The Daily Telegraph - Features
Teen Trump – will Barron follow his father into politics?
He’s ‘a great kid’ who loves football and computers, but what does the future hold for the former president’s youngest son, asks Kate Wills
He is a teenager who is getting ready for his high school graduation next week. But Barron Trump is also now coming to understand just how fascinating he is to the world outside Oxbridge Academy, his elite Florida college.
This week it was suggested that Donald Trump’s youngest son had been chosen to serve as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention, which would have made the 18-year-old one of 41 delegates from Florida who are set to officially nominate his father as the GOP’s presidential candidate in July.
The convention will be something of a family affair, as other delegates include Barron’s half-siblings, Donald Trump Jr, 46, Eric, 40, and Tiffany, 30. Ivanka, 42, has reportedly left politics and will not attend.
Then, just a few days later, the office of his mother, Melania, sent out a statement saying that “While Barron is honoured to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments”. But by then, hundreds of news articles had been written and posted to the internet, bringing him into the spotlight like never before.
It’s the first time that Barron has been associated with the public arena. In fact, so little is known about the member of the Trump clan who they call “Little Donald”, that when an eight-second video surfaced this week of him speaking at a dinner, social media went wild.
Many commented that his accent was similar to that of his brothers, and that with his gangly 6ft 7in frame, he also looked and sounded remarkably like Cousin Greg from Succession.
“Barron is such an intriguing and interesting figure,” says Sara Nathan, editor-at-large of the New York Post. “He’s super-close to his mother and also his grandmother, who recently died. He was always kept firmly under wraps but at Christmas he appeared in a family photo, which was seen as very significant. Now he’s about to graduate and has come of age and the world is watching to see whether he will follow in the family business.”
Young Barron grew up with an entire floor of their $100million penthouse in Trump Tower to himself, and there were reports that at night, Melania would slather his skin in her own-brand caviar moisturiser. At five, he is said to have announced he wanted to become a businessman like his father. “He is very strong-minded and knows exactly what he wants,” said Melania.
The youngest of Trump’s five children was educated at some of the most expensive private schools in New York, Maryland and Florida, including Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School on the Upper West Side, where his mother would take him to and from school in a chauffeured SUV. He speaks fluent Slovenian (like his mother) and reportedly gets on best with his half-sister Tiffany.
Melania insisted on staying in New York with Barron for the first five months of Trump’s presidency, and when they eventually moved to Washington, Barron, then 11, became the first boy to grow up in the White House since JFK Jr in 1963.
His mother was said to be fiercely protective of him, and he was rarely photographed, yet Trump’s young son was still the subject of criticism.
Comedian Rosie O’Donnell had to apologise after making claims that Barron had autism, and Saturday Night Live writer Katie Rich was suspended after tweeting “Barron will be this country’s first homeschool shooter.”
In March, Mike Sington, the former NBC executive, said Barron turning 18 meant he was now “fair game” for the media, but former first child Chelsea Clinton sprang to the teenager’s defence. “I think he’s a private citizen,” she told The View talk show. “I think the media should leave him alone.”
Despite the scrutiny and privilege, in many respects Barron is just like any other teenage boy. Melania has said that he’s “all into sports” and Trump once joked that with his height he should be a basketball player. But Barron clearly loves football. In 2017, he joined the Under-12 Division of DC United where he played midfielder and he was pictured wearing an Arsenal kit while having a kickabout on the White House lawn. It’s thought that it was Barron who prompted his father to invite Wayne Rooney and family to the White House for a party in 2018.
Although, with his quiff and pout, Barron looks remarkably similar to a young Donald, according to insiders his temperament is very different. “I cannot stress enough how kind and polite Barron is… he’s just a great kid,” said Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary.
Barron is certainly not afraid to give his father feedback. Mollie Hemingway revealed in her book Rigged that a 14-year-old Barron didn’t like the way his father conducted himself in the debates with Joe Biden in 2020. “People thought I was too belligerent,” said Donald. “I will say my own son Barron said, ‘Dad, you were too tough. You didn’t have to keep interrupting him’.”
Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, claimed in 2019 that Trump – who is 6ft 3in – resented his son for becoming taller than him. “His son is effectively not at all part of his life,” said Wolff. Indeed, this week, Trump appeared not to know how old his son was, when he reacted to the news that Barron was part of the delegation by saying: “Well, to me that’s very cute because it’s a very young guy and he’s graduating from high school this year. He’s 17, but if they can do that, I’m all for it.”
Questions about Melania and Donald’s marriage have been swirling for years. According to a source, a big cause of disagreement between them was often their son, as Melania wanted to keep Barron out of politics but Donald wanted to get him involved in public life as soon as possible.
This autumn, the teenager will decide where to go to college. His father, sisters and his brother, Donald Jr, all studied at the University of Pennsylvania. But New York-born Barron reportedly wants to study at NYU. Wherever he goes, sources say Melania is likely to follow him.
And should his father be elected in November, it’s not inconceivable that Barron could have a role in the White House as an adviser, like Ivanka before him. Either way, “Little Donald” will no doubt stay close to the nexus of power and might well turn out to be the most ruthless of them all. Just look at Cousin Greg.