The Truth About Donald Trump's Relationship With His Son Barron

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Donald Trump has five children by three different wives. And while anyone who watches a day of cable news is intimately familiar with the Trump kids Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. (and anyone who reads Page Six knows all about Tiffany Trump), the youngest Trump child is still a bit of a mystery. Barron Trump, the young son of President Donald Trump and wife Melania Trump, sits mostly removed from the presidential spotlight, and little is known about his relationship with his father.

As the first boy to live in the White House since the 1960s, Barron Trump would presumably have more contact with his father than Trump's grown kids. But how often do they get quality time? And how does Donald see his son who's over a decade younger than his next-youngest child? We did some digging to find the real skinny on how Donald Trump relates to his son Barron.

Though the world of political commentary can be vicious, and it's almost always "anything goes" when it comes to the grown-ups, many draw the line when comments are geared towards children. In 2017, Saturday Night Live writer Katie Rich tweeted that Barron Trump would "be this country's first homeschool shooter," as reported by The Sun. Rich was suspended from the show, and she later tweeted an apology, saying, "I sincerely apologize for the insensitive tweet. I deeply regret my actions & offensive words. It was inexcusable & I'm so sorry."

But the White House, and presumably Donald Trump, did not let it slide, issuing a statement saying (via Business Insider), "It is a longstanding tradition that the children of presidents are afforded the opportunity to grow up outside of the political spotlight." The statement continued, "The White House fully expects this tradition to continue. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter." The diplomatic and understated response was seconded by none other than former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, who also posted on Facebook urging people to leave Barron alone.

During a 2018 speech at Liberty University, Melania Trump described her son Barron Trump as "all into sports," as reported by Town & Country, and while she didn't specify which sports exactly, if father Donald Trump has anything to say about it, Barron won't be putting on shoulder pads any time soon. During a Feb. 3, 2019 interview on Face the Nation, Donald said he thought football equipment would get better, and though he loved the NFL and said it was a "great product," he wasn't keen on letting his youngest play the game.

"I hate to say it because I love to watch football," the president said, adding, "But I really think that as far as my son — well I've heard NFL players saying they wouldn't let their sons play football." He noted, "I would have a hard time with it."

That's not to say he doesn't want Barron playing any sports. In a 2015 interview with People, he described his youngest son as "a very natural athlete."

Immediately after Donald Trump and Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus in October 2020, Barron Trump was tested, along with his half-sister Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. All tested negative, and the first lady's chief of staff Stephanie Grisham announced, as reported by People, "All precautions are being taken to ensure [Barron's] kept safe and healthy." Later, it was revealed that Barron was, in fact, positive, but had no symptoms, according to a report from the Associated Press. 

Presumably like most parents, Donald has previously had a serious conversation with his youngest son about this serious issue early on in the pandemic. During a news conference in March 2020, when the president was asked what he was telling his family about the virus, People reported him as responding, "He says, 'How bad is this?' It's bad, it's bad," adding, "But we're going to be hopefully a best case, not a worst case, and that's what we're working for."

Though Donald Trump may figuratively be a "hands-off" father, his hand positions when with son Barron Trump in public reportedly demonstrate a great deal of fatherly pride. If you look back at photos of them together, when Barron was a child, Donald would frequently pose with both hands on his son's shoulders.

"[Donald] tends to stand him directly in front of himself, clutching both his shoulders in a gesture of pride and endorsement," body language expert Judi James told Express. In another interview with Express, James compared Donald Trump's body language with his son to Mufasa from The Lion King, presenting the boy to the media as if her were holding a baby cub over the sprawling savanna. 

As the child got older, his father allowed him his own body language, taking off what James called the "stabilizer" hands and allowing Barron "body language independence." He is now regularly seen walking beside his parents, with no physical contact at all.

Anyone with siblings and a father in their 70s knows him getting everyone's names straight isn't always guaranteed. Such was the case during Donald Trump's post-impeachment-acquittal statement, when he mentioned his 'whole" family and then seemed to throw Barron Trump in as an afterthought.

"I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people. And Ivanka is here, and my sons, and my whole family. And that includes Barron. He's up there, he's a young boy," Donald said, as reported by International Business Times.

Twitter reactions were, predictably, Twitter-ish. One user wrote, "So kind of him to include Barron as a member of his whole family," asking, "Why wouldn't he automatically be included?!?!" Then ended with a face palm emoji. Another Twitter user noted that Barron's mother, Melania Trump, wasn't mentioned at all.

Generally, when one parent refers to you as the other one's kid, you did something severely messed up. Like, "Look, what your child did; the poor dog is going to need therapy now." Going off that logic, we can only assume Barron Trump messed up bigly somewhere along the line, as, when the president spoke about curbing teen vaping, he had an unusual choice of words when describing his own teenager.

"That's how the first lady got involved," Donald Trump said, according to The Cut. "She's got a son, together, that's a beautiful young man, and she feels very, very strongly about it."

Maybe Barron got caught with an illicit Juul in his school bag by the Secret Service. Or maybe there's some weird Maury Povich stuff going on that America hasn't been clued in on. Or maybe Donald Trump was just speaking off the cuff, as he does from time to time. Whatever it is, when your dad calls you your mother's son, it's usually not good.

"SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL," septuagenarian president Donald Trump tweeted on July 6, 2020. Doing the math, that means Barron Trump had been home from school for nearly four months at that time. And any parent who was in the same predicament was probably able to relate. Despite Donald's demands, however, Barron's school, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, has only conducted online classes, as of October 2020.

When Barron Trump contracted COVID-19 in the fall of 2020, Donald wasted no time citing him as an example as to why schools should fully reopen. At a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, as The Hill reported, the president questioned if his son even knew he had the virus and noted that, because he was young and his immune system was strong, he recovered from the virus relatively quickly. "And Barron is beautiful," Donald concluded, "and he's free, free."