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Meet the Trumps

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CNN felt we should get up close and personal with the Trumps, staging a town hall with the family last night that was met with mixed reviews.  The Donald seems to be feeling pretty good about himself after his sabbatical of several days, preparing for a final week of stump speeches before the New York primary, where he is seen as the overwhelming favorite to sweep all the districts in the state and claim its 95 delegates.

With a big victory on the horizon, he extended an olive branch by stating that he would consider Kasich, Rubio and Walker as running mates.  This was news to these three men, who categorically rejected serving as his vice-president.  I suppose this is his way of saying he is willing to work out a deal with the Republican National Committee if it drops its campaign against him, otherwise he might push for Ben Carson, Chris Christie or god forbid Sarah Palin on the ticket.

He also has his henchmen making the rounds, telling everyone how Ted Cruz uses "gestapo tactics" to get his delegates and that John Kasich has no business still being in the race.  Paul Manafort was called in to stop the bleeding of delegates to Ted Cruz, but hasn't been able to do much, losing battles in Colorado, South Carolina and Louisiana.

The oddest thing though was seeing Anderson Cooper play nice to the Trump family after grilling the Donald not that long ago on the twitter battle with Ted Cruz over their wives.  I suppose CNN head honcho, Jeff Zucker, stepped in and said we don't want to anger the beast too much.  Unfortunately for the Trumps, it didn't come across as very warm and fuzzy.  Judging by their ready answers, the family was well prepared, or so it seemed by their confidence.

Not surprisingly, Ivanka lied when asked why she and her brother, Eric, weren't registered to vote in New York.  She claimed they had to register almost a year before the primary, but the Board of Elections stipulates they had to be registered before March 25, less than three weeks ago.  She has been at her father's side throughout the campaign and is not afraid to go on talk shows defending his honor.  More impressive is that she hardly took any time off for her childbirth, ushering in the latest Trump on March 27.  This actually explains why she failed to register, as she was in the final week of her pregnancy, and registering to vote was no doubt the last thing on her mind.

Rather, Ivanka told us all about her strong independent nature and that politics was new to her.  If you go to her wiki page, you will find that she not only supported Hillary Clinton in the past, but she and her husband bundled more than $40,000 for Cory Booker's Senate campaign in New Jersey, by hosting a fundraiser in 2013.

It really makes you wonder why Donald, supposedly a devoted father, would put his daughter in such an awkward situation.  It is hard to imagine she agrees with the views he has taken in this campaign, but she has defended him at every turn.  Anderson Cooper touched on her relationship with Chelsea Clinton, which has become a bit strained ever since this campaign heated up, but Ivanka casually shrugged it off like a cashmere wrap.

The older boys look like clones of Donald, and judging by their past excursions probably had little interest in politics before this year.  For the most part, they stand behind their father at rallies.  They are being groomed to run his business interests, and are not expected to appear publicly on their own.  However, Greta caught up to Eric last October.

There are two more children, Tiffany, the love child from his brief fling with Marla Maples, and Barron, the product of his current marriage with Melania, rounding out the family portrait.  Neither are considered notable enough to have their own wikipedia page yet.  But, Melania is, thanks to her modelling career.

In a normal election year, it would be hard to take a campaign like this seriously, but the Trump campaign has become the new normal, a made for television reality show, replete with an Ex on the Beach, who recently got bounced from Dancing with the Stars, and a former Real Housewife stepping out on her own in Miami, and a current wife who once graced the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition among other high profile mags.   Hard to compete with this kind of glamour, and it seems that CNN gave into it once again.


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