When Donald Trump accepted the Republican party’s presidential nomination on the closing night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, the Trump family came out in force.
Wife Melania and eldest daughter Ivanka — who have largely avoided the political limelight since Trump left the White House in 2021 — both joined him on stage as the crowd went wild and red, white, and blue balloons descended from the ceiling.
Eric and Don Jr were also there after they both delivered their own speeches earlier at the Milwaukee convention.
So too was his youngest daughter turned RNC delegate Tiffany, as well as several of Trump’s grandchildren and his children’s partners.
But there was one member of the Trump clan who was noticeably absent from the family line-up: the former president’s youngest son, Barron.
So where was Barron?
Former first lady Melania Trump announced back in May that her 18-year-old son would be skipping out on the convention.
That month, it was announced that the teenager, who spent his childhood being largely shielded from the limelight by Melania, had been picked to be a delegate-at-large at the RNC.
But soon after the announcement, Melania’s office put out a statement saying that he “regretfully” could not accept the invitation due to prior commitments.
“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,” the statement read.
On Thursday, a Trump campaign official also confirmed to Politico that Barron would not be in attendance for the historic moment where his father accepted the Republican party’s nomination for the third time and delivered his first speech since surviving an assassination attempt at the weekend.
In the 93-minute speech — the longest nomination acceptance speech at a convention in American history — Trump spoke about his youngest child as he thanked his family members.
“On this journey, I am deeply honored to be joined by my amazing wife, Melania. And, Melania, thank you very much. You also did something really beautiful, a letter to America calling for national unity,” he said.
“I also want to thank my entire family — Don and Kimberly, Ivanka and Jared, Eric and Lara, Tiffany and Michael, Barron, we love our Barron. And of course, my 10 wonderful grandchildren.”
