How Barron Trump helped his father win the young male votes in the US election
Trump instructed his campaign team to ‘talk things over with Barron’ before confirming podcast appearances, according to report
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron is said to have had the last say on which podcasts the Republican appeared on during his campaign.
Earlier this year, Trump, 78, began trying to court young male voters by engaging with YouTubers and “bro” podcasters, many of whom were young, wildly popular with Gen-Z and sympathetic toward his MAGA movement.
Surrounded by middle-aged campaign aides, the former president turned to his youngest son for his advice.
According to a new 3800-word report by Time’s Eric Cortellessa, Trump campaign chair Susie Wiles tasked campaign advisor Alex Bruesewitz with drawing up a list of shows the then-GOP candidate could go on.
It then fell to the political scion to make the final call.
“I have a list of podcasts I wanted to pitch you on,” the campaign advisor is said to have asked Trump.
“Have you talked this over with Barron?” Trump retorted, before Bruesewitz confessed: “No, sir.”
“Call Barron and see what he thinks and let me know,” Trump concluded, according to the report.
Cortellessa said in a post on X on Wednesday that the aide finally did get sign-off from the teenage Trump for any such appearances.
“After scrambling to contact Trump’s youngest son, who Melania has shielded from the political fray, Bruesewitz got Barron’s sign off,” the Time journalist wrote.
The initial shift from traditional media to social media took Trump – and much of his campaign – through uncharted waters, prompting him to turn to Barron and his influencer best friend Bo Loudon to help navigate the world of internet celebrities and influencers.
“They don’t grow up watching television the same way as we did,” Trump told the Daily Mail in September of young prospective voters. “They grow up looking at the internet or watching a computer, right?”
An unnamed campaign source previously coined the aggressive new media tactic “Trump on steroids” when speaking to CNN.
During his third White House bid, Trump sat down with the likes of YouTuber Logan Paul, comedian Theo Von, podcaster Lex Freidman, YouTubers the Nelk Boys, political commentator Ben Shapiro, entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David and, most recently, the most popular podcaster in the world Joe Rogan.
Trump also took part in a 90-minute interview with Kick influencer Adin Ross in August where the former president was gifted a flashy gold Rolex and a Tesla Cybertruck. Barron and Bo were said to have been behind that appearance at the time.
Jason Miller, a senior Trump advisor, told Politico’s “Deep Dive” podcast that Barron’s selections were “absolute ratings gold that’s broken the internet.”
In the early hours of Wednesday, as Trump declared victory at his election night party, UFC CEO and ally Dana White gave the influencers involved in his campaign a shoutout.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments