Who Will Control The Next Generation Of The Trump Dynasty?

Inside the battle to control the next generation of the Trump dynasty

- McKay Coppins

The empire begins with a brothel. It stands, sturdy and square, at the heart of a gold-rush boomtown in northwest British Columbia, a monument to careful branding. The windows of the Arctic Restaurant have no signs offering access to prostitutes—even in a lawless Yukon outpost in 1899, decorum rules out such truth in advertising—but Friedrich Trump knows his clientele. Curtained-off "private boxes" line the wall opposite the bar, inside of which are beds, and women, and scales to weigh gold powder, the preferred method of payment for services rendered. Word of the restaurant's off: menu accommodations spreads fast. "Respect-able women" are advised by The Yukon Sun to avoid the place, as they are "Iiable to hear that which would be repugnant to their feelings." But among lonely prospectors, the Arctic is a hit. Before long, Friedrich is boasting, with a hereditary penchant for hyperbole, that his establishment serves more than 3,000 meals a day. It's true that he has plenty of customers. A hundred thousand men have raced north in search of gold at the twilight of the 19th century, hypnotized by a shimmering mirage that Friedrich himself must have recognized.