NEW YORK (AP) — As House Speaker Mike Johnson, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. circled the president-elect’s plane over some McDonald’s burgers and fries recently, Donald Trump Jr . in the middle of this power foursome.
The central place occupied by Trump’s eldest son, as captured in a photo widely shared online, reflects how Trump Jr. has become a prominent player in his father’s political circle and a potential heir to his Make America Great Again movement .
For the son of a president-elect, Trump has already had an outsized influence on the next White House. He lobbied challenging for the former president to choose his good friend, Ohio Senator JD Vance, as his running mate.
“I deployed 10,000% of my political capital,” Trump Jr. said of his efforts in an interview with Tucker Carlson on election night. “Maybe in 2076 I’ll get a favor from my father. I used everything.”
As honorary chairman of the Republican president-elect’s transition team, Trump Jr. is among a core group of people who will decide who will fill top jobs in the next White House, and his imprint is clear.
Trump Jr. particularly pushed for roles for former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, whom the president-elect has named director of national intelligence, and for Kennedy, who is expected to lead Health and Human Services.
Another close ally, Sergio Gor, will head human resources. He and Trump Jr. run a publishing company, Winning Team Publishing, which has published two of the former president’s books.
The younger Trump said he has no plans to join his father’s administration, as his younger sister Ivanka Trump did during his first term. His brother Eric is also honorary chairman of the transition, but was not as massive a political player. Eric’s wife, Lara, became more involved and served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Trump Jr. is expected to continue to be a vocal supporter of his father and his plans, and he has made it clear that he wants to be an influential outside voice, according to a person familiar with his thinking and on condition The anonymity spoke internal planning.
The president-elect’s style – brash, unrefined and combative – is rooted in his son. Donald Trump Jr. is often more aggressive than his father, in his calls to disrupt government as usual, in the way he enthusiastically wades into the culture wars, and in his enthusiasm for trolls.
“He’s probably the best embodiment of the Republican Party’s attitude of not doing shit,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican political strategist.
Trump Jr.’s demeanor and the way he communicates don’t make him sound like a normal political figure, Jennings said, and that’s part of the appeal.
“I think that’s one thing that’s probably true with the Trumps broadly, but certainly true for him: They’re just not engaging in the normal political pablum that pre-Trump politicians were educated or trained to do.”
The 46-year-old is fluent in the online world of conservative politics and has a feel for cultural issues that resonate with the MAGA faithful.
Posts on Trump’s X account, where he has more than 13 million followers, are often peppered with exclamation points and emojis. He frequently posts conservative memes on Instagram.
He alternates between interviews on mainstream media outlets like Fox News and a number of podcasts that are influential among youthful conservatives, and hosts his own podcast, “Triggered With Don Jr.,” twice a week. During the campaign, he pushed for the former president to be in Podcasts to reach youthful men, including the popular Joe Rogan podcast.
Trump Jr.’s aggressive style has particularly appealed to younger men.
“I think that’s one of the reasons a lot of these young men like it, because that’s how they talk,” Jennings said.
Trump Jr. said he has no plans to run for office himself, but he is working to nurture the next generation of his father’s movement and cultivate like-minded, communication-savvy Republicans.
Beyond his political work, the father of five also serves as executive vice president of the Trump Organization’s largest family business, has launched a up-to-date crypto platform and recently announced that he is joining a venture capital firm that invests in conservative-leaning companies.
Trump Jr. previously appeared with his father on “The Apprentice,” the reality show that boosted the billionaire’s first presidential campaign. When Donald Trump launched his run for the White House in 2015 and was met with skepticism from parts of the Republican Party, Trump Jr.’s public relations helped his father gain more support, especially among conservatives who saw someone who represented their views and an avid hunter and fisherman who is a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.
Since then, he has become increasingly evident in Republican politics, campaigning not only for his father but also for like-minded candidates. He was a supporter of Vance in his run for Ohio Senate in 2022 and urged his father to do the same. This year he strongly supported successful Republican Senate candidates Jim Banks in Indiana, Bernie Moreno in Ohio and Tim Sheehy in Montana.
Trump Jr. helped broker a relationship with Kennedy when the Democrat-turned-independent dropped his presidential campaign to bring him into the MAGA fold and support his father. He expressed the idea that Kennedy could join the administration early on, saying in an interview with conservative host Glenn Beck that “I loved the idea” that Kennedy could join a Trump White House.
“I love the idea of giving him a role in a big three-letter unit or whatever and letting him blow up,” Trump Jr. said, referring to the many initials for government agencies.
The two got along well and Trump Jr., an avid outdoorsman, shared pictures on social media in October of a day he spent with Kennedy enjoying his favorite hobby: falconry.
The anti-vaxxer Kennedy’s choice to lead the nation’s public health agencies is certain to face intense scrutiny in the Senate confirmation process, even with a Republican majority.
Trump Jr. acknowledged in a recent interview on Fox News that some of his father’s decisions will be met with disapproval.
“They will be real disruptors,” he said. “This is what the American people want.”
