I had a dream.
The dinner was in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago. The president-elect sat at the head and his children on both sides of the table. Melania sat in the first chair on his right opposite Don Jr.
Don Jr., “Dad, I am thankful for your approval of this family dinner on this Thanksgiving evening. Our family only …”
“Who are you?”
“I am Don Jr., Dad.”
“Oh! Jr. my son. How are you, son?”
“I am getting emotional Dad. In just a few seconds, you call me son twice. I am deeply touched.”
Eric interjected, “Come on Don, get to the point. Dad may get tired easily.”
Don Jr. glanced at Eric, “We are here to celebrate your incredible victory. You tremendously overcame so many hurdles, bad press, Democrats’ cruel attacks…”
“Don, what are you doing?” Eric was impatient. “Dad already knows all that. If you don’t get to the point, Dad may go to sleep before we can convince him of our plan.”
“Dad…”
“Pass me the Big Mac, Melania,” the president said.
“This is Thanksgiving dear. The kitchen staff doesn’t serve hamburger.”
“What do they serve?”
“Don’t pretend dear. You know quite well what they serve. The same thing you have been served for 78 years: turkey, stuffing, and gravy.”
Ivanka was not in a good mood, “Please Melania. Let Don start the meeting.”
“Oh! So, this is a meeting, not dinner?” Baron knitted his eyebrows.
“Dad. We had discussed the issue among us…”
“I didn’t. What is the issue?” Baron asked.
“What are you talking about, Jr.?” The president also seemed to be in the dark.
“About the next four years, Dad.”
“Then why my staff and advisors are not here? Where is Susie Wiles?”
“The matter for our discussion tonight does not concern any outsider. Our family only. Everyone, what we will discuss in this room must stay in this room. No detail of our discussion is revealed to anyone outside of the family. I will ask everyone to swear on the Bible that you will not leak the information, any information of this family discussion, to anyone who is not present at this dinner. Agreed?”
“Meeting,” corrected Baron.
“You are serious, son. I have never seen you acting so seriously.”
“You must change your plan for the next four years, Dad,” said Jared.
“Who are you? You are not my son, are you?”
“Dad, it’s Jared, my husband, your son-in-law.” Ivanka was peeved.
“Here you are, my Ivanka. I haven’t seen you for four years.”
“Come on Dad. I have always been around when you needed me, always ready to support you. You know that. I was just too busy taking care of your grandchildren.”
“Even when they are in school?” asked Melania with a smirk.
“Ok! Ok! People, be serious. We have the utmost important issue to discuss and to decide on what actions to take. Dad, we have been talking about your legacy,”
“What about it? Do you think anybody else has a more tremendous legacy than mine? Dubya’s? Reagan’s?”
“No, Dad. But…”
“What?”
“Your legacy is great, but something needs to be changed,” Ivanka said. “Jared, can you tell Dad? You are the articulate one.”
Jared looked at Jr. Seeing no objection from him, he addressed the president, “It is as clear as the sky over Palm Beach, your legacy is great and enduring. You lost in 2020, came back in 2024 and beat the hell out of the Dems. You are the only Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years.”
“You are damn right. Who are you? Never mind. Just tell Susie that I want you to work for me.”
“That’s Jared, Dad, my husband, your son in law. We had worked for four years for you already. We don’t want to go back to government. We have been trying to build up our private life and patch up our old connections. Let Don and Eric help you in the White House this time.”
“What about me,” asked Baron.
Junior ignored Baron, “Thanks, Ivanka. Dad, your legacy is what people will remember you for. They don’t just remember your achievements; they also remember your not so good things you said or did.”
Jared did not want to beat around the bush, “We are concerned that if in the next four years we fail to repair your reputation, you will go down in history as a racist or a dictator wannabe regardless of how much good you will have achieved.” Jared seemed to get the president’s attention.
“To be honest, Dad,” Junior was encouraged to speak his mind, “the people who are fawning all over you are either parasites living off your name or exploiting their connection with you, or those working behind the scenes using you to reach their own goals. We don’t expect them to be loyal and stick around once you are out of power.
“And there are people who hate you, honestly Dad, with their guts. We must pay careful attention to their feelings because there must be some things that have gone seriously wrong. We must address them for the sake of our family, your children, and grandchildren.”
Melania was truly concerned, “So, what do you propose to do?”
Jared wanted to impress the president a little bit more because he knew the president was not easily convinced that he needed to do anything differently, “New York was our city, the center of our life, we were born there, grew up there, made it there. Don’t you want your own statue standing tall in the middle of Time Square? Don’t you want your name to replace Fifth Ave, which will become Donald J. Trump Avenue? Those can be done if you can win back the love of New Yorkers. Once they see who you really are, not the fake personality you have projected as a TV celebrity or a MAGA politician, they will welcome you back with open arms.”
The president said in a hoarse and melancholic voice, “I don’t give a f—k what the New Yorkers think of me, or about me.”
Eric tried to make contribution to the conversation, “You can’t let the Bloombergs of New York look down on you.”
The president asked, “What do you boys have in mind?”
Detecting the president’s nostalgic tone in his voice, Junior rushed ahead before Jared could interject, “One very good thing about your winning the 2024 election is that you don’t have to fight anyone anymore. That will leave you with plenty of time and energy to build up your positive image.”
“Can we eat now? I don’t see why we can not eat and talk at the same time,” Barron moaned.
“Shut up kid. You don’t talk when you eat,” Eric shouted.
“Don’t raise your voice at my son,” Melania said calmly but firmly.
“The first thing we focus our energy on, I say “our” because from now on the family will be actively involved in all aspects of your life including your administration,” Junior continued.
“Who says that you can be involved?”
The room was deadly silent.
“So, you know, just don’t do that again,” the president said sternly.
“What, Dad?”
“Some people sitting here know what I am talking about. But anyway, we are back together again, and I want it to be forever. Family is my priority.
“Do you think that when someone hates me, I don’t know it or don’t care, Jared? Well, you are not a Trump, so you don’t know me. But I know and I care, not in the sense that I give a damn about those sons and daughters of bitches. I am just careful. I was from the New York construction business world. I fight even in my sleep. Continue son.”
“Jared knows you well, Dad,” insisted Ivanka, meekly.
He ignored her. “Junior?”
Junior smiled broadly, “We start with your language and everyday communication. Speak about nice and positive things. Stop giving people you don’t like bad epithets. Why don’t you use in your speech the title Mr. or Mrs. when you mention a political opponent’s if you don’t remember their current or previous position? Mrs. Clinton, President Obama would be a progress.”
“Um.”
Junior became animated, “Next will be the nominations to fill your cabinet. The Gaetz affair was brilliant. You complied with MAGA’s request, got him out of Congress, then out of the running as well and everyone is in your debt including Mr. Gaetz and his family. Brilliant!”
“It was not intended that way.”
“That should be your intention from now on. Soften your image of extremism. Discreetly keep a distance from MAGA …” Jared could not finish his sentence.
“Do you know who I am dealing with?”
“No matter how powerful they are, you are holding the handle of the knife. This is your last term. You don’t run for anything that needs the support of their machine.”
“You kids do not know how much control the money people have on our country. Totally. The financial system is the blood circulation system of the country and probably the whole world since John D. Rockefeller started accumulating wealth and J.P. Morgan wielded his financial power to created U.S. Steel and General Electric. They have never laxed their grip on power.”
“Of course we don’t antagonize them. To clean up the bad side of your reputation, we need to play our hand carefully, discreetly, and skillfully. Whenever they want you to nominate bad apples, we execute the Gaetz strategy to get the nomination sabotaged.”
“I would not use that word, Don,” Jared differed, slightly. “They are still our strong allies. But I agree with your strategy. You will choose competent, experienced, and ethical people to work with you in this administration. Give MAGA crump appointments here and there, education, labor.”
“You can pressure Thomas to resign from the Supreme Court,” Melania surprised everyone. “I don’t like them, him and his wife. They are coarse, have no manner. Up there those judges can rule for or against anything they want as long as they show finesse. You can squeeze the Thomases hard and get not even an ounce of finesse from them.”
The president showed a rare smile, “Justices.”
“What,” Melania was confused.
“In America, we call the judges sitting in the Supreme Court Justices. I guess you have someone in mind to replace Thomas, right dear?”
To everyone’s surprise, she said, “Yes. I do. I like Merrick Garland.”
Eric was dumfounded, “Oh God. Be serious Melania!”
The president warmly said, “Tell us your reason.”
“I like straight arrow guys. As far as I know, no one including those in your Supreme Court has a better legal brain than his. More, he is clearly better than any of them because he is not political. What kind of a judge who flies our flag upside down to publicly show his political bias? My dear, you and the boys,” she saw Ivanka dart a glace at her, “and Ivanka may take the law lightly. Not me, not ordinary Americans like me and my parents, we understand and cherish the Constitution, laws, and order.”
The president was amused, “You want to replace Alito too, with whom?”
Melania could not hold back her eagerness, “Kamala Harris.”
The table erupted with laughter and shouting. Even Barron joined the ruckus, “Mom is a RINO.”
Jared called the table to order, “Back to our discussion, everyone. Seriously, the idea of replacing Thomas is not a bad idea. It would show Dad to be a bipartisan law and order president and the Republican majority still remaining on the Court. The whole country would see Dad as a constitutionalist and a patriot who loves his country, the Constitution, and its citizenry. I think our plan will work.”
“The people who control the financial institutions control the country. We are owners of our money, our accounts, our properties. But the system has been designed so that we owners, billionaires included, are only trustors. We entrust our properties to the money men for management They are the trustees who actually have control over our properties. Those are the people that you will have to fight back if you want me to follow your plan to rehabilitate my legacy.”
“The stake is much higher than that, Dad. We love our freedom and Democracy. You may want to be the Putin of America but how much longer will you hold power? When you are gone, another guy will replace you and we, your children and grandchildren will be the subjects of the new guy. Do you think that we will still have our freedom and will be protected under an oligarchic or dictatorial regime especially some of your grandchildren are Jewish?”
“Jared, work with Junior closely on the plan and keep me posted regularly. Keep Melania in the loop. Honey, I did not know you have such an excellent political acumen. Where is Tiffany?”
Everybody looked at Barron who said, “She is traveling.”
Junior said, “I will brief her on the plan.”
Jared said, “I am sure you will be successful. You have a reputation as being unpredictable, decisive, and doing things as you please. In the pit bull fight between you and MAGA people, your tenacity will ensure that you will win. Remember Dad, your legacy is the only thing that matters to you as you are now 78 and irreversibly sailing into the sunset.”
I felt someone shaking me. It was my wife. “Hi honey. We don’t need to get up early today, right? Why do you wake me up?”
She smiled, “You are smiling, John, in your sleep. Were you dreaming?”
JOHN P. LE PHONG
