Trump’s granddaughter campaigns for him at the Republican Convention: ‘He is caring and loving’
Kai, 17, insisted on a message that has gained strength these past few days, trying to paint a friendlier picture of the candidate following the assassination attempt
Operation Humanize Donald Trump on Wednesday had invaluable support from his eldest granddaughter, Kai Trump. It was four days after the assassination attempt against the former president in Pennsylvania, and at the end of Day 3 of the Republican National Convention being held in Milwaukee.
Kai is 17 years old and the first-born of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-wife, Vanessa, who had five children before divorcing in 2018. On Wednesday Kai took the podium to share with the world that her grandfather is, after all, just like other grandparents: “To me, he’s just a normal grandpa. He gives us candy and soda when our parents are not looking,” she said, as her grandfather looked on from the VIP section.
“The media makes my grandpa seem like a different person. But I know him for who he is. He is very caring and loving. He truly wants the best for this country. And he will fight every single day to make America great again,” she said.
That idea that the world has gotten the wrong impression of Trump and that, after nine years of being in the eye of the public storm, it is time for that to change, has been a recurring theme throughout the convention. From former House speaker Kevin McCarthy to the delegates at the convention to former collaborators such as Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, head of his campaign in Florida in 2020, everyone insists that the attack has revealed the true face of the former president: a “tough man with a big heart.”
Family affairs
The surprise was spoiled by Kai herself, when she revealed on her Instagram account that she would be speaking at the convention. The young woman’s words contained all the familiar mantras heard every day in Milwaukee: that the Joe Biden Administration is endangering Americans with its “open borders” policy, that the economy is worse than when Trump was in charge, and that there are no longer Democrats like there used to be, with whom one could disagree, like Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy or Martin Luther King.
On Wednesday, Kai joined a growing list of Trump relatives who have become agents of the patriarch’s political operation. There are the children: Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, whose mother is Trump’s first wife, Ivana, and Tiffany, whom he had with his second wife, Marla. There is also the daughter-in-law, Lara, Eric’s partner, who is the director of the Republican National Committee, the party’s governing body and a fundamental element for the campaign fundraising effort. And finally there is Melania Trump, his third wife, whose speech at the 2016 convention was one of the high points of the event, but since Trump lost the elections she has insisted on not being seen much with her husband.
Melania and Ivanka, who during her father’s years in the White House held a prominent position with her husband, Jared Kushner, are scheduled to participate on Thursday, the last day of the convention.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition