(CNN)Few people on Earth consume media more avidly than members of the Trump family, and this is doubly true when it comes to news items that mention the family name.
In my visits to Trump Tower I have seen many inter-office mailings that included items of interest from the global press with notes of approval from daughter Ivanka to her father. This habit of attending to all that's written and said about the Trump clan makes it hard to believe family members didn't notice the many thousands of references to "Trump" and "conflict of interest" in reports on the President-elect's transition to the Oval Office.
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The President-elect and his offspring seem to have a problem understanding that certain standards, set outside their own control, may be applied to their behavior. The American people have come to expect that presidents and first families avoid both actual conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts. This is why previous presidents have put their assets in blind trusts and distanced themselves from troublesome relatives. (Jimmy Carter famously rebuked his brother, Billy, for getting involved with the Libyan government.) During the transition, the Trumps have been snagged by controversies of their own making. What makes them do what they do? Other young people who lack advanced degrees, have worked in a family business for much of their adult lives and have been mentored
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mainly by the same person might hesitate to sit in on transition team meetings, screen applicants for administration jobs and plant to occupy offices in the White House. The young Trumps have done all of these things with a kind of chin-first self-confidence that resembles no one so much as their father. And this is the point. They are valued because they have lived their lives inside the Trump bubble, where they have been supported by and worked for their father and absorbed his way of thinking.
Racehorse theory The big qualification that Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric possess is that they are in The Family. As Donald Jr. explained to me, Trumps believe in the "racehorse" theory of human development, which means that abilities are determined by breeding. The President-elect put it to me in a slightly different way, saying that he prefers in-born talent to experience. Also, when it comes to trustworthiness, the elder Trump counts his children first. They make up his innermost circle of allies, and he counts on them for support. This is especially true where Ivanka is concerned. Trump has long had a need for advice and encouragement from women he admires. Over the years his most trusted assistants have been the women who keep his appointments and monitor the traffic to his office door and his telephone line. Ivanka's beaming approval, noted by many observers during the campaign, has a steadying effect on the President-elect. He respects her and seeks her support. She provides it in ample portions. In Washington, Ivanka will, like her father, find herself in her first serious job outside the family orbit. And, like him, she will encounter people who are independent of Trump power and can, in the case of John McCain to name one, rally support for themselves.
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