Donald Trump has been polling strongly among younger voters, and on Monday, he credited his 18-year-old son Barron Trump for his appearance on a streaming show popular with a segment of the Gen Z crowd.
The White House aspirant can also now thank his son for the brand new gold Rolex and the Tesla Cybertruck he was gifted by the show's host, Adin Ross. However, Ross has drawn criticism in the past for having aired interviews with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and for seeking out neo-Nazis, he has reportedly said, in order to dialogue about their views.
In an undated but previous video circulated on Instagram Tuesday, Ross is seen struggling to read the definition of a fascist in which he was unable to pronounce the words authoritarian, autocracy and ultranationalist. He also mangled the name of Benito Mussolini as he confessed he had never heard of the World War II era Italian dictator and ultra-right political leader.
"I don't know what the f--- a fascism is," he said in frustration in the clip. "I don't know what the f--- it means."
Adin Ross gives Trump, who has belittled electric vehicles, a ... Cybertruck?
Ross' gifting of a Cybertruck to the Republican leader was curious given that Trump has been hostile to electric vehicles on the campaign trail.
The former president has ridiculed the environmentally courteous vehicles, saying they have very limited range making them impractical. Tesla's website said the Cybertruck has a range of 340 miles. Trump has said he would cancel all electric vehicle mandates on his first day in office should he win in November.
On Tuesday, Trump thanked his youngest son in a social media post for "the introduction to your friend, Adin." That was a day after the interview, as reported by Business Insider and other media, in which Trump told Ross that Barron "says hello" and that "he's a big fan of yours." According to the former president, Barron Trump had gushed about Ross: "Dad, he's really big."
Barron Trump did not appear, however, in a photo of the audience seated behind Trump and Ross as they spoke.
Insider said Trump's chat with the 23-year-old Ross, who is followed by a largely male and conservative audience, lasted over an hour and drew between 400,000 to 580,000 viewers. The host guided the 78-year-old former president through the intricacies of livestreaming and Gen Z vernacular, including that viewers typing "W," for wins, was a positive sign.
The appearance comes as Trump, according to polls, continues to fare well among the youngest voters in the country.
A poll released July 30, 2024, by Florida Atlantic University and Mainstreet Research showed Trump with a 45% to 36% lead over Vice President Kamala Harris among voters between the ages of 18 and 35. Overall the two were in a "statistical tie," FAU and Mainstreet said, with each candidate polling 46% support from the survey's respondents.
No word on whether Donald Trump will gift Barron Trump, the youngest of his five children and only child with Melania Trump, the Rolex watch and Tesla Cybertruck.
Who is Adin Ross, viral livestream personality from Florida?
Adin Ross, 23, is a viral livestreaming personality and social media host. He got his start live-streaming on Twitch, the video gaming livestream platform, as an 18-year-old. He was ultimately banned from the social site after he allowed hom*ophobic slurs and racist messages to appear in his live chat, news reports show.
His livestreams appear on the social platform, Kick.
Ross is from Boca Raton, Florida. In addition to Donald Trump, Ross has hosted a white supremacist on his conservative talk show.
Will Barron Trump attend another Trump rally? Will Barron Trump get into politics?
Now that Barron Trump is an adult, the question seems to come up: Will the former president's youngest son get into politics or be active in his father's campaign? Time will tell. His most recent advice was for Donald Trump to appear on livestream host Adin Ross' show, saying "Dad, he's really big." Here's a roundup of Barron Trump's initial foray into politics as an adult.
- On May 8, 2024, NBC News reported that Barron Trump had been selected as a member of the Florida delegation to this summer's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. As a delegate, he would join his half brothers Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and his half-sister Tiffany Trump in casting votes to officially nominate their father as the GOP's presidential nominee for a third straight time.
- But on the evening of May 10, 2024, Melania Trump issued a statement saying that while Barron was honored to have been chosen, he was declining the opportunity due to prior commitments. She did not elaborate as to what those commitments might be.
- Barron Trumpmade his Trump rally speech debut July 9, 2024, at the Trump family golf resort in Doral, west of Miami. Though theyoungest sonof the 2024 Republican presidential nominee did not speak at the event, his father lauded him to the loudest cheers of his three sons, as Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were also in attendance. It was the first Trump political rally the 18-year-old has attended.
- Barron Trump was the only immediateTrump family member who did not attendthe 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee from July 15-19, 2024. His mother, former first ladyMelania Trump, made a surprise appearanceon the last day and sat in the Trump family box, when her husband formally accepted the Republican nomination.
- Donald Trump appeared on a Gen Z livestream Aug. 5, 2024, with viral livestreaming personality Adin Ross of Florida, thanks to the advice of Barron Trump. The interview had about a half-million viewers, according to news reports. Donald Trump received a gold Rolex watch and Tesla Cybertruck with a paintjob that has his photo and the American flag.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editoratThe Palm Beach Post, part of theUSA TODAY Network-Florida.You can reach him atafins@pbpost.com.Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
