Rise of reverse US dynasts

KP Nayar

Strategic Analyst

They are the reverse dynasts in this year’s US elections. These are children of politicians, who could have carried forward political dynasties founded by their parents or grandparents. Instead, they have turned against their family ideology and beliefs.

These are children of politicians, who could have carried forward political dynasties founded by their parents or grandparents.

The Trump family is an exception to the broad rule during the 2020 presidential election cycle, which has divided households and caused ruptures in human relationships that may take many years to heal. It is another legacy of Donald Trump’s socially divisive presidency: its scars are unusual because it is rare in a society which sets store by deep family values.

The President’s family has stood together through turbulent years since the patriarch occupied the White House in 2017. That excludes a lone member of the Trump clan, the President’s niece, Mary Trump, who is a frontline fighter in the struggle to deny her uncle a second term in office. But not so with the offspring, spouses and other close relatives of many others who form part of Trump’s inner circle. At the beginning of this month, the White House communications team tried their best to suppress information that Covid-19 was spreading among those who attended the largely mask-free, socially close, initiation of Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, in the presidential Rose Garden followed by an indoor reception.

A tip that this event on September 26 had become a super spreader of Covid-19 came from the teenage rebel daughter of the President’s most trusted and durable lieutenant, Kellyanne Conway. Fifteen-year-old Claudia Conway, who is inseparable from her TikTok social networking account, broke the sensitive news that her mother was ‘coughing all around the house’ since she attended the two super spreader functions. As the teenager’s post spread at lightning speed across Washington, her mother was forced to admit the news of her infection. Claudia has 1.5 million followers on TikTok. A large chunk of them are with her since the teenager declared war on Trump. Kellyanne joined Trump’s campaign two months before he secured the Republican nomination four years ago. At that point, Trump was changing his campaign managers like he was changing shirts.

At least one of those managers has since gone to jail. Kellyanne brought order to Trump’s chaotic electioneering and survived as campaign manager till polling day. Three weeks after he won, he told Kellyanne that she can have any job in the White House that she wanted. Kellyanne was a sheet anchor of the administration until two months ago when she resigned in the face of unrelenting social media onslaughts by her daughter against anything to do with Trump.

‘Less drama, more Mama’ was how Kellyanne described her resignation to preserve ties with her daughter and her husband, George Conway, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, which aims to defeat Trump next month. With her mother’s resume and her father’s conservative – albeit anti-Trump – credentials, Claudia could have been on her way to having a gilded public persona and perhaps emerged as a future politician. But she has spurned the role of a dynast and is charting a future, independent of her famous parents.

Another reverse dynast is Caroline Giuliani, better known than the Conway offspring for three reasons. Caroline is the daughter of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose name has nationwide recognition because he was the no-nonsense chief executive during the terror attacks on the World Trade Center. Second, she has been at it longer, since the age of 12, she admits, when she would get into dinner table debates on politics and society with her father. She is honest to admit that at that time she was ill-equipped to deal with such subjects. Thirdly, Caroline, at 31, is twice the age of Claudia. Caroline was born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth: her schooling was at Trinity, New York’s three centuries-old institution. She then went to Harvard and is now a filmmaker.

As a bisexual, Caroline may have faced opposition in the Republican Party, had she chosen to be dynast. But with support from father Rudy and a mother who is a famous television personality and author, Caroline could have overcome that challenge. As Trump’s closest adviser and chief hatchet man, Rudy could have got anything for Caroline with the patronage of Trump, who does not stint on doling out favours to his friends. Caroline decided otherwise and now describes Trump’s years in the White House as a ‘reign of terror’.

The US is replete with political dynasties: the most famous are the Kennedys and the Bushes. But there are older, lesser known ones. The second and eighth Presidents of the US were a father-son duo, with the same name: John Adams. The son later used Quincy, his middle name, to differentiate himself from the father. The Adams family is still political, ever since senior John Adams became Vice-President to George Washington. The Roosevelts, the Harrisons, the Tafts, the Rockefellers, the Clintons, the Udalls, the Romneys… the list is endless. Because reverse dynasts have popped up in the ongoing election does not mean the end of dynasties in the US. The next dynast President may be New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, son of three-term Governor Mario Cuomo. Andrew has the additional advantage of having married into the Kennedy dynasty. He overcame the first wave of Covid in New York and is now a household name in the US.

Meanwhile, other reverse dynasts are on the rise. Meghan McCain could have stepped into her father’s shoes when the long-time Senator from Arizona, John McCain, died two years ago. She would have easily won his seat which Republicans are now in danger of losing. Meghan, now a TV journalist, registered as an independent when she turned 18 and became eligible to vote.

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