Don Jr. makes joke about brother Barron Trump, 18, after teen mysteriously didn’t appear for his first major public appearance

Barron Trump canceled a major public appearance Monday night when he failed to show up for an interview promoting the family’s new business venture: cryptocurrency.

His father and two brothers were guests in a Spaces discussion on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

Host Farokh Sarmad, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, noted that Barron Trump, 18, did not appear on the scheduled date because “we took too long. We’re going to try to get him back.”

Don Trump Jr. was there at the time and laughed, “Damn teenagers! I’m just like the old boomer now — the grumpy old man with a white beard.”

Donald Trump had ended the interview at that point. But he had previously been on the livestream to promote the family’s new business, World Liberty Financial (WLF), before stepping down to hand it over to his sons.

Don Jr. and Eric also joined in, but Barron had disappeared without a trace, even though his father admitted to giving him the idea.

“Barron knows so much about this,” he said. “Barron’s a young guy, but he knows—he talks about his [crypto] wallet, he’s got four or something, and I’m like, ‘What’s a wallet?’ But he knows it inside and out.

The former president struggled to explain his new venture.

“It’s so important. It’s crypto. It’s AI. It’s so many other things. AI requires massive electrical capabilities beyond anything I’ve ever heard of,” he said.

The interview was available only via audio, but took place at Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s Palm Beach home.

It’s unclear how Barron, who is in his first year at New York University’s Stern School of Business, plans to participate in the conversation.

All of the former president’s sons are involved in the new venture, a leaked document obtained by crypto news site CoinDesk found. It listed Eric and Don Jr as WLF’s permanent “Web3 Ambassadors” and Barron Trump as the “DeFi visionary” (that is, “decentralized finance”).

Don Jr. and Eric have been promoting the venture through their own channels, but despite the hour-long livestream Monday night, details remain unclear.

Don Jr. joked about his younger brother’s non-appearance

Donald Trump during an interview at X’s Spaces at Mar-a-Lago on Monday night, where he discussed his new business venture

Donald Trump has made millions of dollars selling items depicting moments from his political life.

He uses the same social media accounts he uses to promote his presidential candidacy to also promote his business ventures, such as $399 gold sneakers, a coffee table book, or a Bible.

If Trump wins the White House in November, his latest business venture could raise a host of questions about ethical conflicts.

During his campaign, Trump has expressed support for policies favorable to digital currencies.

“We are embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and old fashioned big banks behind,” Trump wrote on X.

He has sold pieces of the suit he wore during the July 13 assassination attempt. And he reported earning $300,000 in royalties from The Greenwood Bible, a business associated with country singer Lee Greenwood.

Trump earned about $7.2 million in 2023 through a licensing deal with a company that sells digital NFTs (non-fungible tokens, trading cards) featuring the former president, his financial disclosure report shows.

The former president also says his youngest son introduced him to NFTs.

Barron Trump has previously canceled scheduled appearances.

This summer, he was nominated as a delegate to the Republican National Convention for the state of Florida.

Later, his mother Melania Trump said in a statement that he would not be attending the convention due to a prior engagement.