Trump’s secret weapon: How 18-year-old Barron led him to Gen Z victory. The president-elect’s tech-savvy son bridged the gap to young voters through podcasts and streaming.
Barron is the youngest son of Mr. Trump who first notified his Father about the world of podcasts and live broadcasts, helping his father connect with majors social media stars like Adin Ross and Joe Rogan.
The young genius Barron contacted these Social stars and arranged for the meet up with his Father, an incredibly popular move that was successful to attract young voters helping his Father to win the Presidency election.
When Donald Trump stepped onto the stage to read his victory speech in West Palm Beach on November 6, America, like the whole world, still could not understand how he could achieve such a quick and historic winning result in the presidential election. President Trump won in a ‘landslide’ not only the electoral college but the popular vote of a majority of American voters.
But as Trump began his long, confident speech, one of the main clues appeared on stage with him. That was Barron, the youngest son of the president-elect, with a height of more than 2m and the most similar handsome features to his father among his siblings. As the drama died down, more attention was paid to the role the seemingly shy 18-year-old played for his father throughout the campaign. Barron guided his father into the world of podcasts and streaming services, an unfamiliar territory for the 78-year-old billionaire but one that has become particularly appealing to young people with a wide range of hot topics ranging from sports and video games to digital currencies and pranks. It’s a space largely ignored by middle-class and middle-aged Americans, but one that’s popular with young men ages 18 to 34.
Observers say this demographic has a strong potential to vote for the Republican nominee, but their tendencies are difficult to accurately gauge in the polls. According to political scientist and professor Jeff Gulati of Bentley University, they are often young people who are not politically engaged, “tend to support Trump but are less likely to vote.” So the challenge was to get these young voters out to vote. Determined not to miss them, Susie Wiles, co-chair of Trump’s campaign, reportedly asked Alex Bruesewitz, a young Republican adviser, to compile a list of potential podcast interviews for him.
According to Time magazine, Bruesewitz called Trump to present his proposals, and he immediately interrupted the adviser by asking: “Have you talked to Barron about this?” “Call Barron, see what he thinks and call me back,” he said. When Bruesewitz asked him, Barron suggested that he was particularly fond of an Internet influencer, 24-year-old Adin Ross, and that his father should start there. Ross has built a large online following by collaborating with celebrities and live-streaming himself playing video games like Grand Theft Auto.
He has been banned from streaming platform X no fewer than eight times for a variety of offenses, including making homophobic comments and visiting porn sites while live. But none of that has dented Ross’s popularity, with 7.2 million followers.
In August, Trump invited Ross to his Mar-a-Lago resort suite, a privilege he says is reserved for very few people. They later recorded a podcast together. Despite their age difference, the conversation was a hit, racking up 2.6 million views on YouTube in the first 24 hours. Since then, he has continued to be interviewed by a series of podcast stars such as Joe Rogan, Logan Paul, Bussin’ with the Boys, Nelk Boys, etc. During this time, Trump often avoided interviews with traditional media.
The common point between the podcasts Trump participated in was that they were honest, authentic, entertaining, and not too mainstream. The hosts also showed respect for the Republican candidate’s policies and the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement. During the interview with Ross, he played a game with Mr. Trump: he showed Mr. Trump a series of photos of famous people that he had to describe immediately with one word. When it came to his own photo, Trump answered boldly: “Patriot”. He also used the word “genius” to talk about the photo of billionaire Elon Musk, one of the greatest technology inventors the world has ever known through his companies Tesla, SpaceX, StarLink, NeuraLink, etc. Elon Musk says that he supports Trump because “if we lose America, we lose humanity and the world”.
Trump is also known to be a fan of mixed martial arts (MMA) and physical sports, which has led to another obvious face of his success: Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). White is a longtime friend and ally of Trump. The UFC chief credits the president-elect with helping his MMA franchise get off the ground to achieve tremendous success when most sports entertainment properties turned him and UFC down. When White was invited to address the crowd at President-elect Trump’s victory celebration in Florida on November 6, he showed his affection for the podcast hosts by thanking them.
Observers say that there are very few podcasts Trump appears on that he doesn’t mention White by name. It seems that, like his youngest son Barron, this old friend played a role in guiding him into the podcast world through his connections in the UFC world. UFC is known for its lack of traditional rules, analysts say, and it seems to fit Trump’s unorthodox political instincts: smart, flexible, free-spirited and always looking to do a deal between people or countries.
Trump once appeared on a podcast with Logan Paul, a professional wrestler with a huge influence on social media, and attracted 6.7 million views on YouTube. Podcasts with social media influencers can help Trump reach a large fan base, but come with challenges that most politicians fear. Freewheeling off-script, and being intimate in long, impromptu conversations can easily lead other politicians into missteps (just look at Kamala Harris). But they seem to suit Trump perfectly, as he can freely express himself to others and in turn has much more meaningful and entertaining conversations. Perhaps this is the reason for the success of these social media events, with so many millions of fans tuning in. Yet Trump often strikes a much lighter tone in these podcasts than he did on the campaign trail, sometimes playful and witty. He seems genuinely at ease, with deep knowledge of UFC, wrestling and the minutiae of American football.
British far-right leader Nigel Farage, who attended Trump’s victory event in West Palm Beach, did not hesitate to praise Barron. “Barron Trump is a very bright 18-year-old who played a key role in his father’s incredible victory,” he wrote on X, posting a photo with the president-elect’s son.
The numbers speak for themselves. Young people in the US tend to lean Democratic, but Vice President Kamala Harris beat Trump among 18-29 year olds by just 11 percentage points, a sharp drop from President Joe Biden’s 24 points in 2020 and Hillary Clinton’s 19 points in 2016. So maybe the future of political campaigns must include podcasting and the social influencer platforms as President Trump proved in his overwhelming victory in the 2024 U.S. President election victory!
