Barron Trump sounds like a fast learner.
At New York University, where he recently started at the Stern School of Business, fellow students report that whenever any of them quiz him about his political views – very possibly virtuous young Democrats looking for any opportunity to have a blazing row – he tells them flatly that he doesn’t support any party.
Given Barron’s studying at a school that on Wednesday staged one of the first anti-Trump protests, it may be the wise answer – but it almost certainly isn’t the honest one. On election day, his mother Melania posted a photo online that she’d taken of 18-year-old Barron in a polling booth, alongside her caption: ‘Voted for the first time – for his dad.’
At the Trump victory rally, in the early hours of Wednesday, public fascination with Barron Trump again spiked online – as it does whenever he stands next to his father and it becomes clear quite how much taller he is.
It’s been said that Donald Trump is none too keen on this unflattering comparison and does his best to avoid being snapped too close to a son who, at a reported 6’9″, has a good six inches on him.
At New York University, fellow students report that whenever any of them quiz Barron Trump about his political views he tells them flatly that he doesn’t support either party.
On election day, his mother Melania posted a photo online that she’d taken of 18-year-old Barron in a polling booth, alongside her caption: ‘Voted for the first time – for his dad.’
The President-elect will, however, have to get used to it. For the offspring who was just a young boy when Trump first launched his bid for the White House is now being touted by some Republicans as the next family member to lead the country: the slogan ‘Barron Trump President 2044’ is so well-established you can buy badges inscribed with the message on eBay.
Certainly, Barron has been credited by his father as the wunderkind who helped him to win over young male voters who were politically drifting right.
Trump knew he needed to target this demographic – but how? His middle-aged senior advisers weren’t reportedly much help and neither were his older children who – apart from Tiffany who is 30 but has little involvement with his campaign – are all in their 40s.
Step forward Barron. According to reports, when two GOP consultants came up with a list of online podcasts Trump might give an interview, the President-elect told them: ‘Call Barron and see what he thinks and let me know.’
Barron suggested his father start with one of his personal favorites – 24-year-old Adin Ross, an edgy internet star who likes live-streaming himself playing video games as well as interviewing controversial figures such as ‘king of toxic masculinity’ Andrew Tate and white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
Trump spoke to Ross in August and it was an instant success, clocking up millions of views on YouTube. Ross not only gave Trump a fawning interview, he also gifted him an $80,000 Tesla Cybertruck and a gold Rolex.
Other similarly profitable and sympathetic chats with laddish podcasters who boast huge audiences in the so-called ‘manosphere’ followed, including with comedian Theo Von, YouTuber and professional wrestler Logan Paul, political commentator Ben Shapiro and podcaster Joe Rogan.
The conversations veered wildly off the presidential election – covering topics from cocaine to fist-fighting – but they helped Trump ensure that men aged 18 to 29 turned away from the Democrats in droves last week. And Barron has been hailed as the hero of the hour.
‘He tells me about all the “hot” guys. People I’ve never heard of,’ Trump told Fox News last month. ‘[He says] Dad, that guy is hot.’
‘The strategy is reaching an audience that maybe isn’t being recognized, or an audience that loves Trump and that maybe they’re not being acknowledged,’ said Bo Loudon, a young social media influencer and diehard Trump supporter who says he’s Barron’s ‘best friend’ and helped him connect Trump with podcasters. Their generation, said Loudon, ‘is tired of being told we’re stupid by Kamala Harris‘.
Trump knew he needed to target this demographic – but how? His middle-aged senior advisers weren’t much help and neither were his older children who – apart from Tiffany who is 30 but has little involvement with his campaign – are all in their 40s.
‘The strategy is reaching an audience that maybe isn’t being recognized, or an audience that loves Trump and that maybe they’re not being acknowledged,’ said Bo Loudon (right), who says he’s Barron’s ‘best friend’.
Trump, who has made in-roads in winning over Silicon Valley bosses, has also credited Barron with educating him about cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin – although this area has been less successful than the podcasts. Barron was reportedly heavily involved in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency business Trump announced in September and for which his three sons – Don Jr, Eric and Barron – are ambassadors. At least until Trump was elected President, the project was rapidly falling apart.
All this from the young man who, just a few years ago, was a soccer-obsessed mommy’s boy who was never allowed to stray too far from Melania. During his father’s first term as president, Barron became the first boy to grow up in the White House since JFK Jr. in 1963. And insiders said he was far kinder and more polite than they’d ever expect a Trump offspring to be.
However, he grew up quickly. In April this year, after Barron had just turned 18, he invited a small group of influential podcasters and internet influencers over for dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
‘For an hour and a half, and we just watched Barron run dinner with stories, entertainment, everything,’ said Patrick Bet-David, one of the guests. Donald Trump even turned up later to play the role of DJ, using his iPad to play songs – incredibly loud – like Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U‘.
Then, in May, it was announced Barron had been chosen to serve as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention. Just two days later, however, his mother declined the invitation on his behalf ‘due to prior commitments’.
In July, Trump then formally introduced Barron to the political world, at a rally in the Sunshine State, where he was given two standing ovations.
During his father’s first term as president, Barron became the first boy to grow up in the White House since JFK Jr. in 1963. And insiders said he was far kinder and more polite than they’d ever expect a Trump offspring to be.
All this from the boy who, just a few years ago, was a soccer-obsessed mommy’s boy who was never allowed to stray too far from Melania.
When Barron sat down, his father observed to the crowd: ‘That’s the first time he’s done it [stood up to acknowledge applause]. That’s the first time, right? You’re pretty popular. He might be more popular than Don and Eric. We gotta talk about this. Hey, Don, we gotta talk about this.’
As Trump’s two older sons, Don Jr and Eric, sitting nearby, grinned weakly, their father added: ‘Welcome to the scene, Barron.’
By then, however, he hardly needed any introduction to the MAGA base. On social media, Barron-mania is well-established – with the youngest Trump child often compared to Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar.
One commentator wrote: ‘Regardless of your opinions of Trump, one thing is for certain: Barron has aristocratic physiognomy. If you placed a crown on his head and a jester in front of him, no one would question it.’
Mike Rothschild, an expert on Right-wing conspiracy theories, says there’s a ‘weird little cult of personality’ around Barron that dates back years.
In 2017, internet users discovered odd coincidences between the then-President Trump, his young son and a series of obscure children’s novels written in the 1890s by US writer Ingersoll Lockwood. The books described the magical adventures of a precocious time-travelling boy called Barron Trump who lives in Castle Trump and has a mentor called Don Fum.
These carefully cherry-picked details helped spawn a bizarre theory – swallowed by some pro-Trump conspiracy theorists and still discussed online – that Donald and Barron are time travelers, and that Barron will one day become an all-conquering ‘American Caesar’.
Back in the real world, the plaudits keep coming.
‘Barron is the king of the internet,’ Trump declared at his Madison Square Garden rally in New York two weeks ago. ‘People can’t get enough of him. The way people follow his every move — it’s truly something.’
But just two months later, Barron – who turned 18 in March – was given two standing ovations when his father formally introduced the newly turned 18-year-old to a political rally.
One commentator wrote: ‘Regardless of your opinions of Trump, one thing is for certain: Barron has aristocratic physiognomy. If you placed a crown on his head and a jester in front of him, no one would question it.’
Last week, Nigel Farage, the British conservative politician and longtime Donald Trump pal, shared online a picture of himself with Barron Trump (naturally towering over him). He called him a ‘very bright 18-year-old who played a big part in his father’s stunning victory’.
There’s been speculation that Trump – who can no longer count on the services in government of daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner – might even pull Barron out of university to help him in the White House. If so, he’d surely have his First Lady to answer to. Melania reportedly hates politics and resents the intense scrutiny she receives as a result of Trump’s political career.
Even so, it may be that Barron has always been destined for politics.
‘He is a very strong-minded… He is independent and opinionated and knows exactly what he wants,’ Melania once said of Barron to Parenting magazine. He was five at the time.
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