Barron Trump will serve as a Florida delegate at the GOP convention
Barron Trump, the youngest of the former president's children, will make his political debut this summer as a delegate at the Republican National Convention.
His name appears on a list of Florida delegates — along with other members of the Trump family — at the GOP convention in Milwaukee in July. The list, released Wednesday, also includes Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and his fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Tiffany Trump and her husband, Michael Boulos.
"Barron is very interested in our nation's political process," according to a source familiar with the selection.
The former president's older children have played key roles in Trump's political career and helped him manage his businesses. But he and former first lady Melania Trump have kept Barron, who turned 18 in March, out of the spotlight — until now.
Julian Zelizer, a professor of political history at Princeton University, said while there are notable examples of political family dynasties — such as the Bush and Kennedy clans — those families started in politics, and not in business as the Trumps have.
"The Trump family might be trying to position themselves as the next dynasty," said Zelizer, who noted both Eric and Don Jr.'s involvement and interest in politics.
According to Zelizer, Barron's selection as a delegate is "symbolic." But he said it serves as a sign that the Trump family intends to stick around in politics and further reinforce their political home base in Florida, where the patriarch holds many of his meetings at Mar-a-Lago.
"It signals that they have their eye on the future, that this was not just a one-shot deal," Zelizer said. "Will there be more Trumps in politics? ... This just adds to that speculation."
Barron Trump has been largely out of the public eye until recently, when Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing Trump's hush money payment trial in New York, announced that the court will not sit on May 17 so that Trump could attend his son's high school graduation ceremony. That is also the same day that the former president is slated to deliver the keynote address for the Minnesota Republican Party's annual Lincoln Reagan dinner, per reporting from radio station KFGO.
Franco Ordoñez contributed to this story. [Copyright 2024 NPR]
