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.
