Eric Trump has revealed his advice for ‘the world’s most famous bachelor’ – his younger brother Barron – as the teenager heads off to college.
The 40-year-old ex-president’s son told the Daily Mail that life was easier for himself and his brother Don Jr., 46, when they were at the same stage – many years before their father’s successful presidential campaign stunned the world in 2016.
Trump’s youngest son Barron, 18, has become the subject of public fascination, in large part because Donald and Melania have been successful in shielding him from the intense spotlight.
Eric said: ‘My advice to Barron is you are the most watched person, probably the most watched bachelor in the world right now. I’m really lucky, when I was a bachelor we had a lot of attention but not quite the attention that he’ll have – especially if in 12 days we win.
‘Just be careful, just be careful,’ Eric said with a smile. ‘There are a lot of eyes on you.’
Donald Trump and his wife Melania along with their son Barron and Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr. and their children, watch as the casket of Ivana Trump is put in a hearse outside of St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church on July 20, 2022 in New York City
He added seriously that the youngest Trump child is a credit to his father.
‘He’s a great kid. He’s a smart kid. He conducts himself very, very well. He’s been brought up well and he’s gonna have a great future ahead of him.’
Trump’s youngest son Barron, 18, has become the subject of public fascination, in large part because Donald and Melania have been successful in shielding him from the intense spotlight
Eric spoke to the Daily Mail on Thursday in a wide-ranging interview where he spoke about the assassination attempts on his father, the election campaign, Prince Harry and golf.
He also discussed his affection for his siblings, Don Jr., and sister Ivanka, 42, from Donald’s first marriage to Ivana; his younger sister Tiffany, 31, from his father’s marriage to Marla Maples, and 18-year-old brother Barron – from the 45th president’s current marriage to Melania.
It’s a complicated family dynamic, and when you throw in the business empire and the White House, potentially explosive.
But there was no sign of any strife at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee shortly after the first assassination attempt, when the entire family – including grandchildren – took to the stage for the traditional balloon drop, accompanied by a rendition of Nessun Dorma.
Eric says: ‘It is rather remarkable that the five of us, that the five kids, we are so close and we go out there and fight. And they haven’t been able to divide us – and they’ve tried. They’ve tried in every way that you can possibly imagine to make it so miserable, so uncomfortable.
‘They haven’t been able to do so.’
Eric Trump, who runs the family’s business empire the Trump Organization, spoke with the Daily Mail on Thursday at his office in Palm Beach, Florida in a scene-setting interview for what he is convinced will be an election day victory
As well as his five children, Donald Trump is grandfather to ten, including Eric’s son Luke and daughter Carolina who he shares with wife Lara, chair of the Republican National Committee.
On the shelves in Eric’s office, surrounding the MAGA caps and Trump wine bottles, are photos of Donald Trump with his grandchildren.
Eric attributed his father’s ‘tough and strong’ personality with helping to keep the family together and also described a softer side to the 78-year-old.
‘My daughter will hop in his golf cart, he’ll be out playing, and she’ll have a big Pokemon doll or teddy bear and he’ll be driving around, the speakers will be blaring because he loves listening to music when he plays, he’s running around the golf course drinking Diet Cokes, probably on the phone to some world leader and she’s in his arms.
‘It’s a lot of fun to see – it’s a side of Donald Trump that a lot of people sometimes can’t believe. It isn’t really out there and it’s not one of the things that we really project either.’
‘He’s running around the golf course drinking Diet Cokes, probably on the phone to some world leader and she’s in his arms,’ says Eric of his father’s relationship with his daughter, Carolina. Donald Trump brought the young girl on stage with him at his September 21 rally in Wilmington, North Carolina
Donald (center) and Eric Trump (far right) speak with staff during work at the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The business role allows Eric to ‘switch off’ from politics and ‘hide in the background’ – an opportunity, he says, he cherishes
On the election, Eric is optimistic.
In recent days, Kamala Harris’ rhetoric has turned increasingly extreme as her rival pulls ahead in the polls. Major betting markets are offering odds on Donald Trump that imply a 60 percent chance of victory.
‘It’s going to be close,’ Eric conceded.
But the tight margins that complicated the result in 2020 and sparked accusations from Donald Trump, as well as his eldest sons, that the Democrats had rigged the election, are not at the forefront of Eric’s mind as he witnesses huge lines outside rallies across the country.
‘We always say as a family, “too big to rig”, and that’s our intention and hopefully that’s what these massive lines signify,’ Eric said.