RNC is a Trump family show: Who does — and doesn’t — have a speaking role?
Republican National Convention attendees are not just getting former president Donald Trump onstage — they’re seeing, well, lots and lots of Trumps. Four family members have already appeared on the stage in Milwaukee this week, and more are expected Thursday.
The family presence shows not just how the convention has become a family affair but how intertwined members of the Trump family have become with the Republican Party infrastructure, as the Republican National Committee co-chair or advisers.
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.
Here’s what to know about the Trump family members at the Republican National Convention.
Donald Trump Jr. and his daughter Kai
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 candidate 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!”
Eric Trump
Trump’s second-oldest son, Eric Trump, 40, is expected to speak at the convention Thursday night. He, like his brother, 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.
“There’s no family I don’t think in political history that’s remained closer than our family,” Eric Trump said Wednesday in a television interview. “And we’re a family that’s cohesive. We are a family that absolutely supports him, that absolutely loves him to death, and I’m honored to stand on that stage.”
Lara Trump
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
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.”
Where are Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump?
Notable members of the Trump family have not spoken or been spotted at the convention — yet. 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 are expected to make an appearance.
“They’re coming in and in full force and effect, so they’ll certainly be here,” Eric Trump said about Melania and Ivanka Trump in an interview with CBS. “Ivanka’s been an incredible supporter of my father … and obviously Melania, as well.”
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.