivanka Trump will be assigned an office within The White House — a high-level clearance that permits access to top-secret documents, and a government-funded phone.

Whether or not the office is next to her husband Jared Kushner's - who works as a senior adviser to his father-in-law Donald Trump - is not yet known.

Attempting to address the growing criticism surrounding the decision, which many are labelling blatant nepotism, Ivanka simply said "there is no modern precedent for an adult child of the president." (Someone should, perhaps, let her know George Bush Jr was 43 when his father George Bush Sr took office.)

So because of that, apparently it's okay.

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Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner. Source: Getty.
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Look, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But either way, it's definitely unprecedented. And if there's one thing the Trumps do appear to have a unique knack for, it's surely doing what works for them and drowning out all criticism as white noise.

Then again, this is, after all, exactly how the family's patriarch made his money and ran his election campaign, so perhaps it's not that original after all.

Never has a family been so at ease with writing their own rules and, on the same hand, flagrantly disregarding those that already exist. And perhaps it's because of this, alongside everything else, that so many find them inspirational, and even more find them utterly terrifying.

It might not be working for anyone else in America, but it definitely seems to be working for the Trumps themselves.

What do you think of the Trump family setup?