President Donald Trump’s middle son Eric Trump did not rule out a future run for office, but he didn’t seem thrilled about the idea.
At an Oct. 19 book talk for his recently released “Under Siege: My Family’s Fight to Save the Nation,” Eric Trump was asked if he or his siblings have future political ambitions. The 41-year-old has helped run the Trump Organization with his older brother since their father was elected to the White House. Along the way, he has helped campaign for his father but appeared ready to leave the world of politics behind.
“It’s an awful job. It’s an awful career. We’ve seen the best of it, we’ve seen the worst of it,” he responded. “Never say never, but hopefully I can avoid the nightmare…of politics for a little while longer.”
Eric Trump says California bought the most MAGA hats
The book signing and talk was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
“We love California,” Eric Trump said. “More MAGA hats were sold to California than any state in the country by a factor of a lot. We’ll take it back, we’ll take the state back.”
California is a Democratic stronghold in presidential elections, and it was unclear if Eric Trump was talking about conservatives, his father (who has toyed with a third term, though it is prohibited by the Constitution), or anyone else in the Trump family.
In considering his own political future, Eric Trump said he called his dad the day after the 2024 election to say he was retiring from politics.
He said he hoped his father had made a lasting impact on the Republicans for the better. But Eric Trump said his own answer as to whether or not he would run is the same answer that Donald Trump had given long before he entered the political arena.
“In a 1988 interview with Oprah Winfrey, she asked if he would ever consider running for president,” Eric Trump wrote in the book. “His reply? ‘If it got so bad, I would never want to rule it out totally.'”
What to know about Eric Trump’s mother, family, children
Who is Eric Trump?
Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump and the late Ivana Trump, is an executive vice president of the Trump Organization. He shares that title with his older brother, Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump has been at the forefront of several recent Trump family enterprises, including Trump Mobile, World Liberty Financial and the Trump Organization golf resorts.
Eric Trump in the book described his household growing as one of tough love. His mother was the harsher one who gave frequent spankings, he wrote. When Eric Trump was in the first grade, his father would tell him before leaving for school, “No Drinking, No Smoking, No Drugs, and remember never trust anyone.”
Eric Trump is also a podcast host and former television personality. When his father starred in NBC’s hit reality show, “The Apprentice,” Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and future stepmother, then Melania Knauss, made frequent guest appearances.
Eric Trump is married to Fox News’ Lara Trump
The book covers several of the Trump family legal issues as “lawfare,” that put the family “under siege.” Eric Trump wrote he is “likely the most subpoenaed man in American history.”
Eric Trump and his wife, Fox News host Lara Trump, moved to Jupiter, Florida, in May 2021 from Westchester, New York. The couple bought a $3.2 million home in the gated community of Trump National Golf Club. In the book, Eric Trump said pandemic restrictions in his son’s school was “the last straw of insanity,” that prompted their move to Florida.
Eric Trump and Lara Trump have two kids together, Carolina and Luke.
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
