Given every writer on the planet is currently obliged to mention The Odyssey, this story also involves a seafarer spotting an enchanting Mediterranean island, only to become fatefully wrecked on the rocky shores of hubris. The seafarer in this tragic tale is not Odysseus but Ivanka Trump, who is now not only her father’s favourite Trump but mine after she inadvertently launched a revolution in Albania.
Ivanka’s ill-fated Albanian odyssey is illuminating because it weaves together all the strands of the US first family’s unfolding epic of wealth creation: decisions of national interest made in private by a handful of ultrawealthy and powerful individuals, unfettered and secretive access to lawmakers and multibillion-dollar business deals underpinned by the leverage of the office of the US president.
The cautionary tale of Ivanka and the Flamingo Revolution (best band name ever) begins with the siren song of a luxury property development. In 2021, while sailing in the Mediterranean on a Rothschild-owned yacht, Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, (known collectively as Javanka) encountered the Albanian island of Sazan, a communist-era military base that is now a nature reserve.
Ivanka has since recounted how they swam to the island, did a barefoot hike and were “captivated”, despite the idea of Ivanka hiking barefoot anywhere, let alone on a rocky island crawling with venomous snakes and unexploded landmines, is less believable than if she’d claimed she’d battled a cave-dwelling Cyclops.
Back on the yacht, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama briefly joined the cruise, which would prove fortuitous. Cut to 2024 and Albanian environmental laws had been conveniently amended to allow luxury hotels in protected zones. This meant that a consortium consisting of Javanka and Qatari and Albanian investors was able to swiftly secure preliminary approval to develop Sazan in a $US1.4 billion deal, as well as the nearby Narta lagoon area, a wildlife reserve and home to flamingos, sea turtles and other endangered species, in a second deal, estimated to be worth around $US4.7 billion. The vision for the Albanian resort was for it to be a “very high-end luxury product”, that Kushner described as “the ideal resort that I’d want to be at with my family and with my friends”.
Sadly, Javanka’s wet dream to transform a protected environment for wildlife into a protected habitat for the Epstein class suffered a rude awakening when a video of security guards punching and dragging a protester in May went viral. What began as localised environmental protests against the luxury hotel development became a nationwide movement known as the Flamingo Revolution, with hundreds of thousands of Albanians taking to the streets and calling for Rama’s resignation. Javanka’s brave vision for habitat for 1% of humanity is currently on hold, pending the possible downfall of the Albanian government.
Ivanka is, of course, not the first presidential child to come to grief with a perceived conflict of interest from mixing European business opportunities with a father’s political power, although whether Hunter Biden’s lobbying efforts on behalf of the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, still deserve to be called “the biggest political corruption scandal in our history’s lifetime”, as Republican James R. Comer said in 2024, is up for debate, considering the ongoing business activities of Donald Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital (its name from the year the Bill of Rights was written), is generating returns of around 200 per cent. How 1789 is achieving such spectacular success is a mystery only to anyone unable to draw an arrow from “My Dad’s Job” to “Running a company that managed a few hundred million dollars two years ago that now oversees $3 billion”. The two years in question coincide with the return of Junior’s dad to the presidency.
Consider, for example, Vulcan Elements, a company valued at around $US200 million when 1789 invested in it. As The New York Times reported: “A few months later, the company landed a $US620 million loan commitment from the Defence Department. The company is now worth roughly $US2 billion.” A ProPublica investigation further revealed that the White House intervened directly to secure the loan for Vulcan.
Companies part-owned by Donald Jr and Eric Trump also include Powerus, which won a contract to supply interceptor drones to the US Air Force and Dominari, which has links to American mining company, Kaz Resources, (run by Australian Pini Althaus), which was recently granted $US1.6 billion in federal financing for a tungsten mining project in Kazakhstan. The common thread in almost all of the Trump brothers’ lucrative business ventures is federal contracts and taxpayer funds.
Given all these public-purse riches for the taking, spare a thought for Tiffany Trump, whose influence-peddling seems only to extend to making Marco Rubio take her husband, Michael Boulos, to a meeting with the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, despite Boulos having no official government role or reason to be there.
No such restraint from the youngest Trump kid, 20-year-old Barron, whose net worth is estimated at $US150 million, mainly due to his listing as a cofounder of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto gold mine that added $US550 million to their wealth last financial year, even as its associated memecoins lost more than $US3 billion for investors.
Ultimately, the best analogy for the Trump family’s saga of alleged corruption is not The Odyssey, it’s The Iliad. Set against the backdrop of an unnecessary war that could drag on for years, powerful people commit dishonourable acts and take what they want, regardless of law or morality.
Albanians have proven that they will not tolerate the rule of oligarchs by proxy. Whether Americans will do the same will determine how this American tragedy ends.
Melanie La’Brooy is a novelist who writes on politics and social justice issues.
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Melanie La’Brooy – Melanie La’Brooy is an award-winning novelist who has lived in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and writes on politics and social justice issues.