Barron Trump, the youngest son of Donald Trump and a newly minted freshman at New York University, has become an unwitting TikTok star with the rise of a new genre of videos—shakily filmed clips of him moving around campus.
The bizarre trend was spotted by WIRED, which compared it to Sasquatch sightings for the collegiate crowd.
Indeed, the videos are largely blurry, shot from surreptitious angles by amateur photographers—possibly classmates trying to shoot out of their pockets or around their backpacks.
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Some of the TikToks have scooped up hundreds of thousands of views, but none so far has shed much light on the enigmatic Barron’s character or personality, much less whether he is majoring in aquatic biology.
“I feel like Barron could’ve gone to any school, but the fact that he chose one of the most liberal schools in the country speaks volumes,” Grace Rowley, one NYU student who posted about the former first son on TikTok, told WIRED. “I was shocked and super intrigued that he would choose NYU. Would love to speak with him and would love to read his ‘why NYU’ essay.”
It’s possible that Barron’s admission essay was a rhetorical work of art. It’s equally possible that it closely resembled the famously lackluster one penned by aspiring Harvard man John F. Kennedy in 1935. And therein lies the puzzle of one of the most famous 6-foot-9 teenagers on the planet; nobody really knows much about him.
At least, no one outside his family and close friends. Classmates at his ritzy Florida high school told the Daily Mail in July that he was a “mysterious” presence, gracing neither the lunchroom nor the pages of their yearbook.
“He never attended football games or dances,” one said. “I don’t think he met up with anyone outside of school or went on dates.”
In fact, Barron just as often makes headlines for his absence as his presence, such as earlier this week, when he was a no-show at the much-hyped unveiling of his family’s new cryptocurrency venture.
It was Farokh Sarmad, the crypto entrepreneur hosting the X livestream of World Liberty Financial’s debut, who realized Barron wasn’t present at the appointed time for him to speak—a mere two hours into the tortuous rollout.
“He’s not here anymore,” Sarmad remarked lightly. “We took too long. We’re gonna try and get him back.”
“Damned teenagers,” joked Don Jr., Trump’s eldest child at 46 years young.
Even before touching down on NYU’s campus for the first day of classes on September 4, Barron had become a valued member of Team Trump. Over the summer, he reportedly spent time lobbying his father behind the scenes to meet up with his favorite Twitch streamers and influencers, with considerable success.
And on a white paper for World Liberty Financial being circulated around the industry and obtained by CoinDesk, Barron was included on a list of team members under the vaunted title of “DeFi visionary.”
Budding crypto entrepreneur or no, he still has seminars to attend. And wherever he goes, TikTok viewers can rest assured there will be somebody with a cell phone to capture it.
Read it at WIRED
