On Tuesday, another Trump tell-all was released. As was the case with Fire and Fury, Born Trump included some wild claims about the Trump family, though the book focuses largely on the Trump children and how their parents raised them. It was written by Emily Jane Fox, a senior reporter for Vanity Fair.
The book zeroes in on the nitty gritty of the Trumps' upbringing, discussing everything from the wild teenage antics of the Trump children to adjusting to life in the White House. In her book, Fox focuses on the individual characters that comprise the first family, and less so on the larger political machine.
Per an interview with the TODAY show on Monday, Fox has been reporting closely on the Trump children for several years, beginning during the Trump 2016 presidential campaign. Speaking with NBC's Savanna Guthrie, Fox described the Trump childhood as "incredibly privileged," noting that they attended prestigious schools and grew up with two full-time nannies.
But at the same time, she said, the elder Trump children — Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric — were also dragged through a high-profile divorce. That, of course, would be when Trump left their mother, Ivana Trump, eventually re-marrying Marla Maples, mother of Tiffany Trump.
Still, the book is veritably a deep-dive into the Trump family psychology, and many previously unknown details about the Trumps and their affiliates reveal fresh nuances into how they function.
1Ivanka Viewed The Inauguration As A "Princess Moment"
According to Fox, Ivanka was very invested in Inauguration Day. So much so, Fox wrote, that "Ivanka looked to establish the Trumps as the new American Royal family":
She worked with a stylist and told friends that she wanted a princess moment, particularly for the inaugural balls, for which she chose a sparkly tulle confection. 'I told her it's an inauguration, not a coronation,' one friend recalled. 'The sentiment was that Americans wanted a royal family.'
2Ivanka And Jared Modeled Their Family After The Kennedys
The Kennedy name is mentioned countless times in Born Trump, and one time that the dynastic family comes up is with regard to how Ivanka and Kushner named their kids.
"When they had children, all the names they chose evoked Kennedy family ties— Arabella Rose, Joseph, and Theodore," Fox wrote. Each name has an official or unofficial affiliation with Kennedy history.
3Ivanka Trademarked Her Name In 1997
When Ivanka found out that another person with her name had opened an eponymous antique store in New Jersey, Ivanka reportedly had her own name trademarked. Bustle has reached out to the White House for comment.
4Ivanka May Run For President
One associated told Fox that they completely believed Ivanka would run for president.
"I’m a hundred percent sure it will happen, though maybe when her kids are older," an associate told Fox after Ivanka moved to the capitol. "The attention, she loves it. She’s like, addicted."
5The Trump Family Didn't Expect A Win
According to Fox, the Trump children were not prepared for their new lives as first children. The day after the election, as Fox tells it, Ivanka planned to go immediately back to work at her company and Kushner reportedly planned to embark on a reputation recovery tour. Don Jr. and Eric were reportedly looking into working on a "lower-tier chain of hotels in heartland cities that would appeal to the Trump supporters they’d met on the trail."
Instead, according to the book, they found themselves cobbling together an acceptance speech on the night of the election.
6Trump's Win Was Bad For Ivanka's Publishers
Going so suddenly from a businesswoman to a businesswoman who also happened to be a first daughter reportedly threw Ivanka's publishers for a loop. Her book, Women Who Work, came out after she assumed her role in the White House, meaning she wasn't allowed to personally promote it.
"She didn’t ruin the year," an executive told Fox, "but it was a bloodbath.”
7Ivanka Didn't Want To Be Viewed Like Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton and Ivanka Trump, both blonde heiresses born in the same year, were very easy to compare to each other, almost from day one. But according to Fox, Ivanka did not want to be lumped in with the socialite or her party behavior.
"It makes me sad," Ivanka reportedly said of Paris in 2004. "One of the easiest stereotypes of kids with money is that they’re the same— they were raised with the same values, they behave the same way."
According to the Born Trump, Ivanka wanted to be seen as a hard worker, not just a child born into money.
8Ivanka Played Hooky To Do Modeling Shoots
In the eighth grade, Ivanka was reportedly caught lying to her school administrators about why she was absent. It turned out she was down in Mar-a-Lago, doing a photo shoot. She reportedly switched schools the next year.
9Ivanka and Jared Met As A "Business Arrangement"
When Jared and Ivanka first met, it was reportedly for a business meeting with Moshe Lax, whose family diamond business had recently began working with Ivanka. After the meeting, however, Ivanka reportedly told a friend that Kushner had made a good impression on her.
10The Kushner Grandchildren Have Multimillion Dollar Apartments
After the birth of each of Jared and Ivanka's children, Jared's parents — Charlie and Seryl Kushner — reportedly bought "multimillion-dollar apartments in Manhattan for each one individually, placing them in a trust called Kinderlach, the Yiddish word for 'children.'"
11Ivanka & Jared Often Fly Commercial
Several times in the book, Fox references Ivanka and the Kushners flying commercially, instead of in private planes. According to the book, the Kushners tend to fly commercially when the whole family is going somewhere, and there are several references to Ivanka opting to fly commercially even before she was married.
12Trump Sent School-Aged Ivanka Newspaper Clippings About Himself
While Ivanka was away at school, her father didn't call her that often, according to Fox. However, he did send her mail about twice a week — usually newspaper clippings about him or her. In lieu of letters, he tended to scribble on the clippings themselves.
On the TODAY show, Fox said that she interviewed somewhere in the vicinity of 150 people while she was writing Born Trump. Combined, the book serves to offer a glimpse into one person's perspective of the first family.
