July 21, 2022

"Inside, the church was less than half full. There were plenty of Hermès bags but few boldfaced names from the gilt-covered slice of Manhattan society the couple had inhabited..."

"... in the 1980s and 1990s.... 'In the tumultuous times of the last few years, with all the attacks we faced,' [Donald Trump Jr.] said, 'she was the first person to call and see if I perhaps wanted, or maybe needed, to move back in with her. That call was simultaneously the sweetest and most emasculating thing ever. And she could do that with the best of them, and usually it was on purpose.' When he was a small child, Mr. Trump said, he went with his family to the Hamptons. While there, he acted at Gosman’s (Montauk’s best-known seafood spot) in a way that 'exceeded the limits' of everyone’s patience. His mother, he said, took him to the bathroom and showed him 'what Eastern European discipline was really all about.' When it was over, he said, she told him, 'And if you cry, we’re going to come back in here and do this again.'... [Eric Trump] told another story about his sister Ivanka destroying a very pricey chandelier while playing in the house with a beach ball. 'Ivanka managed to quickly convince my mother that it was me,' he said. That time, the 'remedy,' as he put it, was a 'wooden spoon,' and what made his mother even more irate as she spanked him was his fervent denial of having played any role in the misbehavior. 'Not only had I broken the chandelier, but now I was also lying to her,' he said. But by the time she realized he was telling the truth, Mr. Trump said, she was 'too tired to deal with Ivanka.'"

I'll just say it was mean of the Times to say "the church was less than half full" and tag this post with "mothers," "domestic violence," and "gender difference" and move on.

65 comments:

Sally327 said...

But funny though, we now judge the quality of a funeral or the popularity of the decedent by how full the church is? Anyway, I think the supposed lack of a robust attendance is more a reflection on "the boldfaced names from the gilt-covered slice of Manhattan society" than it is on Ivana Trump herself.

I would imagine the thought of having to deal with security probably discouraged some of her more casual acquaintances or the looky-loos. And the people who genuinely cared about her and loved her were there.

Patrick said...

Mean, but not unexpected. I doubt the NYT has any particular beef with Ivana, but if they they have to step on her to take some shots at the other Trumps, that's just a price they're willing to pay.

Yancey Ward said...

My father once gave me a whipping with his belt for something I didn't do. It was the only time I hadn't actually earned it. My father and Ivana Trump were from a different age of our world.

wendybar said...

Because it was Invitation only. The Times sucks. Maybe they could find out the truth before they publish rubbish for once.

farmgirl said...

Domestic violence?
For the discipline of children?

Maybe the funeral was private- hence the 1/2full observation…. Although, I’m quite surprised the esteemed NYTs didn’t use: 1/2empty.

They seem the sort to view everything non-progressive in such a light.

Zavier Onasses said...

AA: "I'll just say it was mean of the Times to say 'the church was less than half full'...."

Mebee so, but it is a statement the veracity of which can be objectively and quantitatively determined. A rare gem. Rarer still, if true.

The Vault Dweller said...

Where is the Left going to go to get buried in the future? Probably most of them can't establish the minimum ties to any religious institution to get a funeral by one of their clerics, nor find a plot to be buried in. Will acts of cremation rise? Will we see a sudden growth in Unitarian membership from the Octogenarians?

Iman said...

What is with these people? Childish and petty until their demise, the NYT.

Readering said...

Full RC Mass might have deterred some. Unusual for 3 besides priest to eulogize at any length at Funeral Mass. Sometimes priest insists in seeing remarks in advance. DJT Jr could have used an editor.

madAsHell said...

Trump still sells more newspapers than Biden.

Sebastian said...

"I'll just say it was mean of the Times"

As opposed to all the times they are fair and nice.

I'll just say they can't help themselves. But kudos to them: they fight, down to funeral reporting and obituaries, even if their nice female readers think they should be less mean, cuz it's not nice to be mean. Why can't they be better? It's terrible!

RoseAnne said...

When I read "the church was less than half full", my thought was "It's a Wednesday morning - what did you expect?" Even wealthy people have work requirements. Others may have been out of town with family obligations. Add in the security requirements and it makes perfect sense if, in fact, it was true.

Gusty Winds said...

Compare Donald Trump Jr. to Hunter Biden and how both turned out.

A boy getting the wooden spoon from his Eastern European mother isn't "domestic violence".

It's better than putting him on Ritalin, and telling him his masculinity is toxic.

jim said...

Their childhood stories are about what shits they all were. Strange.

Drago said...

Althouse: "I'll just say it was mean of the Times to say 'the church was less than half full'...."

Ivana lived a full and interesting life...but it was a life lived in NYC and how many of her friends and associates there felt the societal wokester disapproval of attending this event would simply be too high a price to pay?

Lash LaRue said...

Perhaps the church was twice as big as it needed to be.

Heartless Aztec said...

You blog what you read and we read what you blog. With the occaisional Blaska column thrown in if something
interesting goes down in Madison. Not as a rule but for the most part. The Fisking is astute but mostly gentle in that well mannered Wisconsin way...

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The NYT is Democrat party corruption exuser.

Joe Smith said...

'...unfair of the Times...'

I can see why you read it, but it's all spin...every single letter.

As to 'half full,' a lot of funerals are limited to close friends and family.

Did the NYT mock the gaudiness of the St. George Floyd (peace be upon him) funerals?

rcocean said...

Given that Sulzberger and the NYT's editors want Trump put in jail, I"m not surprised they would sneer at the funeral attendence numbers. Its also meaningless. How big is the Church? How many friends and relatives did Ivanka have?

John McCain's funeral was packed. Steve Schmidt cried and claimed he was "Humiliated" when he wasn't invited. But it wasn't packed because McCain was beloved. Lots of people there just wanted to seen and recognized as a member of the Power elite.

That'll be the good thing about my funeral. No status seekers.

Finally, its interesting that all the Trump kids have ended up successful and fairly normal.

wendybar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Spiros said...

No anti-Trump picketing? People loathe funeral protests, but the NY Times would have spun it -- "mostly peaceful," "on public streets," "protesters were following the laws" and "generally conducting themselves pursuant to police directives," and, of course, these people have First Amendment rights.

Leslie Graves said...

Very, very tacky to reference size of crowd.

Temujin said...

The church was probably half-full because it's a family thing, and only those close to the family would have or should have been there. And you have to figure that at least half or more than half of their friends were liberals/progressives, who simply could not be seen paying tribute to any Trump family member, even if they had been friends at one time.

The Trumps spent their lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the Hamptons, and Palm Beach. Mostly Liberal enclaves. I'm sure that's where most of their friends from earlier times came from. Those people have to appear to be loyal to The Cause. No way could they blow their reputations by appearing at this funeral.

n.n said...

NYT: politics from conception till leverage do us part.

Robert Cook said...

"Compare Donald Trump Jr. to Hunter Biden and how both turned out."

Yes, they're both smug, spoiled self-serving shits. At least Hunter doesn't pay a lot of money to "hunt" big game.

Ceciliahere said...

I read that the funeral was “invitation only”. Get the facts straight?

wendybar said...

Hunter just pays a lot of Chinese money to the BIG GUY in the White House. Why do you think Joe is OWNED by China?? Everything he does lately...is great for Chi-na. Wind turbines?? Made in China. Solar panels?? Made in China. Electric Vehicles?? Batteries and chips made in China. Great!! You, Joe, and the NBA are investing in China. Congratulations!!

Martha said...

Funnier is the headline at the Daily Mail:

Buried at the first hole: Ivana Trump's final resting place is revealed to be a plot on Donald's Bedminster golf course in New Jersey where friends and family gathered yesterday after NYC church service

James K said...

“Yes, they're both smug, spoiled self-serving shits. At least Hunter doesn't pay a lot of money to "hunt" big game.”

That may or may not be true but not a crime. Hunter received money from Ukrainian oligarchs to peddle influence with the Big Guy, is on video high on meth with hookers and cavorting with underage girls, and engaged in sex trafficking. Other than that, yeah, they’re just the same.

Drago said...

Robert Cook: "Yes, they're both smug, spoiled self-serving shits. At least Hunter doesn't pay a lot of money to "hunt" big game."

Big game hunting on controlled reservations provides the primary sources of revenue to keep large game preserves operational.

Hunter merely pays a lot of money for drugs, lying on federal forms to illegally purchase weapons and the sexual use of underaged trafficked girls, which he happily filmed.

I can see why cookie, as our resident koffee klatch stalinist would fail to differentiate between the two.

Birches said...

Wow. Those stories sound so similar to the stories my siblings would tell about our parents. I find it refreshing.

Skeptical Voter said...

A wooden spoon--must be an Eastern European thing. I'm told by a now deceased but reliable source (my father) that my paternal grandmother was known to use a silver thimble on her finger to great effect. But then that was in Texas early in the 20th century. Different places, different methods. That said it was good enough that when my then 10 year father broke his arm (being thrown from a calf he wasn't supposed to ride) he simply didn't report the injury to his mother (or father) and let the broken arm heal itself.

Joe Smith said...

'But it wasn't packed because McCain was beloved.'

Ninety percent were there to make sure he was actually dead.

'At least Hunter doesn't pay a lot of money to "hunt" big game.'

At least the Trumps don't pay a lot of money to fuck underage Chinese and Russian prostitutes.

You really are a clueless fuck...

Mrs. X said...

I’m paywalled out of the article, but I assume the Trump jr stories were quoted from the eulogy he gave. This means A) a Times reporter was invited or B) a guest recorded the proceedings and passed the recording along. Either possibility is gross.

Mrs. X said...

I’m paywalled out of the article, but I assume the Trump jr stories were quoted from the eulogy he gave. This means A) a Times reporter was invited or B) a guest recorded the proceedings and passed the recording along. Either possibility is gross.

Michael K said...

DJT Jr could have used an editor.

Readering still manages to get a slur in.

Chris-2-4 said...

Did anyone else stumble over this line?

"While there, he acted at Gosman’s (Montauk’s best-known seafood spot) in a way that 'exceeded the limits' of everyone’s patience."

I don't think I need commentary on congregation size from a journalist or editor who puts "he acted" this far away from "in a way" in this sentence.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Robert Cook,

Yes, they're both smug, spoiled self-serving shits. At least Hunter doesn't pay a lot of money to "hunt" big game.

No, he pays a lot of (our!) money to "bag" hookers. Among other things.

Mary Martha said...

Looking at photos of the church and reading the Wikipedia about St. Vincent Ferrer in NYC it has a capacity of over 2500 people.

If having more than 1000 people at a funeral leads to a catty 'the church was half full' that says far more about the author than the deceased.

Michael K said...

Yes, they're both smug, spoiled self-serving shits. At least Hunter doesn't pay a lot of money to "hunt" big game.

So, from this I assume you approve of snorting coke and fucking underage hookers?

Pedophile much ?

JK Brown said...

Yes, we all know how despicable New York City Society is. Trump irritates them, because, he, not they, pulled NYC out of the scrap pile. Well, he and Rudy.

Narr said...

Whether I'm Left enough (or at all) is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't want clergy anywhere near my funeral service.

The secular or non-religious service is trending even down here, and I think that will continue.

Howard said...

My shitty political hero's fucked up children are less spoiled and corrupt than your shitty political hero's fucked up children.

Neener neener neener.

Narr said...

Pikers. Under today's wimpy standards my father would have been locked up for the way he whipped us. He was a belt-specialist, and had perfected a smooth one-handed removal that segued seamlessly into extremely painful strappings on the backside and thighs (unless our writhings presented other targets). I learned later that even for us Boomers--and all my friends got physical discipline--my dad stood out.

I don't know if he inherited the technique from his German parents, or from the B/black women who raised him and his sister. In my experience the B/black help were allowed some fanny-slaps and pinches to compel compliance but not allowed to use tools.

Of course, it wasn't easy being him, with a fat former campus-beauty wife and four loud and rambunctious sons, and being et away from the inside . . .

Robert Cook said...

"No, he pays a lot of (our!) money to "bag" hookers. Among other things."

1. How much of our money has Hunter Biden spend on bagging hookers? How is any money he's using our money?
2. Whatever it is, it is less offensive than spending big bucks (even of one's own) to "hunt" big game, (i.e., shooting ducks in a barrel).

Rabel said...

The little bitch who wrote that is Carl Bernstein's son.

gspencer said...

The whole death-of-a-well-known, Ivana, there in NYC reminded me of Wolfe describing the death rituals of Arthur Ruskin who was the husband of Sherman McCoy's lover Maria Ruskin.

Both the fictional one and the real one followed the pretentious all the way through.

Rockport Conservative said...

Other sources were honest enough to mention only invited guests were allowed in. I cannot name them all but they were at least honest.

JaimeRoberto said...

Even a half full church is a larger turnout than Sleepy Joe gets for a speech.

While reading the anecdote about Eastern European punishment, I thought to myself, "Huh, she kept a wooden spoon in her purse?" When it made an appearance in the second story, I thought, "Ah, there it is."

wendybar said...

Carl Bernstein...another liar....https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/07/exploding-watergate-myth-bruce-bawer/

Joe Smith said...

'1. How much of our money has Hunter Biden spend on bagging hookers? How is any money he's using our money?
2. Whatever it is, it is less offensive than spending big bucks (even of one's own) to "hunt" big game, (i.e., shooting ducks in a barrel).'

You heard it here first: Cook in favor of human trafficking and sexual slavery.

Nice!

Michael K said...

Whatever it is, it is less offensive than spending big bucks (even of one's own) to "hunt" big game, (i.e., shooting ducks in a barrel).

Spoken like a pedophile supporter. Are your PETA dues paid up?

farmgirl said...

Sometimes the voice in my head reads the words and the ears hear it backward.
He DID say 1/2 full. Of COURSE he did.

Oy vey.
We’re having a gully washer of a rainstorm right now.
It’s amazing and scary.

Nooyawka said...

Maybe the first two times my parents used a Kochloefel on me I thought they were being emphatic. By the third time I figured out it was all a show. I cried. But I didn't cry cried.

RMc said...

I'll just say it was mean of the Times to say "the church was less than half full"

Be grateful the headline wasn't "Satan's Ex-Wife Leaves Earth, and Good Riddance."

Drago said...

Howard: "My shitty political hero's fucked up children are less spoiled and corrupt than your shitty political hero's fucked up children."

Pathetic attempt at false equivalence.

And if its pathetic, you know its Howard!

But its nice to see all the lefty usual suspects come out loud and proud for underage human sex trafficking. It explains fully their open borders, non checking of familial relationships and immediate transfer of illegals across the US without tracking policies.

To be expected of a party that considers adult men showering with their young daughters "completely normal".

Foose said...

It was a dynastic funeral. Who but kings bury their ex-wives (compare Charles and Diana)?

hombre said...

Snark from the NYT. There's a surprise.

Josephbleau said...

I am surprised that the church was not stormed with peaceful but firey rioters shouting No Peace No Funeral!

Rollo said...

Politicians' kids (and celebrities' kids in general) are usually messed up. Biden's are more messed up than most. Beau may have been alright, but Hunter has made depravity a full-time occupation. We have that all on record. With the Trump kids so much of it is just made up or trivial. Jared may be awful, but Trump didn't raise him.

Josephbleau said...

"How is any money he's using our money?"

Until Hunter pays his taxes he is spending my money, same as AOC. I await the "innocent until proven guilty" snoot full. Legal guilt is distinct from public reputation.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Robert Cook,

1. How much of our money has Hunter Biden spend on bagging hookers? How is any money he's using our money?
2. Whatever it is, it is less offensive than spending big bucks (even of one's own) to "hunt" big game, (i.e., shooting ducks in a barrel).


As to 1., it has been widely reported that Hunter Biden paid $30K for prostitutes over a five-month period in 2018-9; that one such transaction was in the middle of the night, when Joe allegedly wired Hunter an extra $5K so that he could have his prostitute-du-jour for another four hours (NB I am NOT saying that Joe knew that was what the money was for); that Hunter got three Russian hookers on a train ("across state lines," heh, heh); that, in short, Hunter was spending tons of money on his whore habit, and that the money wasn't all his own. To the extent that Joe facilitated any of this, it has to be through our money; Joe hasn't earned any money not from government for fifty years.

I forgot the bit where Hunter Biden disguised his activities by billing them to a "wellness center." Hookers were, oddly, not on the menu there.

As to 2., "ducks in a barrel" is pushing it. There are pervs who do like that sort of sick "sport" (Google or DDG "crush videos," if you dare -- I haven't), but big-game hunters do stand a nonzero chance of getting killed on a hunt. Do I like it? No, I don't. But given the choice between someone who is at risk of physical harm and someone whose chief risk of physical harm is having his teeth fall out, I know which I'd choose.

realestateacct said...

Spend 6 years de-personing a man, his family, his associates and supporters and then taunt him because famous people don't want to attend a funeral where he and his children speak. Very classy.

Crazy World said...

As much hell as the Trumps have gone through trying to save America this was one of the saddest days, God Bless them. RIP Ivana