Donald Trump's Family Might Not Be Involved in His Second Term

President-elect Donald Trump was joined on stage by all of his children and other family members as he celebrated his resounding election victory last week.

"The whole squad," his granddaughter Kai Trump captioned a photo from election night that included Trump's immediate family—and Elon Musk—though his wife Melania Trump was conspicuously absent.

While some of Trump's relatives did not appear on the campaign trail, their presence by his side on election night led to some speculation about whether they would be given prominent roles in his incoming administration.

Newsweek reached out to a Trump spokesperson via email for comment.

Trump has long kept his family close to him in both business and politics.

But he said last year that unlike in his first term, he wouldn't have his children serve in his administration if he won back the White House. "It's too painful for the family," he told Fox News. "My family has been through hell."

So far, it appears he is sticking to his word.

Donald Trump's Family Might Not Be Involved in His Second Term Photo Illustration by Newsweek/Getty Images

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Step Back From Politics

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were senior advisors in the first Trump administration.

Trump has often lavished praise on his eldest daughter, saying that she could run for president and that he'd wanted to nominate her as his ambassador to the United Nations.

While she and her husband were visible during his first two runs for the White House, Ivanka announced she would be stepping back from politics as he embarked on his 2024 White House bid.

In November 2022, she said, "While I will always love and support my father, going forward, I will do so outside the political arena."

Neither Ivanka nor her husband have any plans to return to politics after spending the past few years settling into a life in Florida, Page Six reported last week.

Trump's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, both hit the campaign trail to support their father, but it appears neither will have a role in his administration.

Donald Trump Jr. said on Sunday that he would not be a member of his father's administration. He is joining 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm whose investments include Tucker Carlson's media company. Eric Trump is the executive vice president of The Trump Organization and appears likely to continue running the family business.

There's no suggestion that Trump's younger children will join his administration.

His youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump, graduated from law school in 2002 and is pregnant with her first child, while his youngest son, Barron, recently began his freshman year of college at New York University's Stern School of Business.

Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science at Northeastern University, told Newsweek that Trump's family members came under "intense scrutiny" during his first term and may be less interested in having public roles during the second administration.

"For some family members, interceding during key moments, like Ivanka Trump during the January 6 insurrection, with limited success, was likely both frustrating and harmful to their reputations. They probably prefer to sit on the sidelines this time around."

Melania Trump Likely to Shun White House

The former and future first lady is reportedly not planning to spend any more time than necessary at the White House during her husband's second term in office.

People magazine reported that she plans to split her time between a private apartment in Washington, D.C., Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and her home in New York City, where her only child, Barron, is studying.

"She will attend the White House functions that she is asked to attend just as she always has. Melania knows what to do, yet has a mind of her own," a source told the magazine.

That may have to do with her revelations about the impact that online trolling had on her son during Trump's first term. She wrote that her son suffered "irreparable damage" after being bullied online and in real life.

Her decision to skip a traditional White House meeting with first lady Jill Biden on Wednesday reinforces the idea that she intends to have greater autonomy in the role this time.

Lara Trump Shaping Republican Party

The person on Trump's right-hand side at his victory party was his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.

She is married to Eric Trump and was hand-picked by the president-elect in the spring to serve as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as he sought to bring the GOP under his firm grip.

In this role, the former television producer has been one of Trump's loudest advocates in the media and has overseen a rise in fundraising and the party's "election integrity" initiative.

With the GOP winning back control of the Senate and confident of holding onto the House, she has silenced those who questioned her capabilities—and her father-in-law is likely to reward her efforts.

A Wider Circle

"Trump and his family have been through the presidency once before, and he now has a better sense of things, a better sense of the players, and also a better sense of who has his confidence," Grant Davis Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, told Newsweek. "It makes sense that he would have less need to be surrounded by trusted family members."

This time, Trump "has a much wider net to cast" among those who have demonstrated their loyalty and who he "knows he can trust to work with him to carry out his agenda beyond his immediate family circle," Panagopoulos said.

Panagopoulos added that Trump will also "want to reward key individuals for standing by him and his candidacy, often when it was hard to do so and may have even come at some political cost to them."

"The bills have come due, and it's time for Trump to pay up," he said.

Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, told Newsweek it was a "welcome" development that Trump's immediate family would not have formal roles in his second administration.

But that doesn't mean his family will not seek to profit from his presidency, Dallek said.

"It seems like a positive that Don Jr., for example, is not going to be chief of staff or special adviser, but the family is going to find a way to make a lot of money off Trump's second term," he said.

Pointing to reporting about how Trump profited from his presidency during his first term, Dallek said "the potential for corruption" in a second term is "mind-boggling."

The Supreme Court's July ruling on presidential immunity gives Trump "a kind of blank check to enrich himself and his family," Dallek added.