The Sopranos visit Ireland
by digby
As parties go, it’s hard to top a state dinner with the queen of England, but President Trump’s sons — Donald Jr. and Eric — tried to keep the revelry going during an impromptu pub crawl in Doonbeg, Ireland, where they bought rounds of Guinness for the locals and reveled in the adoration of a village where the Trump family owns property.
“It’s exciting when Trump comes into town, isn’t it?” Eric Trump declared Wednesday evening amid the festivities.
Not just Trump, but the Trumps — decidedly plural. As the president has hopscotched on official duties between three European nations this week, his four adult children — also including daughters Ivanka and Tiffany — have been prominently involved in many high-profile moments.
They sat for the white-tie dinner with Queen Elizabeth, toured the Churchill War Rooms, attended the 75th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day invasion in Normandy and, for the Trump sons, checked in on the family business at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, where the president is spending two nights before returning to Washington on Friday.
If the display sought to project the Trumps as global goodwill ambassadors for the United States, it has also raised questions given the president’s refusal to draw strict boundaries between his official duties and his private business.
Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, hold administration jobs, while Trump’s two eldest sons oversee the Trump Organization’s real estate holdings around the world, including the Doonbeg property. Lara Trump, Eric’s wife, who is also on the trip, is an adviser to the president’s campaign. Barron, Trump’s 13-year-old son, remained in Washington.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, center, watch as President Trump and first lady Melania Trump lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior during their visit to Westminster Abbey on June 3 in London. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
The question of who is paying for the family members’ participation — and whether American taxpayers will be on the hook — has emerged as an unresolved subplot, with newspapers in Scotland and London scouring State Department databases and reporting on the fancy hotels and expensive limousines contracted by the U.S. government.During the trip, the Trump children have documented their exploits in Instagram posts — touring Buckingham Palace! observing the aerial flyover in Normandy! pouring pints behind the bar in Doonbeg! — in a modern-day slide show of “wish-you-were-here!” family vacation moments for the public back home. At times, the images appeared discordant with the aims of a U.S. government delegation representing the nation’s geostrategic interests.
“Questions surrounding the family on this trip come from Trump’s decision not to divest from his business and hiring Ivanka and Jared,” said John Wonderlich, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, an open-government advocacy group that has sought to document potential conflicts of interest for the Trump family.
“It’s not utterly inappropriate for family members to be involved in a state dinner, but are they trying to show they are united and that the business and family interests are the same?” Wonderlich said. “We’re always left in doubt about what their intentions are. You can’t say it’s just a family.”
It’s a family. A crime family.
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