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Kai Trump walked across the stage at The Benjamin School on May 15. It was supposed to be a simple high school graduation in Palm Beach. Parents Donald Jr. and Vanessa beamed from the seats. Even Tiger Woods showed up. Page Six says he sneaked in the day after getting out of rehab. He stayed low profile, quiet as a mouse, which makes sense given the timing.
The real drama didn’t happen in the ceremony, though. It happened at dinner.
Afterward, the crew headed to Blackbird restaurant. Donald Jr. brought his fiancée, Bettina. Tiffany and Michael Boulos were there too. But who was absent? President Trump. First Lady Melania. Ivanka. And Jared.
Donnie was back from a trip to China so his skip wasn’t a shock. But Melania? Ivanka? That stings. Or it’s ignored. Depends on who you ask.
There is plenty of blood on these hands regarding Trump family feuds. Stephanie Grisham wrote it down in 2021. In her book I’ll Take Your Questions Now, she claimed the president spent a lot of time in denial about the rift between his wife and his oldest daughter.
“I did learn that every once in a bit the president and first lady would squabble over the fact… ‘you don’t like my Kids’”
Melania called Ivanka “The Princess” to her face, or so Grisham says. And behind her back? Definitely. The president didn’t want to pick a side. He needed them both. Both women were assets. He wasn’t interested in letting either one leave.
This isn’t new news. The war started in his first term. The scars are old and deep. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff spelled it out in Melania and Me. Melania stayed quiet. She hid in New York. No statements. No social media presence. She let Ivanka fill the vacuum. Ivanka stepped up as acting first lady, flooding the zone with posts and press releases, pushing for climate action with Daddy (no luck, obviously), and sliding into every meeting possible.
Ivanka and Melania don’t really orbit the same planet anymore. They rarely see each other.
But maybe a kid graduating high school should be bigger than the drama?
Or maybe not. The absence says it all.
