Eric Trump gives three-word response to question about whether he will run in 2028

Independent

2 days ago

Eric Trump, the second-oldest son of President Donald Trump, has suggested that a family member, other than his father, might consider a future bid for the White House.
Speaking to BBC Sport's Dan Roan about the possibility of a Trump dynasty, Eric stated that a relative 'could… certainly' make a bid for the presidency, though he noted that the more pertinent question was whether they would want to do so.
Asked about his own ambitions for the Oval Office, following in the footsteps of his father, in the mold of the Kennedys, Clintons, and Bushes, he dismissed the idea, saying he very much doubted he would consider a run in 2028, observing: 'Politics is brutal.'
Eric says his doubts about seeking office stem from his commitment to his company and young family, as well as the harsh nature of politics.
He referenced what he called past attempts to harm his father, including investigations, legal battles, and the two attempts on his life during the 2024 campaign.
'People have asked me to, people have suggested I would. The answer is, I very much doubt I would even consider [a run] in '28 as I've got a great company. I've got young kids. Politics is brutal. It's brutal,' he said.
'They put us through hell. They tried to bankrupt us. They tried to put my father in jail. They tried to indict him. They tried to smear him. They made up Russia hoaxes, which they tried to [use to] impeach him. They tried to take him off ballots,' Eric continued.
'They tried to censor his free speech. You know, they pulled him off of every channel, and listen, you know, they tried to kill him twice this year, right? Or inflict serious harm. Politics is brutal.'
Trump was impeached twice in his first term, once over his alleged efforts to extort Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, and then over his part in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In the aftermath of the riot, which cost at least five lives, social media platforms banned the outgoing president for fear he would incite more violence.
In May 2024, Trump was criminally convicted on 34 felony counts by a jury in New York for falsifying business accounts to try to hide his alleged affair with an adult movie star ahead of the 2016 election. He was also criminally charged in three other cases – relating to his role in the January 6 riot; for mishandling secret papers at his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving office; and for trying to bully a Georgia official into 'finding' him more votes so he could overturn the result of the 2020 election in that state. The first two cases were dismissed when he was re-elected, while the Georgia case remains paused.
In separate civil cases, Trump was found to have sexually abused and defamed a magazine columnist, E Jean Carroll, and to have engaged in financial fraud by changing valuations of his assets to give different estimates to potential lenders and tax authorities.
On the campaign trail for re-election in 2024, Trump faced two assassination attempts, one of which saw him wounded in the right ear. Some MAGA supporters have tried to link the assassination attempts to the Democrats, although so far no evidence has come to light to suggest that is true.
In 2019, the Mueller Report found that the Trump campaign welcomed interference from Russia during the 2016 election campaign but did not collude with the Russians, and that Trump may have possibly tried to obstruct the course of justice 11 times by trying to shut down the investigation into his links with Moscow. His attorney general at the time, Bill Barr, said Trump could not be prosecuted as he was president.
Eric, 41, acknowledged that while his father would like a family member to run, it would depend on the state of the country.
'So you asked, 'Could we?' And I think the answer is, could somebody in the family? Certainly, I think there's another question, which is, 'Would we?'' he said.
'And, you know, a long time ago, [my father] said, you know, he had to answer the same question. And his answer to that question was, if it got so bad that I had no other choice, I would. Maybe the same question can kind of be posed of us, if it got so bad, maybe, maybe we would.'
Eric also praised other potential Republican candidates, such as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, suggesting they could continue his father's legacy.
'And I think there's a tremendous amount of great people out there. I think JD Vance would do a great job. I think Marco Rubio would do a great job … We have real talent in the Republican Party, in the U.S., and I think they can certainly continue my father's legacy outside of our family.'
This is the second time in recent weeks that Eric Trump has spoken about the potential for a family political dynasty.
In late June, he told The Financial Times that a political career would be 'easy' for family members to pursue after the end of the president's second term in 2029.
'The real question is: 'Do you want to drag other members of your family into it?'' Eric told the paper.
'Would I want my kids to live the same experience over the last decade that I've lived?' he asked.
'If the answer was yes, I think the political path would be an easy one, meaning, I think I could do it,' he added. 'And by the way, I think other members of our family could do it too.'
Eric told the paper that he's 'wholly unimpressed by half the politicians I see,' claiming that he could 'do it very effectively.'
He then returned to the question of whether you want to enter politics, given the 'brutality of this system.'
Eric is the co-executive vice president of the Trump Organization and has mostly remained outside the political fray, unlike his siblings, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
Don Jr. plays an active, though unofficial, role supporting their father in person and through social media and podcasting.
Ivanka joined her father in the White House during his first term as an adviser, but announced that she would not be returning to politics on the day her father launched his re-election campaign in 2022.
Their half-siblings, Tiffany Trump and Barron Trump, have joined their father on the campaign trail but have also remained largely out of the political fray.