June 14, 2024 - 7:00pm

A curious feature of Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict was Donald Trump’s relatively muted response to the news. According to the former president, the trial was nothing but a distraction from the true crimes of the Biden family. The initial message even concluded with, “As for Hunter, we wish him well in his recovery and legal affairs”, though that line was quickly retracted.

On the face of it, his response may seem strange — there’s no one more pugilistic than Trump — but it’s not out of step with his character. Indeed, there’s basically no record of him launching unprovoked salvos on his opponents’ children. In 2016, Chelsea Clinton attacked him, but he didn’t respond, which may be why she showed a similar restraint about Barron Trump earlier this year. Similarly, Trump refrained from targeting the Obama daughters, despite his relentless attacks on their father. On the Republican side, while he questioned Nikki Haley’s husband for not being on the campaign trail, he made no mention of her children.

As one of the most outspoken presidential candidates of all times, what explains this restraint? One reason that is very personal to Trump is that his own brother died of an alcohol-induced heart attack. Trump recognises the toll that takes on a family, saying earlier this month: “Look, I feel very badly for [the Bidens] in terms of the addiction part of what they have right now”.

The second factor is that Trump, being a New York real estate mogul, is steeped in the city’s ethos, which in no small part was born of organised crime. In this world, there are rules, one of which is that you don’t go after the women and children, only the enemy. That Trump has dealt with the mafia over the course of his career is well-documented. in fact, he told a 2004 panel that he was initially hesitant to do The Apprentice because “You know, mobsters don’t like, as they’re talking to me, having cameras all over the room. It would play well on television, but it doesn’t play well with them”.

Trump himself was never part of such criminal groups, but he cut his teeth in that environment. As such, he knows the rules of the game and applies them not just to his business dealings but to his political ambitions as well.

None of this is to suggest that Trump fights “clean”, however. He’ll happily smear one primary opponent for being a prisoner of war, insinuate another’s father was involved in JFK’s assassination, and claim that a third wears high heels. He’ll disparage a son for influence peddling, but he won’t drag him down for being caught in the throes of addiction. It’s a very brash, very New York approach. But the children of his rivals? He leaves those kids alone.


Rich Cromwell is a writer living in Northwest Arkansas with his wife and three daughters.