Donald Trump Jr.’s Journey to Republican Stardom

[0] From the New York Times, I'm Michael Babaro.

[1] This is a daily.

[2] We're here tonight to talk about the great American story.

[3] One of the most memorable speeches of the Republican National Convention this week was from the president's eldest son.

[4] Joe Biden and the radical left are now coming for our freedom of speech.

[5] A blistering attack on Joe Biden and the American left.

[6] They want to bully us into submission.

[7] If they get their way, it will no longer be the silent majority.

[8] It will be the silenced majority that predicted a national descent into anarchy, violence, and oppression.

[9] People of faith are under attack.

[10] You're not allowed to go to church, but mass chaos in the streets gets a pass.

[11] If voters do not re -elect his father.

[12] Imagine the life you want to have, one with a great job, a beautiful home, a perfect family.

[13] You can have it.

[14] Today, my colleague, Jason Zengrily, on Don Jr.'s long journey, from family outcast to right -wing star, and now, to his father's political heir.

[15] That is the life.

[16] That is the country.

[17] That is the world that Donald Trump and the Republican Party are after.

[18] And yes, you can have it.

[19] It's Friday, August 28th.

[20] Jason, it feels like Donald Trump Jr. has had many different lives, and the most recent of those is what we saw.

[21] at the Republican convention this week.

[22] But where does that story start?

[23] It literally starts in the hospital room when he's born on New Year's Eve in 1977.

[24] His mother wrote a book a few years ago in which she recounted the scene where she tells her husband that she wants to name him Donald Jr. And Donald objects saying, no, you can't call him Don Jr. What if he's a loser?

[25] Wow.

[26] From there, everything else flows.

[27] I used to kiss him before going, to school every morning right seven o 'clock in the morning i'm going to school hugs kisses and used to say a couple things no smoking no drinking no drugs but then he followed up with don't trust anyone ever and you know he'd follow it up two seconds later with said do you trust me i'd say of course you're my dad he said what did i just you know he thought i was a total failure you guys my son's a loser i guess his sister ivanka who is the second oldest was clearly his father's favorite which is your favorite trump child and why is it evanka you know wise guy over there And that's something that Don speaks about.

[28] He kind of jokes about it now, but he does talk about it.

[29] All the same, 100%, 100%, and I'll even say you, only for purposes of this interview.

[30] She fulfilled all the things that her father kind of envisioned for his children.

[31] She was a model, she was polished, she loved him immensely.

[32] Don had a much more tortured relationship with his dad.

[33] You yourself said that you saw your children maybe once a week.

[34] You know, somewhat famously after his father and his mother divorced.

[35] You're having a lot of difficulties with your 12 -year -old son, Donna.

[36] You haven't talked to him since May. Don was 12 and 13 at the time, and he refused to speak to his dad for a year.

[37] I mean, this is a very painful situation.

[38] I am not going to disparage of honor as a woman or as a mother.

[39] But he was clearly someone who was kind of being pinballed back and forth between his parents.

[40] He was at a terrible age for this.

[41] He was old enough to actually realize what was going on.

[42] His two siblings, Ivanka, and Eric, were in some ways too young to understand.

[43] He was old enough to understand.

[44] He was old enough to get teased by his classmates.

[45] And I think it was just a searing experience for him.

[46] I always feel that it's very important to be really with the children.

[47] Your son, Donald Jr.?

[48] Donald Jr. Any one of my children, if any one of my children call, I'll always take their call, no matter what I'm doing.

[49] And so what is the reaction of this young man who's being pinballed?

[50] between his two parents and no doubt understanding very well that they are going through a highly public, very ugly divorce.

[51] I think his reaction in some ways was just try to get away from it.

[52] His parents sent him to boarding school in Pennsylvania, and he just tried to forge kind of his own distinct identity there.

[53] He got really into the outdoors.

[54] These are the things we do on the weekends in our free time.

[55] We're shooters, we're hunters, we're outdoorsmen.

[56] In a way that his father just couldn't understand.

[57] Well, they love hunting, and they've always loved hunting.

[58] I don't.

[59] And just found the whole thing baffling.

[60] But I've never been a fan, and I haven't actually seen anything, but I've never been a fan of it, no. But Don Jr. really sort of poured himself into that.

[61] Then when he was going to go to college, he was thinking about actually going to University of Vermont or University of Colorado and just kind of being a ski bum, and eventually he sort of relented to his parents' wishes, and he went to the University of Pennsylvania, where his dad had gone.

[62] But even there, he really kept a low, profile.

[63] He did not try to make a big deal out of his name.

[64] And, you know, at this point, his father was famous.

[65] I mean, he wasn't obviously a politician, but he was a celebrity businessman.

[66] People knew who the Trumps were.

[67] Right.

[68] Is it sometimes a burden or always a luxury to have Trump is your last name?

[69] No, I think there's definitely a burden associated with at times.

[70] You know, the people who knew him in college said he really tried to play down his name.

[71] Okay, so is it true that there are times when you just have introduced yourself as Don and forget the Trump part?

[72] I do it often.

[73] Yeah.

[74] I do it often.

[75] To the point where in his fraternity, His nickname was Ron Rump, and he went by Ron, and one of his friendly brothers told me that he thought, you know, one of the reasons he liked the name was it just gave him another level of anonymity.

[76] So at this point, he's distancing himself from the family.

[77] Yeah, he's trying to figure out his own path.

[78] And after graduation, he had a job waiting for him at his father's company, but he didn't take it.

[79] He went out to Aspen for about a year and a half, and he skied and he hunted and he fished.

[80] and he was a bartender.

[81] I now have this image in my head of Don Jr. as a kind of Connor Roy figure for Succession fans or the kind of Joe Bluth of his world, right?

[82] I mean, he's kind of dropping out of the family business and it sounds like this is rebellion.

[83] Yes.

[84] You know, but after a year and a half out there, I think he thought he had to take his place in the family business and he went back to New York City and he went to work for his dad and he gave up sort of the plaid flannel and the camo, and he started wearing the pinstripe suits and the wide ties and slicking back his hair.

[85] And, you know, he seemed to sort of surrender to the expectations that he was going to become his father's protege.

[86] And so how does that go for him?

[87] The funny thing is it doesn't go all that well.

[88] What do you think are our greatest strengths and weaknesses?

[89] What do you think we need to improve on, work on, or, you know, what things we should just leave exactly the way there are, if any?

[90] It was an awkward fit for him.

[91] You're young and you're not always focused, and you have to keep focused.

[92] When times got bad, I went and focused, and that's why I came out so strong and other people, they went bankrupt and gone and never to be seen again.

[93] It seemed like his greatest value to the family business, oddly enough, came on the television show, The Apprentice.

[94] Which he joined as a cast member a few seasons in.

[95] So Don and Ivanka, you have a famous father.

[96] Is that easy or is it tough?

[97] It's definitely not always easy.

[98] There's definitely advantages to it.

[99] We've got to be spoiled, hopefully, in all the right ways.

[100] I think it's tough because you're tough, but in a good way.

[101] He was one of the boardroom judges.

[102] Why work for me?

[103] Why not go someplace else?

[104] Getting to work on the best projects in the world.

[105] And the producers and some of the people who worked on the show who were cast members talked about him as being this kind of stabilizing presence on the set, mainly because he was willing to run interference between them and his dad.

[106] His dad would have these temper tantrums and get angry at people and Jr. would try to assuage his father and also comfort the people his father was mad at.

[107] There was a saying, it's not your fault, it's your turn.

[108] And he seemed to really be intent on just trying to make other people feel comfortable around his dad.

[109] I mean, people talked about how he would tell jokes, which was not typical on the set, but Don Jr. would tell them and make people laugh, and he would oftentimes tell jokes at his own expense.

[110] What don't you know that you'd like me to teach you?

[111] What do you think, Don't?

[112] I know everything, so it's irrelevant.

[113] I'm a Trump.

[114] That's true.

[115] Now, I'm a Trump.

[116] You know, I've been fortunate to be able to do this for you for a couple of years and get to...

[117] So at this point, it sounds like Don Jr. is pretty much on the margins of the family business.

[118] I mean, if you are running interference with angry employees of the apprentice, you're not exactly central to the Trump organization.

[119] No, he's a peripheral figure in the Trump organization.

[120] He's a peripheral figure, I think, in his father's life.

[121] And then when his father decides to run for president, he is very much on the outside.

[122] Today, I have the honor of introducing a man who needs no introduction.

[123] Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, are the linchpins of the campaign in the early days.

[124] They have, you know, really just sweeping influence over all aspects of it.

[125] Ladies and gentlemen, my father, Donald J. Trump.

[126] But Don Jr. is given these very discreet, small kind of tasks to do for the campaign.

[127] Like what?

[128] So before the Iowa caucuses, Donald Trump is being attacked in Iowa for being a city slicker and being, you know, a closet liberal.

[129] While Donald Trump sets his sights on a caucus win here in Iowa, you can pull the trigger twice and you'll get two shots out of it.

[130] His sons, Donald Jr. and Eric have extended the campaign trail to the court.

[131] cornfields of Iowa, where they are literally aiming for pheasants.

[132] Don, who is a hunter, gets sent out to Iowa with his brother Eric, who's also a hunter, and they go on a pheasant hunting expedition in front of all these cameras.

[133] Donald Trump apparently says to Don, you know, Don, you can finally do something for me. You can go hunting.

[134] You're showing Iowans that this is part of your culture, hunting.

[135] Very much so.

[136] I mean, we got into it a very young age.

[137] And he's just given these little sort of things that he can't mess up.

[138] But, Justin, I'm mindful that Don definitely did one big thing during the campaign, and he messed that up very significantly.

[139] Yeah.

[140] The one area that he showed some initiative and went outside of his lane was an arranging for a meeting between a Russian lawyer who said she had damaging information on Hillary Clinton and campaign officials like Jared Kushner, his brother -in -law, Paul Manafort, who was in the campaign.

[141] chairman, he arranged for her to come to Trump Tower to turn over the damaging information she had on Hillary Clinton.

[142] Right.

[143] And this is now known as the meeting, the Trump Tower meeting.

[144] Yeah, this is the meeting that eventually will threaten Trump's presidency.

[145] But at the time, no one knows about the meeting aside from the people who were in the meeting.

[146] And to them, it was nothing.

[147] It was Don Jr. brought this woman in saying she was going to give us dirt on Hillary Clinton and she gave us nothing.

[148] And then when Trump wins, Ivanka and Jay Jared, they go to Washington and they become members of the White House.

[149] And Don and his brother, Eric, stay in New York ostensibly to run the Trump Organization, their father's president.

[150] But in Don's case, Don is put in charge of the international side of the Trump organization.

[151] And because of a promise that his dad made about not doing foreign deals, he can only work on preexisting deals.

[152] He can't do any new deals.

[153] So not only is he not involved in his father's presidency, he really doesn't have anything to do at the Trump organization.

[154] He's just kind of left in New York and everybody forgets about him.

[155] But then...

[156] Breaking and stunning news in our politics lead today, the release of an email chain from last June between Donald Trump Jr. and this man...

[157] In the summer of 2017, the New York Times finds out about the Trump Tower meeting from the previous summer.

[158] Trump Jr. took that meeting on the promise of getting dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russian government.

[159] And don't forget, then campaign chairman, Paul Manafort was in that meeting.

[160] So was the president's son -in -law.

[161] And suddenly, he's front and center.

[162] And the initial defense of Don Jr. from, you know, from the Trump people is that Donald Trump Jr. is an idiot.

[163] That is exactly the story.

[164] You know, this is just Don Jr. being an idiot.

[165] He's not a traitor.

[166] He's just stupid.

[167] What struck me as I look back and thought about the exchange between Don Jr. and his father.

[168] Michael Cohen, who was Trump's personal attorney at the time, he told a Senate panel that Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son, Don Jr., had the worst.

[169] judgment of anyone in the world.

[170] President Trump thought that Don Jr. has the worst judgment of anyone he's ever met in the whole world.

[171] It was more like he was resigned to his son's idiocy.

[172] He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, Trump said, with a sign.

[173] The president is telling people that Don Jr. is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[174] I mean, what a way to think of your kid.

[175] And, you know, Chris Christie's out there saying...

[176] Donald Trump, Jr., who I know very well, is by no means a sophisticated political actor.

[177] This is a guy who loves his father and got involved in a...

[178] politics because his father got involved, but I don't think Don would have gotten involved.

[179] I mean, they're all just trying to basically minimize Don Jr. and just say he's a doofus.

[180] And thanks to our friends on the five and welcome to Hannity and this is a Fox News alert.

[181] But Don Jr., he decides he wants to defend himself.

[182] Donald Trump Jr. is here tonight to set the record straight about his June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer.

[183] He will join us for an exclusive in -depth interview.

[184] That's coming up in just a minute.

[185] And he goes on Fox News.

[186] He goes on Sean Hannity's show.

[187] Don Jr., good to see it.

[188] Welcome to be here.

[189] Appreciate it.

[190] I didn't know there was any time left.

[191] And he delivers a really kind of aggressive, hard -hitting performance.

[192] He, you know, he attacks the media.

[193] I think the mainstream media has probably done themselves, you know, a pretty big disservice by going so far, by going so extreme, by being so sensational.

[194] He eventually starts attacking Robert Mueller.

[195] I've said it publicly.

[196] I said it yesterday.

[197] More than happy to cooperate with everyone.

[198] I just want the truth to get out there.

[199] And that's part of why I released all this stuff today.

[200] I wanted to get it all out there.

[201] He attacks, you know, congressional Democrats.

[202] Someone sent me an email.

[203] I can't help what someone sends me. I read it.

[204] I responded accordingly.

[205] And if there was something interesting there, I think it's pretty common.

[206] All right, Don Jr., thanks for coming in.

[207] Appreciate you answering every question I can think of.

[208] When we come back, we'll get a legal perspective.

[209] And as he kind of finds his voice in attacking his father's critics and the people who are investigating his father, he really becomes a star to his father's supporters.

[210] And, you know, I think they obviously love the fact that he is Donald Trump Jr. And they love the fact that he's aggressive and he's a fighter and, you know, he says politically incorrect stuff.

[211] But he himself has a comfort with Red America that I think his father in some ways doesn't.

[212] I mean, certainly like Ivanka doesn't Trump supporters see that in him.

[213] They can recognize that in him.

[214] And once he finally comes out of the shadows and, you know, really sort of take center stage and, you know, and embraces this role as, you know, his father's son and his father's kind of most vigorous defender, it all sort of falls into place from there.

[215] It's interesting, Jason, as you said earlier, that Ivanka's rule was to be kind of the smoother of her father's edges, right?

[216] She was going to sand down all these sharp elements of his political personality.

[217] And now Don is taking on the role of somebody who amplifies that divisiveness about Donald Trump.

[218] Yeah.

[219] You know, and Don Jr., for a guy who was kind of off, you know, in the corner and no one was listening to him, it turned out he had a much better, almost kind of instinctual understanding of what his father's appeal was and what his father actually would be as a president.

[220] He had no delusions that his father could be sort of tamed in any way that Ivanka thought, you know, you could polish him.

[221] He didn't think that was possible.

[222] And he realized that that would actually not be a successful presidency.

[223] That would not appeal to the people who put Donald Trump in the White House.

[224] And I think, you know, in a strange way, he turned out to be kind of a smarter political actor than Ivanka.

[225] did.

[226] He had a deeper understanding into what really made his father's presidency work than his sister.

[227] Yes, and I think he had a deeper understanding, and he was much more clear -eyed about who his father was.

[228] And what does all this do for Donald Jr.'s, at times quite strained, relationship to his father?

[229] Starting, you know, in 2017, after the Trump Tower meeting comes to light and starting with Don Jr.'s defense of himself and defense of his father, he allows for Don Jr. to take on a bigger and bigger role in his political operation.

[230] Cliff Sims, who worked in the White House for a while, told me a story about one day he was in the dining room behind the Oval Office with the president who was watching cable news.

[231] And Don Jr. came on.

[232] And the president kind of stopped what he was doing and turned up the volume and was just sort of expressing kind of admiration and surprise about how good Don Jr. was on TV saying he's really good at this, isn't he?

[233] And I think he just started dawn on his father that his son actually maybe was good for something.

[234] We'll be right back.

[235] So Jason, Donald Jr. takes this low point in his own relationship with his father, the Trump Tower meeting, and pretty much a low point for the presidency.

[236] And he really turns it into a robust new role in his father's world that has endeared him to Donald Trump Sr. And at the same time, is building up Don Jr.'s brand.

[237] some pretty serious lemonade from lemons.

[238] Yeah, and I think he decides he's going to try to make even more of it.

[239] So in early 2018, he reads an article in Politico commenting on his emergence and how he's become kind of a good presence for his dad on TV.

[240] And there's a quote in the story from a guy, really young Republican operative, named Andy Sarabian, who had worked at a pretty low level in the Trump 2016 campaign and then worked for Steve Bannon in the White House before Bannon flamed out.

[241] And Sarabian says something nice about how Don Jr. is like a good surrogate on behalf of his dad.

[242] So Don Jr. has never met Andy Sarabian, but he reaches out to Andy Sarabian.

[243] And he's like, you know, hey, like I need someone to help me with my political stuff.

[244] You want the job?

[245] And Serabian becomes, you know, his concierge.

[246] And then around the same time that that happened, he also gets divorced from his wife.

[247] You know, for 12 years he'd been married to Vanessa Hayden, who'd been a model.

[248] She was fairly apolitical.

[249] They had five children together.

[250] In March 2018, they announced they're getting divorced.

[251] And then a few months after that, Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle are reportedly dating.

[252] He goes public with his relationship with Kimberly Gilfoyle.

[253] And Guilfoyle, at the time, she was a Fox News commentator.

[254] Gilfoyle is co -host of the five, an irregular supporter of the Trump administration.

[255] So she and Don Jr. have a lot in common.

[256] She was someone who'd been circling around the Trump.

[257] White House for a while.

[258] There have been discussion rumors that she was going to become Trump's press secretary.

[259] She was seen at various events.

[260] She, you know, like a lot of Fox personality, she was someone who seemed to kind of want into the White House.

[261] And, you know, in the summer of 2018, she gets into the White House by becoming Don Jr.'s girlfriend.

[262] And that fall, you know, he's got Sarabian working for him.

[263] He's got Kim Gilfoyle as his girlfriend.

[264] And Don Jr. kind of hits the that we get them.

[265] He does something like 70 events in 17 states, stumping for Republican candidates, raising money for them.

[266] Donald Trump was wrong about one thing.

[267] He said that you would be sick of winning.

[268] Are you sick of winning this again?

[269] He and Guilfoyle oftentimes doing it together.

[270] You know, they have kind of a duet.

[271] He got up on stage, you said, you know, you're going to call you.

[272] You're going to say, Donald, please, please let the other side have a win.

[273] See, I'm with you guys.

[274] Kimberly, she doesn't let anyone win.

[275] We don't let anyone win.

[276] One person referred to them as the Sunnian share of the MAGA movement.

[277] The crowd, very pumped, very excited, many holding Trump.

[278] And he becomes a superstar.

[279] They are ready to hear from Donald Trump Jr., who, I believe, as you can see, actually, look behind me. He is now in the room.

[280] He's charismatic for sure and very handsome young man for sure.

[281] Not really noticed him before, I guess, so yeah, he's really charismatic.

[282] Well, I noticed him.

[283] All the Trump family is for America, and I can see Donald Trump Jr. being our next president.

[284] Republican candidates start pestering other Republican candidates who've had Don Jr. Speak for them.

[285] Like, they want Don Jr.'s cell phone number.

[286] They want to get a tweet from John Jr. These guys are difference makers in West Virginia.

[287] President won the state by 40.

[288] He becomes the most valuable surrogate in the Republican Party after his father.

[289] Everybody wants his endorsement.

[290] Everybody wants him to sign their emails.

[291] He becomes just this hot commodity.

[292] It sounds like Donald Trump Jr. has become a star in the Republican Party, mostly by emulating his father's combative style.

[293] Yeah, I think that's definitely part of it.

[294] But, you know, his father kind of improvises with that combative style.

[295] Don Jr. is different.

[296] He's much more strategic and disciplined in terms of the way he fights and the fights he picks.

[297] You know, in 2019, I think there was a really good example of this.

[298] He wrote a book called Triggered, which goes on to be a huge bestseller because, you know, the RNC buys a lot of copies of it and sells it to donors.

[299] But in the course of doing the publicity for Triggered, his publisher wants him to do some mainstream media.

[300] He was doing a lot of Fox, a lot of conservative talk radio, and they reach out to the view, and they ask the view if they want to have him on.

[301] You know, and that's like going into the Lions Den, if you're, if you're, Trump, right?

[302] You know, it's this liberal show.

[303] And so Don Jr. goes on the show.

[304] Please welcome the son of the gentleman in the White House.

[305] DJT.

[306] And, you know, predictably.

[307] Hold on.

[308] We heard the access tape where he bragged about grabbing women by their genitalia.

[309] Joy Bihar asks him about the Access Hollywood tape, how horrible it is.

[310] Even if people are working, we don't want to have a country like that.

[311] Do you understand that?

[312] We've all done things.

[313] And Don Jr., he is prepped for the show.

[314] He has Apo.

[315] I mean, if we're talking about bringing a discourse down, Joy, you've worn blackface, whoopey.

[316] You said that Roman Polanski, I'm sorry, and don't, if you do it.

[317] You said that Roman Polanski, it wasn't rape rape when he raped a child.

[318] So let's talk about serious things.

[319] Come on.

[320] And it just turns into a free -for -all.

[321] Are you questioning my character?

[322] I'm not the question of your character.

[323] I'm talking about you're questioning my father's character.

[324] And I say, we all have done and say...

[325] So not only does he go in there trying to pick a fight with these liberal hosts.

[326] He's even sort of more calculated.

[327] You know, the one person on the view who he did not try to antagonize was Megan McCain.

[328] The thing that Don Jr. and his advisors did not want to happen was they did not want this spectacle that they were creating on the view to turn into a spectacle for Megan McCain to confront Don Jr. about all the horrible things Don Jr's father had said about her father.

[329] And so Don Jr. We can keep going back to character.

[330] I think he has great character.

[331] I think my family is character.

[332] I understand that.

[333] And I'm sorry about that.

[334] And they did have differences.

[335] I agree with that.

[336] Actually, almost apologized to Megan McCain.

[337] I think you lost your aunt last night.

[338] So I do apologize for that as well.

[339] I did lose my aunt last night.

[340] Yes, I did.

[341] McCain, Morgan.

[342] Thank you.

[343] And that kind of diffused the whole situation.

[344] And the headlines from that show were Don Jr. attacking Joy Behaer and Whoopi Goldberg.

[345] We're not Megan McCain attacking him.

[346] So he did his homework, whereas his father tends to shoot from the hip.

[347] Here, we're seeing research and strategy.

[348] Yeah.

[349] You really see this online.

[350] He's very much like a social media creature.

[351] I mean, he spends, you know, all the time in the world, like on his phone, like looking at Twitter, looking at Instagram.

[352] He's kind of steeped in these sort of conservative Twitter accounts and conservative Instagram accounts.

[353] He gets all the memes.

[354] But he's smart in the way he deploys them.

[355] or I think maybe one of the best examples is earlier this year when his father delivered the state of the union.

[356] Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States.

[357] Nancy Pelosi tore up her copy of the speech.

[358] She's standing by numberably.

[359] For a few hours, that became kind of a cause for celebration among liberals.

[360] Finally, Trump ended the speech and Nancy Pelosi did this.

[361] It was like a perfect meme for liberals.

[362] She ripped him a new one.

[363] We have a great show for you tonight.

[364] But the next day, Don Jr. was having lunch, of course, at the Trump Hotel in D .C., and he had this idea for a video to create a meme of the State of the Union.

[365] And, you know, he himself can't actually create videos, but he knows people who can.

[366] And one of them is a man named Benny Johnson.

[367] And Benny Johnson used to be a journalist.

[368] He was eventually trummed out of the profession for plagiarism and all sorts of other offenses.

[369] But he's kind of found a new career as a right -wing meme maker.

[370] He works for a group called Turning Point USA, which is a conservative group.

[371] And Don Jr. called Benny Johnson with his idea for this State of the Union meme video he wanted to make.

[372] And Benny Johnson took Don Jr.'s idea and he got to work.

[373] And a few hours later, he had the video.

[374] And Don Jr. posted it to his Twitter account.

[375] Charles is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, the first black fighter pilots.

[376] And the video was highlights of the speech, of the more, you know, benign parts of the speech, you know, the nicer moments.

[377] I can proudly announce tonight that an opportunity scholarship has become available.

[378] It's going to you, and you will soon be heading to the school of your choice.

[379] And the video that Don Jr. had the idea for him that Benny Johnson created took those moments and then interspice footage of Pelosi ripping up the speech, you know, what she only did at the end of the entire thing.

[380] And so it looked like Pelosi was tearing apart, you know, a Tuskegee Airman or a fourth grader.

[381] The state of our union is stronger than ever before.

[382] According to Benny Johnson, this video got 50 million views, which is almost twice as many.

[383] many as the people who actually watch the State of the Union on television.

[384] A very successful meme.

[385] Yeah, it turned out to be, you know, the perfect kind of Trumpian meme.

[386] You know, it occurs to me whether Donald Trump wins re -election or not, that Don Jr. will have really distinguished himself in this campaign.

[387] And thinking back to where this story started, the family business that Don Jr. rejected was real estate.

[388] It was the kind of old line legacy Trump family business.

[389] But the family's business now is politics and media and cultural wars.

[390] And he's not the black sheep of that business.

[391] He's the star.

[392] So winner -lose, it does feel like Don Jr. is the heir of this new version of the Trump business.

[393] Yeah.

[394] Not only is he the heir, like he wants to be the air.

[395] Like he's positioned himself to be the heir.

[396] You know, I think that Ivanka, she obviously works in the White House, but she, I think, plans to go back to New York and plans to go back to her old life.

[397] I don't know if that's going to be possible for her, but that's what she thinks is going to happen.

[398] You know, and Eric Trump has just been running the Trump organization.

[399] He's going to keep on doing that.

[400] Don Jr. doesn't want to go back to New York.

[401] He doesn't want to go back to the Trump organization.

[402] He wants to stay in politics.

[403] He wants to take what his father has built and use that as a platform for himself.

[404] And he wants to keep on going.

[405] I mean, whether Trump wins or loses this November, Don Jr. is going to stay in politics.

[406] The Republican Party has become the party of Trump, right?

[407] And the question now is what comes after Trump?

[408] What is his influence on the party?

[409] What is his legacy?

[410] And I think there are probably some people out there who imagine that if Trump were to lose this November, he would go away and Trumpism would disappear.

[411] I don't think that's going to happen.

[412] And I think one of the reasons it won't happen is I think Don Jr. is still going to be out there carrying that banner.

[413] And he has really become his father's political heir.

[414] Well, Jason, thank you very much.

[415] We appreciate it.

[416] Oh, thanks so much for having me on.

[417] We'll be right back.

[418] Here's what else you need to know today.

[419] Take cover.

[420] Time to take cover.

[421] The building is going apart.

[422] On Thursday, Hurricane Laura, one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the U .S., pounded the coasts of Texas and Louisiana with 100 -mile -per -hour winds and heavy rain, ripping apart buildings, tearing trees from the ground, knocking down power lines.

[423] and killing at least six people.

[424] We have thousands and thousands of our fellow citizens whose lives are upside down.

[425] The governor of Louisiana, John Bell Edwards, said that four of the deaths were caused by trees falling on homes.

[426] But he emphasized that evacuation orders had been largely followed, saving lives, and that the damage could have been much worse.

[427] We have a lot of work to do, but we're in better shape today than might have been the case.

[428] And so we have a lot to be thankful for as well.

[429] And at no time before, have voters faced a clear choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas.

[430] This election will decide whether we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda.

[431] to demolish our cherished destiny.

[432] On the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention, President Trump framed the election as a clear choice between two competing agendas and laid out what is expected to be his central line of attack against Joe Biden in the general election.

[433] The misleading claims that Biden is captive to the far left, unwillingly.

[434] to confront China and soft on crime.

[435] So tonight I ask you a simple question.

[436] How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country?

[437] The Daily is made by Theo Balcom, Andy Mills, Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lindsay Garrison, Annie Brown, Claire Tennisketter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Larissa Anderson, Wendy Dorr, Chris Wood, Jessica Chung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Lee Young, Jonathan Wolfe, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Mark George, Luke Vanderplug, Kelly Prime, Julia Longoria, Sindhu Yana Sumbendun, M .J Davis Lynn, Austin Mitchell, Nina Pawtuck, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Daniel Gimette, Hans Butoh, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoit, Bianca Gaver, Astha Chottervedi, Rochelle Bonja, and Liz O 'Balen.

[438] Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly.

[439] Special thanks to Sam Dolmec, Michaela Bouchard, Lauren Jackson, Julia Simon, Nora Keller, Mahima Chiblani, and Des Ibuquois.

[440] That's it for the daily.

[441] I'm Michael Babaro.

[442] See you on Monday.