We don't choose our parents, and Barron Trump certainly didn't choose such a public life. As he enters adulthood, these are some of the hardships Donald Trump's youngest child has faced.
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00:00We don't choose our parents, and Barron Trump certainly didn't choose such a public life.
00:04As he enters adulthood, these are some of the hardships Donald Trump's youngest child
00:08has faced.
00:09When Melania Trump found out that she was pregnant with her first child, it came as
00:13a bit of a surprise.
00:14Given that Donald already had four grown children from previous relationships, neither of Barron's
00:18parents were in a hurry to start a family together.
00:21In fact, when Melania told her husband that she was pregnant, he wasn't exactly ecstatic.
00:25As she told People in 2006,
00:27"[He came home and I told him he'd be a daddy, and his reaction was, at first he needed to
00:31take it in.
00:32It was a real surprise."
00:33Meanwhile, Donald recalled being surprised merely because the pregnancy happened so fast.
00:38He explained,
00:39"'I expected we were going to have children, so I wasn't totally surprised, but I was surprised
00:43by the speed of it.'"
00:44And while Barron's dad did soon come around to the idea of having another baby in his
00:47life, his son's birth clearly didn't factor into Donald's plans too much.
00:51Barron was born on March 20, 2006.
00:54In that same year, his dad allegedly had two extramarital affairs, filmed a season
00:58of The Apprentice, and publicly made inappropriate cracks about his other kids.
01:02"'If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her.'"
01:04Reportedly, he wasn't even in the delivery room when Barron was born.
01:09Thanks to his famous parents, Barron was thrust into the spotlight when he was extremely young.
01:13While protecting Barron's safety has always been important, the child's photo seemed to
01:17pop up all over the place.
01:18As Barron got a bit older and started going to school, he was seen less and less, which
01:22seems to have been by design.
01:24When he was young, Barron attended Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, located in
01:28New York's Upper West Side of Manhattan, not too far from the family's penthouse residence
01:32at Trump Tower.
01:33But when Donald decided to run for President of the United States, Barron's life got turned
01:36upside down, even if he wasn't keenly aware of what was going on.
01:40When Donald was elected on November 8, 2016, there were major changes ahead for the whole
01:44clan, especially Barron.
01:46He was forced to switch schools when his family moved to Washington, D.C.
01:49Although his mother made the decision to stay in New York until Barron finished the school
01:53year, he was ultimately enrolled at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland.
01:57There, he was forced to make all-new friends and to learn a whole new routine.
02:01However, when his father lost re-election in 2020, Barron was forced to switch schools
02:05once more.
02:06When the Trumps moved to Mar-a-Lago full-time, Barron was enrolled in the Class of 2024 at
02:10Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida.
02:13When his dad was first elected as president, Barron probably didn't realize just how much
02:17things were about to change.
02:18Aside from moving out of New York City for the first time since he was born, Barron was
02:22going to be living in the White House, followed around by the Secret Service, and he would
02:25become a target for every paparazzi lens within filming distance.
02:28Indeed, it was all a bit intimidating for the then-10-year-old.
02:32As Donald told People in November 2016, he does love New York and he loves his school,
02:36not so much living in the White House.
02:38I can help so many young people, and that's when he really starts to understand that it's
02:41a good thing, not a bad thing.
02:43But it's a little scary for him because he thinks he is going to be taken away from his
02:46friends.
02:47When he moved into the White House, Barron had everything any kid could ever dream of
02:51But despite having a bowling alley, a swimming pool, and a movie theater within walking distance
02:55of his bedroom, becoming the first son wasn't exactly an easy transition.
02:59Nevertheless, Donald and Melania did whatever they could to ensure that Barron wasn't completely
03:04in the public eye.
03:05As the White House press office said in a statement after the inauguration,
03:07"...it is a longstanding tradition that the children of presidents are afforded the opportunity
03:11to grow up outside of the political spotlight."
03:14While we may not know how much television Barron was watching when he was living in
03:18the White House, we do know that he was often the butt of jokes.
03:21From late-night TV to internet trolls who took aim at the youngster out of resentment
03:24for his dad, people poked fun at Barron from all angles.
03:28One prime example of this happened in 2017, just after Donald Trump's inauguration.
03:32Saturday Night Live writer Katie Rich wrote in a since-deleted tweet,
03:35"...Barron will be this country's first homeschool shooter."
03:38There was also a great deal of criticism surrounding Barron's clothing choices.
03:41As a reporter wrote in the Daily Caller in 2017,
03:44"...the youngest Trump doesn't have any responsibilities as the president's son, but the least he could
03:48do is dress the part when he steps out in public."
03:51This ridicule continued even after Donald left office in 2021.
03:55That year, a video of 4-year-old Barron showing his affinity for some luggage in his dad's
03:59office surfaced online.
04:00"...I like my suitcase."
04:03The old footage quickly went viral, and the video was remixed and turned into a parody
04:07that was used on social media sites like TikTok.
04:09Though innocent enough, we can't imagine how mortified Barron must have been when just
04:13about everyone was using the clip to make their own videos and laughing at his expense.
04:18While that suitcase video is pretty silly, things have also gotten really serious for
04:21Barron at times.
04:22For example, in August 2023, a woman named Tracy Fiorenza made a court appearance after
04:27allegedly threatening to kill Barron.
04:29She was arrested at her home in Chicago after authorities said that she sent a letter to
04:33the headmaster at Barron's school that read,
04:35"...I will state that I will shoot Donald Trump Sr. and Barron Trump straight in the
04:39face at any opportunity I get."
04:41She's accused of transmitting threats to kill or injure another person in interstate commerce.
04:47It's unclear how much Barron was aware of the threat or the subsequent arrest.
04:50However, he appeared to be doing okay despite what happened.
04:54Regardless of what side of the political spectrum they fell on, many people agreed that threatening
04:58Barron was out of bounds.
04:59Some people took to social media sites such as Reddit to express exactly that.
05:03While some wrote posts encouraging Fiorenza's prosecution, one commented,
05:07"...disgusting.
05:08Say whatever you want about Donald.
05:10He is in the public light because he wants to be.
05:12His son, a minor no less, he is off limits."
05:15The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president of the United States has been indicted on dozens
05:20of charges, including things to do with alleged hush money, election interference, classified
05:24documents, and more.
05:26Whether Donald Trump belongs in prison is a topic millions of people have debated, but
05:29that conversation has been very different for his son.
05:32"...This was a disgrace.
05:34This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt."
05:39For Barron, the possibility that his dad is going to prison is surely a terrifying prospect
05:43he's dealing with in real time.
05:46After all, Barron is just breaking into adulthood, and having his father behind bars during such
05:49a crucial and transitional period of development would surely cause him lots of pain and confusion.
05:54For now, though, Donald's sentencing date has been postponed indefinitely.
05:57And while this is probably a relief to Barron, it's unlikely that the threat of his dad's
06:01incarceration will leave his mind anytime soon.
06:04Any fear Barron felt after his father's conviction was surely overshadowed when Donald Trump
06:08became the target of an assassination attempt during an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
06:13Barron was home in Florida when he heard the news.
06:15"...He was outside playing tennis, and somebody ran up, Barron, Barron, your father's been
06:21shot."
06:22Of course, Donald survived the altercation with little more than a bloody ear to show
06:25for it.
06:26And while the truth about the attempt on Trump's life is still hotly debated, just imagine
06:30what that experience must have been like for Barron.
06:32As a teenage boy who seems to accept his father, despite his many controversies, the confusion
06:36and fear Barron must have felt in the moments following the rally was surely traumatic.
06:41Barron may have been used to having a security detail around his family at various times
06:45throughout his life, but having private security guards or a police escort from the NYPD is
06:49far different from having the Secret Service follow you wherever you go.
06:52It was undoubtedly an adjustment for Barron when his dad was confirmed as the Republican
06:56presidential nominee, and things only got more intense from there.
07:00Since becoming the first son, Barron hasn't been able to go anywhere without someone in
07:03a suit discreetly keeping an eye on him and his surroundings.
07:06Even after leaving the White House in 2021, Barron still had this layer of protection.
07:10In fact, at the start of the school year at Oxbridge Academy, the school's head sent a
07:14letter to the parents letting them know that the undercover agents would be on school property.
07:18According to the Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012, while former presidents receive
07:22Secret Service protection for life, their children are protected until the age of 16.
07:27Admittedly, a struggling marriage isn't exactly a unique or tragic situation, but Barron's
07:32parents' marriage has been making headlines for years, and that's where the hardship really
07:36comes into play.
07:37Rumors about Donald and Melania Trump's marriage have run rampant with all kinds of reports
07:41that the two can't stand each other and that Melania has been wanting to file for divorce.
07:45While a lot of that speculation is just tabloid fodder, some of the chatter actually comes
07:49from people who have or had ties with the Trump family.
07:52One of these sources is Omarosa Manigault Newman.
07:54Manigault Newman developed a working relationship with Donald when she was on The Apprentice
07:58and was later brought on as a White House official.
08:00She told The Independent in 2020,
08:02"...Melania is counting every minute until he is out of office and she can divorce.
08:06If Melania were to try to pull the ultimate humiliation and leave while he's in office,
08:10he would find a way to punish her."
08:11Of course, Melania and Donald's union is still intact as of 2024, but that fact hasn't quelled
08:16any speculation about their lives behind the scenes.
08:19We don't know how much news Barron is consuming on a daily basis, but as a college student,
08:24he's not the impressionable youngster he was when his dad became president.
08:27He also has the influence of people around him, who might bring some unsavory things
08:31to his attention.
08:32Regardless, it can't be fun to hear that your parents are wildly unhappy in their marriage,
08:36least of all from tabloids or on platforms like TikTok.
08:39He's surely having a hard enough time getting a normal college experience, and having rumors
08:43about such personal matters broadcast for the world to see would take its toll on anyone.