When Donald Trump gave his final speech as the 45th President of the United States on
Wednesday, January 20, his son, Barron Trump, was nowhere to be found. The rest of the family,
including Trump's wife Melania, his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany, and his sons, Donald Jr.
and Eric, gathered at Joint Base Andrews for his final sendoff. Barron, however, was notably
missing in action. Many wondered why the 14-year-old was not in attendance during the momentous
event and a firestorm of questions rang out on social media.
One Twitter user posted, "Did they leave Barron inside?", giving a nod to the former first
son’s former home, The White House. Another user said:
"Did Trump just Home Alone Barron Trump? I didn't see him get on [Air Force One]. The
Bidens better check the basement."
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”
Barron was also absent from the Trump family's Christmas card in 2017 and, as Eastbay Times
reported, many accused his parents of a snub. Years later, it was alleged that Barron was
left out of his family's annual Christmas Eve dinner, according to Express.
Another tweet rang out after the Trump family’s 2019 celebration, asking:
"So where's the kid? Where's Baron? Does he not spend time with any of his children, when
they are teenagers? It's Christmas, and you would think they would've showed off the kid."
From the moment former President Donald Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton,
Barron Trump, just 10 years old at the time, was subject to harsh criticism and downright
bullying on social media for his demeanor during his father’s victory speeches.
As The Sun reported, it was 3 in the morning and Barron was obviously exhausted, and likely
bored, like any kid his age would be. But the internet trolls, and likely some angry
critics of the controversial election, took out their frustrations on the young Barron.
According to the outlet, one Twitter user went so far as to comment:
"Meanwhile #Barrontrump looking like Damien the #antichrist."
Sadly, it didn't stop there. Even celebrities thought fit to bring Trump's youngest into
their political commentary. Most notoriously, in a since deleted video, Rosie O'Donnell,
without any prompting, speculated that Barron might have autism. Variety reported that the
often outspoken O'Donnell:
"shared a seven-minute video compiling clips from the Republican National Convention, the
presidential debates, and Trump's acceptance speech that suggested 10-year-old Barron might
be showing signs of autism."
At the time she claimed she raised the issue because her own daughter was on the spectrum
and she doubled down in a since deleted tweet defending her controversial video, saying:
"what an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic"
Regardless of O'Donnell's motivation, bringing a minor into the conversation was inappropriate
and she was quickly chided for her lapse in judgment.
Chelsea Clinton was one of Barron Trump's most fervent defenders, at the time, and her
ability to put aside her partisan alignment and see the potential harm of mocking a child
in the media, likely came from first hand experience. In a tweet from August of 2017,
Clinton demanded:
"It's high time the media & everyone leave Barron Trump alone & let him have the private
childhood he deserves."
Melania Trump was obviously well aware of the online bullying and criticism of her only
child and she quickly took to Twitter to thank Chelsea Clinton for her support, writing:
"Thank you @ChelseaClinton – so important to support all of our children in being themselves!"
She concluded the tweet with the hashtag, "#StopChildhoodBullying."
It was less than a year later that the former FLOTUS launched her "Be Best" campaign, which
would focus on childhood mental health issues and social media bullying.
While the exact reason behind Barron's absences may never be disclosed, they could simply
be the result of his parents, especially mom Melania, wishing to shelter him.
As some might recall, Melania was forced to speak out against professor Pamela Karlon
in December 2019 after she used Barron to make a point about President Trump not being
above the law.
"The president can name his son Barron, he can't make him a baron."
The professor’s attempted zinger did not land, and Melania immediately fired back on
Twitter, saying:
"A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you
should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child
to do it."
A short time later, Karlon offered a public apology for her comments about Barron, saying:
"I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president's son. It was wrong of
me to do that. I wish the president would apologize, obviously, for the things that
he has done that's wrong, but I do regret having said that."
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