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Even in the midst of war and feuds with the papacy, for the Trump family, life goes on, and you’ve got to celebrate when you can. That’s why many—but not all—of them could be found at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, last weekend, attending a wedding shower for Bettina Anderson and Donald Trump Jr. It’s who wasn’t there that has turned into the family’s tabloid controversy of the week, for reasons I both do and do not quite understand.
The socialite, 39, and the president’s oldest son, 48, got engaged in December, about a year after the two started being spotted in public together, despite Trump Jr. being engaged to another woman, Kimberly Guilfoyle, at the time. (Don’t worry about Guilfoyle—by all accounts, she’s thriving in Greece.) Trump Jr. was previously married to Vanessa Trump, who is now dating Tiger Woods. Anderson has never been married before, but she was once engaged to a chewing gum heir. Gum, golf, Greece—these two have quite the sphere of influence.
The shower looked like just about every other wedding shower you’ve ever seen—lots of flowers and attendees in floral dresses. According to Page Six, the theme was “enchanted garden.” (It’s always enchanted garden.) “Love Trumps All,” read the heart-shaped cookies given to guests, which sounds like it should mean something similar to “Love Is Love” but instead feels like encouragement to celebrate the Trump family’s happiness while ignoring all the human suffering the Trump administration is causing. Aesthetically, though, pretty standard-looking cookies. Pretty standard-looking activities, too—in some of the photos from the event, you can spy slips of paper on which guests were invited to share words of wisdom with the bride and groom. I hope they got some good advice.
Slightly less typical—and the source of tongue-wagging headlines—were the attendees, which included Donald Trump Jr.’s sister, Ivanka Trump; his half-sister, Tiffany Trump; and Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, in addition to a swath of Palm Beach society, among whom this event was a hot ticket. Notably not in attendance was first lady Melania Trump. While many made note of this—and it feels all the more glaring after Melania went out of her way to give a curious speech denying any connection to Jeffrey Epstein last week—it’s not hugely surprising. Melania skipped Tiffany’s baby shower last year, and has reportedly clashed with Ivanka in the past. She’s boy mom in chief when it comes to Barron, but she doesn’t appear to make the Trump children that she didn’t give birth to much of a priority. Still, even Tiffany’s mother and Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples, aka the woman Jr.’s father left his mother for, managed to squash whatever beef they may have had to show up.
Unlike Guilfoyle and Trump Jr., who were engaged for four years but never got married, Trump Jr. and his new fiancée hosting a wedding shower seems like a good indication that they will actually make it down the aisle this time. Though details on their wedding are unknown, some outlets have speculated that it could be as soon as this spring and could even take place at the White House. A “political source” told People of a potential White House wedding, “This would set them up for future political roles, whether Don Jr. goes after the presidency or something else.” To be clear, if Donald Trump Jr. gets into politics, it won’t be because he got married at the White House—it will be because he is the oldest son of and literally shares a name with his father. While I think there’s a good chance this nonsense wasn’t said by a particularly well-informed source, unfortunately there’s an equally good chance it was President Donald Trump himself.
The real problem with getting married at the White House, as the People article goes on to point out, is that the ballroom is currently under construction, after the president demolished the East Wing last year. Jr.’s stepmom may have skipped his shower, but his father will always be his biggest opp.