It was the victory entourage that spoke volumes about who is in and who is out in Team Trump.
Donald’s youngest son Barron, darling of the MAGA crowd, almost in pole position with mother Melania, while Barron’s half-sister Ivanka – once the apple of Daddy’s eye – out in social Siberia with husband Jared Kushner on the far-right of the picture above.
It’s the price the couple, who were two of Mr Trump’s closest advisers during his first term, had to pay for deserting him during his 2024 campaign.
In a telling indication of their own falling stars and the unlikely rise of others in the Trump firmament, even a bald-headed mixed martial arts tycoon, Dana White, who has become one of the president-elect’s key backers, was closer to the main man as he gave his victory speech at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday night.
Such events are often designed to look spontaneous and casual, but all you needed on this occasion was a tape measure to work out who currently matters most.
Former US First Lady Melania Trump, Barron Trump, Viktor Knavs, Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and his wife Usha Vance, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner listen to Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speak an election night event at the West Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, early on November 6, 2024
Kimberly Guilfoyle attends the Trumpets Gala at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, February 10, 2024 in Palm Beach
Kimberly Guilfoyle
The former Fox News presenter and (embarrassingly for Team Trump) ex-wife of uber-liberal California governor Gavin Newsom became engaged to Donald Trump Jr in December 2020.
She was considered for the role of press secretary in Mr Trump’s first administration and is reportedly vying for a senior role in the next one.
Donald Trump Jr. appeared on Thursday, November 7, 2019 on ABC’s ‘The View’
Donald Trump Jr
With the retreat of sister Ivanka and her husband Jared, Trump’s eldest son has been far more involved in his father’s political career than he was during the first Trump White House term when he concentrated on working for the family business.
A keen hunter, 46-year-old Don Jr has been valued within the campaign for his ability to connect with its core supporters, especially on his podcast, Triggered.
He encouraged his father to choose JD Vance as his running mate.
‘Don has the pulse of the base and knows where the energy of the party is, so he’s sort of the go-to person now on a lot of political things,’ said his father in 2021.
Dana White watches as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla
Dana White
The 55-year-old, thuggish-looking, ex-boxer and multi-millionaire president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a major mixed martial arts promotional company, is an old friend and supporter of Mr Trump.
After he took the microphone during Mr Trump’s victory speech and delivered his own combative attack on the media, MAGA fans want him to be Mr Trump’s next press secretary – while he was pictured deep in conversation with their billionaire ally Elon Musk and Mr Trump on election night at Mar-a-Lago.
Insiders say he’s the sort of no-nonsense loyalist the president-elect values after being saddled with more moderate Republicans during his first White House term.
Eric and Lara Trump attend a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, U.S., October 27, 2024
Eric Trump
Like big brother Don Jr, Eric, 40, has become more involved in his father’s campaign this time round – although he remains ‘executive vice president’ of the family business.
Insiders say that while Don Jr concentrates on charming supporters on the ground, the less charismatic Eric busies himself with the Republican Party organisation, joined by wife Lara, 42.
Trump co-campaign manager Susie Wiles is seen at Nashville International Airport as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives, Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn
Susie Wiles
The power behind the Trump throne. His campaign co-manager may be peeping out from behind Eric but she’s been dubbed the ‘most feared and least known political operative in America’.
The soft-spoken, 67-year-old grandmother, who describes herself as a moderate and worked for Ronald Reagan, has masterminded Mr Trump’s political comeback.
Having effectively been his chief of staff during his recent campaign, she’s hotly tipped to be offered the same role in the White House.
Eric Trump and his wife Lara speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York
Lara Trump
The proximity of Mr Trump’s daughter-in-law to him on the Florida stage is no accident.
A loyal rising star, the 42-year-old former television producer was hand-picked by Mr Trump as the co-chairman of the Republican Party.
Providing the female glamour ingredient of a campaign missing sister-in-law Ivanka and Melania, she has reportedly become one of Mr Trump’s most trusted advisers and was the first family member to speak at this summer’s Republican National Convention.
Former first lady Melania Trump looks on during an election night event for Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida
Melania Trump
The first lady-elect barely featured in the campaign but insiders say her importance to her husband’s electoral prospects – particularly given his long history of infidelity and sexual misconduct allegations – cannot be overstated.
She was often absent from official White House engagements during the first Trump administration and sources predict the same will be true of the second for a woman who hates politics and public scrutiny.
Former first lady Melania Trump, from left, her son Barron Trump and father Viktor Knavs look on as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024
Barron Trump
He’s only 18 and is studying at university in New York but he’s adored by hardcore Trump supporters who gave him two standing ovations when his father introduced him at a rally in July.
Since then, he played a crucial campaign role in advising his 78-year-old father on how to attract the youth vote – which podcaster ‘bros’ to talk to – and educating him on cryptocurrencies.
Barron has a special place in MAGA hearts and many have hailed him on social media as their preferred successor to the Trump political crown.
A surprising proportion of the more fanatical MAGA faithful cling to a bizarre conspiracy theory that claims Barron was mentioned in a series of obscure 1890s books about the magical adventures of a precocious time-travelling boy called Baron Trump.
Melania’s father – who lost his wife, Amalija, in January – is very close to her and ‘hyper-involved’ in the upbringing of grandson Barron, say insiders
Viktor Knavs
Melania’s father – who lost his wife, Amalija, in January – is very close to her and ‘hyper-involved’ in the upbringing of grandson Barron, say insiders. (Melania has called her late mother a ‘ray of light in the darkest days’).
They spent much of the first Trump term living in the White House flat previously occupied by Michelle Obama’s mother and were often seen travelling with the first couple.
Viktor, a former chauffeur and travelling salesman in Slovenia, is only two years older than his son-in-law.
Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance look at each other at Palm Beach County Convention Center, following early results from the 2024 U.S. presidential election, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2024
JD Vance and wife Usha
The vice president-elect won fame writing memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, about his impoverished Rust Belt upbringing, but was lambasted for joining the Trump ticket when he’d previously suggested he was ‘Hitler’ and accused of sexism when he derided Democrat leaders as ‘childless cat ladies’.
Mr Trump now says Vance ‘turned out to be a good choice – I took a little heat at the beginning, but I knew the brain was a good one’. He is married to lawyer Usha, with whom he has three children.
Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump look on as Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses supporters at his rally, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2024
Ivanka Trump
Once all-powerful in the Trump White House as half of the power couple dubbed ‘Javanka’, she distanced herself from her father after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021 and had no involvement in his 2024 campaign.
Hours before the election, she posted a 17-strong list of ‘life lessons’ but didn’t mention her father once. She clapped noticeably less than others during the victory rally and her choice of a Democrat-blue suit that night took some nerve.
The young multi-millionaire property developer and investor prefers to concentrate on making money but has been attacked for exploiting rich Middle Eastern contacts he made while working in the White House
Jared Kushner
The other half of Javanka was reportedly even more Machiavellian than his wife but has also stepped away from the Trump campaign.
The young multi-millionaire property developer and investor prefers to concentrate on making money but has been attacked for exploiting rich Middle Eastern contacts he made while working in the White House.
Once highly prized, his placing so far from Mr Trump surely shows how far he has fallen in the boss’s eyes.
