IMO A desire and need to punish is mental illness. In healthy folks it can be acute but passing and eventually disipates. In the pathological, it becomes an obcession and lasts sometimes beyond retalliation. I have wondered if the Trump kids have experienced his punishments. Melania is easy to read but we don't know everything.
It does not look like the kids have ever tried to teach dad.

Choose your obcessions well
Your fathers hell slowly goes by
And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears
that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.
Teach your parents…