The New Yorker is living in a dream world, albeit a beautifully illustrated one.
The cover art for the magazine’s upcoming issue features a cartoon President Trump dragging his son, Donald Trump Jr., by the ear, kicking his son in-law, Jared Kushner, and descending the jet-steps in front of a bright watercolor backdrop of Air Force One’s blue and white fuselage.
Penned by the talented Barry Blitt, the eye-catching illustration makes an obvious reference to the current Russia scandal, the one where Trump Jr. and Kushner attempted unsuccessfully to collude with the Kremlin to bring down Hillary Clinton.
It’s a good cover, but it’s bad political analysis.
In reality, the president isn’t scolding his boys (but he should be). According to recent reports, there’s no discipline, no chiding, no disappointment, just family loyalty inside the Trump White House.
“My son is a high quality person and I applaud his transparency,” Trump said in a one sentence statement in response to the news, before adding later on Twitter that his firstborn is a “great person who loves our country.”
Compare that with the wishful thinking that inspired Blitt to put colored pen to paper. “Tolstoy said that ‘happy families are all alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,'” the artist explains. “Somehow this seems to apply to the Trumps, particularly lately.”
The contrast between the imagined chaos in the White House and the actual acceptance of the status quo is telling. Trump isn’t disciplining his brood, even though that seems in order after they literally sat down with a lawyer connected the Kremlin. Instead, the president is embracing them without serious consequences.
If the president is angry at anyone, according to the New York Times, it’s his longtime lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus for not achieving the impossible task of keeping the story out of the headlines.
So while the idea of Trump as a stern presidential paterfamilias is engaging, it’s inaccurate. If the next three-and-a-half years are like the last six months, the Trump family will run roughshod without repercussions and their father will be loath to bring them in line. No amount of bombshell reporting will change that.
Still, the New Yorker does capture one thing somewhat correctly, namely how Trump sees his grown children. Trump Jr. might be a 39-year-old husband with five children, but in his father’s eyes he’s still just a little kid.
Chatting recently with reporters on Air Force One about the controversy, Trump referred to Trump Jr. as just “a good kid,” and “a good boy,” who can do no wrong.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
