Barron Trump, Donald Trump's youngest child, graduated from high school on Friday, with speculation about where the 18-year-old may study or what else his future plans may hold.
The former president was granted permission to attend Barron's ceremony at the Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida. Judge Juan Merchan, overseeing Trump's hush money trial in New York, allowed him to do so because proceedings were moving "per schedule."
"Going to Barron's High School Graduation. Great student, wonderful boy! Very exciting!!!" Trump wrote in a post to his social media platform, Truth Social.
Within the past two weeks, there has been a flurry of stories about Barron's potential college choices, along with rumors and statements about a political future.
Nonetheless, with only months before Trump's youngest could head to college, it's still unclear what he will do next.
Which colleges has Barron been linked to?
In September 2023, Donald Trump suggested that Barron might attend The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater and the same school attended by siblings Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump.
In April, The Daily Beast reported that Barron had been considering New York University in Manhattan, based on anonymous sources and unconfirmed by the Trump family and the college.
In August 2023, the Staten Island Advance reported on a "bizarre" set of sportsbook odds that had been released, eyeing up Barron attending college and playing basketball, with St. John's University and the University of Miami the leading options. There was no indication, however, about whether he was even interested in pursuing college basketball or what other factors on which the odds were based.
This month, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican president nominee, gave an unspecific update about where his youngest might be heading, saying he was looking at a range of schools.
"Right now, he's doing a great job. He has great marks. He's going to be going to college soon. And we're looking at some colleges that are different [than] they were two months ago," Trump said during an NFT event on May 9 at Mar-a-Lago.
Video of his remarks emerged on Tuesday after attendee Ben Berry, who asked Trump about his aspirations for his son, posted it to X, formerly Twitter.
However, in another interview on May 10, Trump suggested that recent college campus protests over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza may have altered where his son could end up.
"He's a great guy. He's a little on the tall side, I will tell you. He's a tall one. But he's a good-looking guy, and he's really been a great student and he does like politics. It's sort of funny. He'll tell me sometimes, 'Dad, this is what you have to do,'" the former president said during a radio interview with Kayal and Company.
"So anyway, he's a good guy. He's a senior now in high school and he'll be going to college. And you know a lot of these choices of colleges are changing because you see what's going on in the last month, [President Joe] Biden has totally lost control of the country."
Trump has spoken out against the recent college protests, saying that it was a "shame" there wasn't more police presence and calling protesters "radical-left lunatics" who have "got to be stopped now."
Barron Trump has courted attention with a potential foray into politics.
This month, it was announced that he would be formally stepping onto the political stage this summer as one of the 41-at-large delegates representing Florida at the Republican National Convention.
Despite this, as reported by the Associated Press, Melania Trump's office said he would not be one of the delegates.
"While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments," Melania Trump's office said.
That has not stopped him from attracting the attention of the political right. Patrick Bet-David, an Iranian-American businessman and conservative political commentator, took to social media to praise Barron after meeting with him at Mar-a-Lago.
For now, the Trump family remains secretive about where Barron plans to go to college and other potential ambitions.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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