Strange Facts About Eric Trump We Can't Ignore

Eric Trump seemingly enjoys complaining while trying to make it look like he's not, er, complaining. President Donald Trump's second oldest son might be slightly less rambunctious than his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., but he's a Trump all the same, which means he ticks certain boxes. Sharing videos on X that make people furious? Check. Eyebrow-raising social media behavior? Check. Glaring red flags in his relationship with Lara Trump? Double check. And then there's the complaints about how hard it is to be him, of course. "Every day, you get abused by somebody," Eric told Westchester Magazine in 2018. Naturally, he was predominantly referring to the media, which enjoys nothing more than to make fun of the Trump family's antics. "And the next thing you know, you're being parodied on 'Saturday Night Live'" Eric lamented, then quickly added, "It comes with the territory."

The businessman has also hinted he's not a fan of politics, admitting that it was disrupting his life. He included his father in this statement, asserting that Donald Trump is a selfless man who gave up peace and quiet for the maelstrom that's Washington D.C. — all because he loves his country. "My father's life became exponentially worse the minute he decided to run for president," Eric told the outlet. "He didn't need to do this, but he was immensely frustrated with where the country was going." Aren't we all?

As Donald readied to grace the country with his presence once again during the 2024 campaign trial and narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, Eric once again used the opportunity to paint the Trump family as victims, especially his father. But believe it or not, his incessant complaining and praise for his father's antics are hardly the strangest things about Eric Trump.

One does not need a DNA test to prove that Eric Trump is Donald Trump's biological son. One simply needs to look at the things he says and does for confirmation. Avid pundits will remember the infamous 2017 interview in which Eric proved he inherited his father's lack of tact. While speaking to Fox News' Sean Hannity, who's known for his embarrassing on-air blunders, Eric made a gaffe of his own when he told the Fox News host how he really felt about the Democrats and all those who didn't support his father. "I've never seen hatred like this. To me, they're not even people," Eric told Hannity (via CNN).

This was rich coming from the son of a man who takes to giving his political opponents demeaning nicknames and has called immigrants "animals" (via NBC News), not to mention the events of January 6, 2021, but we'll digress. Eric didn't stop at dehumanizing people he disagrees with, however; he took a jab at the head of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, as well. "You see the head of the (Democratic National Committee), who is a total whack job," he added.

Of course, Eric Trump wasn't the only one trading insults at the time, but like his father, he's not very good at it. Hillary Clinton, however, managed to insult Trump supporters in a manner that could almost be described as classy when comparing it to the language favored by the Trump clan. "To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," she said during a September 2016 fundraiser (via CNN). Clinton notably apologized. Eric, unsurprisingly, did not.

If you ask Eric Trump what he thinks the job description of the president of the United States entails, he'll likely list golfing, excessively tweeting, and starting a Capitol riot among the requirements (though he likely won't refer to that last one as such). This sounds like a ridiculous statement because it is, but according to Eric, his father spent his first term as president working tirelessly, and, er, those are some of the president's most memorable accomplishments.

Eric passionately told Fox News (via X), "You know, the difference between them [the Democrats] and my father — my father sat there 24 hours a day and fought for the United States' best interest. These people aren't fighting. They've got no energy, they've got no charisma, they have no fight." It was Eric's unwavering belief in his father's impeccable work ethic that had many netizens in stitches.

"My volume isn't up. His father sat there 24 hours a day. Is he talking about a toilet?" one X user quipped. "Eric, do you mean except for the 307 days daddy spent — almost a full year — golfing during his presidency?" another pondered. Joked another, "Does he have another father we've never heard of!?"

Eric Trump and his brother, Donald Trump Jr., were put in charge of the Trump Organization when their father was first elected president in 2016. Once President Donald Trump left the White House, he found himself in a boatload of legal trouble, and he was dragging his sons down with him.

New York Attorney General Leticia James brought a $250 million lawsuit against Donald and his sons for inflating the value of many of their properties on documents provided to banks and insurance companies. An ex-executive from the company, Jeff McConney, told the court that he inflated the values of certain properties at Eric's direction. He even testified to blatantly lying on documents regarding the organization's Seven Springs development after Eric told him to adjust the valuation for seven homes, even though said homes have not yet been built.

Despite McConney's testimony and some emails backing up claims that Eric was well-versed in the company's financial statements, the businessman didn't admit to any wrongdoing. "We have a better company than they could have ever imagined, and this is a big charade. That's a huge waste of taxpayer money and is the very reason everybody's moving out of New York state," Eric told journalists after one of his court appearances (via Scripps News). Sounding every bit like his father, he continued, "We run some of the most significant buildings ... so many other great properties, and the witch hunt that this woman [Letitia James] is under, the witch hunt that this person is under to get my father for political purposes, it's disgusting."

As far as Eric Trump is concerned, the Trump family is as squeaky clean as they come, and as President Donald Trump's New York fraud trial woes kept piling up, Eric made an appearance on Fox News to set the record straight (read: paint the Trump family as victims of political warfare). "A hundred and ten subpoenas in the last seven years. Those are ones that I've received personally. ... I've never gotten so much as a traffic ticket," Eric lamented (via X). This might be because people like Eric rarely drive themselves. Nonetheless, he firmly believes that every court case ever brought against his family has been a sham. "We're a good family. Never have done anything wrong," he added.

Eric's words could not have been more ironic. When one receives more than a hundred subpoenas over the course of seven years, you have to be doing something wrong, and some introspection is certainly warranted. Netizens quickly pointed this out on X. "I don't know about you, but it seems to me that if you've received 110 subpoenas in just the space of a few years, you might be either a head of agency or a criminal," one wrote. Another expressed their astonishment that Eric managed to utter those words with such nonchalance on television. "Okay, so he really is dumber than Lara who thinks there are 81 states in United States of America," someone else quipped. Added another, "Eric needs his head examined."

Speaking of doing nothing wrong, Eric Trump most certainly doesn't believe that funneling money from a children's cancer charity into the Trump Organization's coffers warrants any investigation. Forbes managed to get one over on Eric when the outlet interviewed President Donald Trump's son and asked questions about his charity, the Eric Trump Foundation. He was happy to boast about all the good his charity has done for the St. Jude Children's Hospital — the hospital has received a whopping $11 million courtesy of the foundation — and that all of this was possible thanks to the Trump family's generosity. "We get to use our assets 100% free of charge," Eric told the outlet, referring to the Trump-owned golf courses that were used to host charitable tournaments to raise money for the hospital. This was a lie.

Upon digging deeper, Forbes found that the Trump Organization charged Eric's foundation for the use of its golf courses. Meanwhile, those who donated funds were under the impression that all of their money was going towards the children's hospital. Forbes reported that $1.2 million never made it to St. Jude's bank account. Furthermore, Donald Trump once donated $100,000 from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to the Eric Trump Foundation, which the latter funneled back into the Trump Organization. It seems all those subpoenas that have been haunting Eric for seven years were on to something.

Ian Gillule, who served as membership and marketing director at Trump National Westchester, told Forbes, "I saw that Eric was getting billed. I would always say, 'I can't believe that his dad is billing him for a charitable outing.' But that's what they wanted." A spokesperson for Eric's foundation denied any wrongdoing.

As of this publication, there's still ample speculation about a certain hand gesture Eric Trump made during President Donald Trump's second inauguration, and netizens were divided about its meaning. A video of Eric holding his hands in front of him in a diamond-like shape went viral after eagle-eyed pundits saw him abruptly changing the position of his hands after his wife, Lara Trump whispered something in his ear. Some who tried their hand at lip-reading believed Lara told Eric, "Stop," after which he changed the gesture (via Times of India).

X was rife with speculation about the incident. It is important to point out that the person who made this gesture famous is German chancellor Angela Merkel. When asked why she tends to hold her hands that way in public, Merkel once explained, "There was always the question, what to do with your arms, and that's how it came about" (via Times of India). Eric might very well have been trying to look the part of the president's son, but netizens on X had other ideas, with some peddling  several conspiracy theories as to why Eric had made the hand gesture. Some argued he was warding off evil, while others countered the gesture was proof that Eric and his family were in cahoots with some shady organizations themselves. It's unlikely we'll ever know what Eric's true intent behind the gesture was. For now, all we have is speculation, and proof that he listens to his wife.

President Donald Trump can rest easy knowing that, no matter what kind of trouble he lands himself in, Eric Trump will always defend his honor. Take his 2025 tariff war, for example. As the stock market crashed and even Trump's staunchest supporters questioned his decisions, Eric told CNBC that people shouldn't panic, that it's all routine procedure to reset the economy and that he wouldn't call the repercussions of the tariffs on the stock market "draconian." The interviewer then pointed out that the dollar was getting crushed under Trump's reign, stating, "[It's been the] worst first 100 days for a presidency for the U.S. dollar since the Nixon era." Eric had an answer ready. "You know what I think? I think that the entire system needed a big kick in the you-know-what." Whether it's really the system that needed that kick is debatable.

Eric has previously made it clear that he thinks highly of his father. In an opinion piece Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio wrote for CNN, he criticized the Trump children's lack of real-world experience, explaining that they grew up in a fishbowl that has catered to their every need all their lives. They live in a world very different from that of the average American. This is perhaps why Eric managed to compare his father to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt with utmost conviction prior to his 2016 bid for the White House. D'Antonio found the comparison laughable at best. At worst, it was an insult to both Churchill and Roosevelt's legacy.

While many individuals who come from rich families fear being labeled nepo babies, Eric Trump doesn't mind. In fact, he's embracing it while also giving himself a good old pat on the back for what he deems is the hard work that got him to where he is today. "Nepotism is kind of a factor of life," he told Forbes in 2017. "We might be here because of nepotism, but we're not still here because of nepotism. You know, if we didn't do a good job, if we weren't competent, believe me, we wouldn't be in this spot." And yet many, like Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio, have asserted that Eric and his siblings' belief in their own competence is misplaced.

Eric believes that his father doesn't play favorites. He told Forbes as much, saying his father had high expectations of him and his siblings and that not performing according to his wishes has consequences. "You know, the one thing, Don, Ivanka and I never let him down really in any factor of life. And I think it's one of the reasons that we're as innately close as we are," Eric explained.

Nepotism expert at Missouri State University, Robert Jones, told Forbes that Eric's take on nepotism was to be expected, explaining that those born into privilege often have an inability to understand it and how it affects their lives. "I mean, we're just not even aware of the opportunities we're given. And it kind of dawns on us over time if we've got our eyes open and are looking for it," Jones said. It might be safe to say Eric's going through life with his eyes shut.