RNC is Trump family affair: Donald Trump, Eric Trump speak at convention

Each of Trump’s five children have already become minor political celebrities in their own right, and most have been heavily involved in Trump’s campaign, his previous administration or the Trump Organization. And then there were some Trumps — like the Republican front-runner’s eldest grandchild, Kai Trump — who made their national stage debut this week.

The former president’s wife, Melania, and high-profile eldest daughter, Ivanka, each appeared at the convention’s closing night on Thursday, but did not speak.

Here’s what to know about the Trump family members at the Republican National Convention.

Trump’s second-oldest son, Eric Trump, 40, spoke at the convention Thursday night. He, like his brother Don Jr., is an executive vice president in the Trump Organization, and he has been supporting his father during the campaign, speaking at state conventions and to the media about the assassination attempt and their family.

“America knows that they’re not just after you,” Eric Trump said in his remarks, addressing his dad in the audience with his take on a popular rallying cry among Trump loyalists. “They’re after all of us, and you just happen to be standing in the way.”

He listed the problems he claimed a Trump presidency would solve. “Everything is unaffordable,” he said, adding: “Our infrastructure is crumbling. Our border is out of control. Millions are dead and displaced in Russia and Ukraine, a war that has no end and a war that we are funding.”

Donald Trump Jr., 46, was one of the last to speak Wednesday — just before Usha Vance, the wife of vice-presidential pick J.D. Vance, and the vice-presidential nominee himself.

Trump’s eldest son is a frequent proxy for his father and serves as an executive vice president in the Trump Organization.

He spoke at length about the assassination attempt against his father at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and praised Trump’s reaction as a show of strength. “I’ve never been prouder of my father than I was in that moment,” he said.

Donald Trump Jr.’s daughter, Kai Trump, 17, gave what her father described as her “first speech” Wednesday and emphasized what a supportive grandfather the elder Trump has been.

“A lot of people have put my grandpa through hell, and he’s still standing,” she said. “Grandpa, you are such an inspiration, and I love you. The media makes my grandpa seem like a different person.”

After she spoke, her father told her, “You crushed that,” while someone in the crowd yelled “Kai 2040!”

Lara Trump, 41, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Eric Trump’s wife, was the first Trump family member to speak on the main stage of the convention Tuesday night.

Lara Trump spoke about her father-in-law’s role as a family man who “has sacrificed for his country,” and she urged voters not to believe “some outrageous narrative about the terrible things that Donald Trump will do if he becomes president.”

Notably, she gave a shout-out to “gay supporters” in her prime-time speech. The Republican Party just removed its platform’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, 55, Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, was one of several speakers on Wednesday to say that Trump survived his attempted assassination due to divine intervention. Guilfoyle, who is also an adviser to Trump, began her speech by saying she knows that “God has put an armor of protection over Donald Trump.”

Guilfoyle railed against President Biden and Democrats, arguing that Trump supporters are “made to feel like enemies in our own country.”

Notable members of the Trump family have not spoken at the convention. Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, 54, and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, 42, are not on the list of announced headliners and keynote speakers, but they did appear at the convention on Thursday evening, its final night.

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, joined her father and close supporters at the convention on Thursday. Melania Trump appeared, too, wearing red and waving to supporters as she walked to take her seat with other members of the family in the VIP box.

Ivanka Trump, who served as a senior adviser to her father during his presidency, said in 2022 that she would support her father outside the political arena moving forward because she wanted to preserve her family’s privacy. And Melania Trump has increasingly retreated from the public eye since the end of Trump’s presidency, though in a statement Sunday about the shooting, she praised her husband as a “generous and caring man.”

Donald and Melania Trump’s son, Barron Trump, 18, is also not scheduled to speak.