During a recent episode of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?, Ronald Smith exhibited troubling behavior by using his stepson as a way to influence his wife Tiffany Franco Smith. This season, Tiffany and Ronald are spending Christmas together as a family. During one particular outing to buy decorations, the couple butted heads yet again. However, things took a turn when Ronald put Daniel in the middle of his disagreement with Tiffany. When he was confronted about it later, he admitted that it was all a strategy.

Tiffany may be ready to give Ronald a second chance on 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?, but things seem to be worse between the couple behind the scenes. Recently, Tiffany and Ronald have fueled divorce rumors with cryptic social media posts. Many fans are convinced they’ve broken up. On the show, however, Tiffany and Ronald reunited in South Africa, and Ronald made it clear that he wants Tiffany and the kids to stay with him permanently.

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Money has been a major issue for the couple during this season of Happily Ever After?, with Tiffany wanting Ronald to pay for more stuff in general. While shopping for Christmas decorations, Tiffany wanted to get a smaller, more modest tree that was cheaper. In turn, Ronald wanted to get a larger and more expensive tree. Eventually, the decision came down to what Daniel wanted, and Ronald said: “Daniel, what’s your call? You want big, right?...we can get the small tree which looks like asparagus or we can get the big tree that looks like Christmas."

Ronald Smith with daughter Carly and son Daniel in 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After

As a child, Daniel obviously chose the larger tree, and the total cost of their decorations came up to over $700. Later, Tiffany confronted Ronald about the way he manipulated Daniel. “You’re putting me in a bad place because I don’t want to come off as the bad guy who’s ruining Christmas just because I have a smart budget,” Tiffany told Ronald. “I just want to make it feel like Christmas for you guys,” he replied. Then, when Tiffany suggested that Ronald was doing this “to make it harder for [Daniel] to want to leave,” Ronald emphatically said “yes.

Tiffany and Ronald are especially hard to watch on 90 Day Fiancé when their kids get drawn into their problems. It’s understandable that Ronald wants his family to stay with him in South Africa, but using the children as a tool to manipulate Tiffany isn’t the way to do it. Tiffany said “it’s unfair to me” when he does that, and she’s absolutely right. Though Tiffany isn’t without fault when it comes to their marital problems, Ronald using Daniel the way he did was out of line.

Ultimately, Ronald’s plan on 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? to manipulate Daniel into wanting to stay in South Africa seems to be working. Daniel clearly adores Ronald and vice versa, which is great, but Ronald has a responsibility to not use Daniel’s love for him as a way to get what he wants from Tiffany. As his wife said, it’s unfair to her and also unfair to Daniel to be used as a pawn in that way. Things won’t get better between Tiffany and Ronald until they leave the kids out of their marital issues.

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