Last we heard from Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son went from becoming a brief Internet sensation because of a New York Times photo to lauding a #PizzaGate conspiracy theorist’s Susan Rice “reporting” as Pulitzer Prize-worthy. Never fear, for sister Ivanka’s misunderstanding of the word “complicit” and brother Eric’s thoughts on nepotism won’t hold the limelight forever. That’s because a new report claims Trump Jr. floated the possibility of following in his presidential father’s footsteps and entering the political business during a private gathering with fellow gun enthusiasts.
According to Page Six, Trump Jr. broached the matter while delivering remarks to members of the F6 Labs gun club, an “elite” group based in Hicksville, New York whose range features a “state of the art law enforcement training facility… using a German engineered system.” When someone in attendance asked him about his own political prospects, Trump Jr. cited his father as an influence and indicated his interests:
A guest at Tuesday’s meeting told Page Six, “Don Jr. said he is interested in running for office, such as governor of New York, but the position of mayor of New York would be less interesting to him.”
Apparently, the anonymous source continued, Trump Jr. lampooned the idea of running for a national office — like becoming a member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives. Though the executive side of things, especially in terms of state politics, intrigued him:
“Do I want to be behind the scenes and be a mouthpiece and fight back against crazy liberal media? Maybe.” Don Jr. joked that he missed the intensity of the presidential campaign: “Going back to doing deals is boring after 18 months. The politics bug bit me.”
When reached for comment by The Daily Beast, a source close to Trump Jr. denied the Page Six report: “Don [Jr.] has no intentions of running for political office at this time,” they said, adding: “[He] is totally focused on running the Trump Organization with his brother.” Besides, as the initial story noted, the alleged attendee didn’t actually say Trump Jr. would run for New York governor in the 2018 election. Yet seeing as how current Gov. Andrew Cuomo — a frequent Trump family critic — is up for re-election then (along with being a possible presidential contender in 2020), a run-off between the pair isn’t too far out there.
(Via Page Six and The Daily Beast)