There is a famous scene in The Godfather Part II where Fredo, the disfavored son of the Corleone clan, screams at his brother Michael, "I can handle things, I'm smart! Not like everybody says, like dumb. I'm smart and I want respect!" In this entertaining survey of the fall and rise of Donald Trump Jr., Nina Burleigh notes that, like Fredo, the eldest son of the Trump clan often seemed desperate for respect during his father's first years in politics — and instead got him in trouble by clumsily setting a Trump Tower meeting with the Russians in exchange for Hillary Clinton dirt. But in the years since, Junior has surprisingly risen from the ashes of his sad life, using his father's time in the post-2020 wilderness to establish himself as the family's preeminent connection to both the ascendant authoritarians from Silicon Valley and MAGA's next generation of politicians in J.D. Vance. Now he's powerful and successful and even has a new girlfriend, all of which suggests that the Fredos of the world might be onto something. As his father has shown, those we respect least may be the ones who end up victorious.
—Ryu Spaeth, features editor, New York
