Tatiana and Trump

Susan Estrich on Jan 3, 2026

On Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library announced the death of the late President's 35-year-old granddaughter. "Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts." Just weeks before, she had published an article in The New Yorker about her battle with leukemia that followed the birth of her second child. She fought like hell to stay alive for her children. The essay was heartbreaking. Her death tore off the bandage. Her mother, Caroline Kennedy, vowed to keep her memory alive for her children, as Jackie Kennedy did for her and her brother after their father's death. Tributes flooded in from around the world.

And what did President Donald Trump do? He took to social media to attack the Kennedy family.

Literally hours after her death was announced, Trump erupted on social media to complain, as usual, about himself. Still smarting from the criticism of his egomaniacal move to put his name above John Kennedy's on the Kennedy Center, Trump went on the attack against the Kennedy family for failing to support the arts, or the Center, reposting old articles and comments praising him and criticizing the Kennedys for only caring about themselves and "rooting for America and Trump to fail."

What is wrong with this man? His pathological narcissism is repulsive to behold. How do his supporters not see it?

Trump reacted the same way to the tragic deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner. Rather than express any sympathy for a couple who tried valiantly to save their son and paid with their lives, he attacked the dead couple, posting that it was Rob Reiner's "Trump Derangement syndrome" that cost him his life. As always, there was no compassion or empathy, only the self-absorption of a sick old man who thinks that everything is about him and is surrounded by sycophants who indulge him in his fantasies. He has no shame.

For any family with a loved one fighting cancer, for any family dealing with the nightmare of addiction, the president's inability to rise above partisan politics and just be a human being is a huge disappointment. We look to our leaders to provide more than Executive Orders and position papers. In times of searching for comfort, Trump offers none.

As a kid growing up in Massachusetts, I used to wonder at the Kennedys' ability to deal with tragedy. I thought it might be their Catholic faith that gave them the strength that my family lacked. When my cousin fell down an elevator shaft and died, my mother fell apart and his mother never recovered. How did the Kennedys do it? Was it because they trusted in Jesus, whom we did not worship? Did he give them the strength that we lacked? How did Jackie do it? How did Ethel? And Caroline, of course, dealing with the deaths of her father and brother, too young, too soon, and now her daughter. And Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who lost her daughter and her grandson, who hopped on a boat to recover a lost ball, and died. How do you handle such heartbreak, without it breaking you completely?

I'm sure faith helps. But I'm old enough now to know that there is no magic to it. Heartbreak is just that. It takes courage and dignity to deal with it, especially in the public glare. The difference between Trump and the Kennedys is not ideology. It is decency.

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