On January 20th, local time, Trump, the 47th President of the United States, was sworn in surrounded by his family.

Ivanka, the "most favored" eldest daughter during Trump's first term, gradually faded out of the public eye and returned to family life; second son Eric ran the family business, second daughter Tiffany got married, and younger son Barron is now a freshman at New York University. Of all the siblings, no one stayed by his father's side more closely and loyally than Trump Jr., the eldest.

In this election cycle, the 46-year-old Trump Jr.’s influence behind the scenes has reached unprecedented heights: he lobbied his father to choose close friend Vance as vice president, and recommended Democratic Representatives Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. served as director of national intelligence and secretary of health. After Trump repeatedly issued declarations to annex Greenland, he took his father’s private plane to this mineral-rich Danish territory to “lead the battle” for his father.

After a lifelong struggle to win his father's approval, Trump Jr. has been regarded as Trump's "most important political adviser."

The eldest son who was not favored at first

In June 2020, "Trigger", a political podcast hosted by Trump Jr., produced a Father's Day special interviewing "the most powerful father in the world". The first question Trump Jr. asked his father was: "Who is your favorite child, and why is Ivanka?"

For a long time, the relationship between father and son was sometimes estranged and sometimes tense. By the time Trump Jr. raised the issue half-jokingly, the bad blood between the two was probably a thing of the past.

Trump is a very "narcissistic" father. His ex-wife Ivana recalled in her 2017 book Raising Trump that when she suggested naming their first child Donald, Trump protested: “You can’t do that! What if he is a waste?"

After Trump divorced Ivana due to his extramarital affair, Trump Jr., who was only 12 years old at the time, did not speak to his father for a full year. He left the city to attend boarding school in a small town in Pennsylvania, where he gained a "deep understanding" of the hardships of the Rust Belt. After entering college, Trump Jr. seemed to want to get rid of his father's halo and shadow. He liked his friends to call him Ron instead of the same name as his father.

After graduation, Trump Jr. did not return to work at the Trump Organization. Instead, he stayed in the West for a year, hunting and fishing during the day and working as a bartender at night. He learned these skills from his maternal grandfather during summer vacations in Czechoslovakia as a teenager. Trump sneered at his son’s hobbies.

In 2001, Trump Jr. returned to New York and began to develop his father's real estate projects with his brother Eric and sister Ivanka, and hosted a reality show called "The Apprentice". Act as a mediator between his volatile father and the program team. In 2005, he married Vanessa, a model his father introduced to him at a fashion show.

When Trump first ran for president in 2016, his favorite daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner wielded widespread influence. Although Trump Jr. was involved, he was assigned only marginal tasks. Before the Iowa caucuses, he was arranged to take photos of hunting with his brother Eric to win over traditional Republican voters. "Don, you can finally do something for me. Go hunting!" Trump said to his son, according to GQ magazine.

When Trump Jr. tried to do more for his father, it backfired.

In the summer of 2016, he arranged for a meeting at Trump Tower between officials from his father's campaign and a Russian lawyer who promised to provide "dirty information" on Hillary Clinton. The meeting later became the focus of Robert Mueller's investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government. Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen later testified to the Senate that Trump often complained to people around him that his eldest son had "the worst judgment" he had ever seen. Some White House staff nicknamed Trump Jr. "Fredo," after the incompetent and cowardly eldest son in the gangster movie "The Godfather".

After receiving a heavy punch, Trump Jr. chose to fight back.

He began to crusade against the Russia investigation team and the mainstream media, and his popularity among conservatives rose accordingly. "The grassroots people like Don Jr. He is approachable, fighting on the front line, sharing Internet memes, and pushing news that others dare not push." ​​Right-wing activist Mike Cernovich explained.

By the time the 2018 midterm elections kicked off, he was already a frequent guest on Fox News and a "influencer" in the "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) circle. He traveled to 17 states and participated in 70 campaign events in half a year. Among the candidates he campaigned for was Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. This person was nominated by Trump to be Attorney General in 2024, but finally gave up due to character disputes.

By 2020, when Trump was running for re-election, Trump Jr. had more than 10 million fans on social media and became an important cog in the MAGA propaganda machine. He ended his 12-year marriage to Vanessa and took on a girlfriend who was more helpful to him politically, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, and the two became a "golden couple" of fundraising powerhouses.

As Trump Jr.'s political influence has grown, Trump's advisers told the New York Times that his opinion of his son has changed. According to former White House communications assistant Cliff Himes, when Trump Jr. appeared on the TV screen one day, Trump stopped what he was doing and turned up the volume: "He's really good at this, isn't he? "?" Himes said, making it sound like Trump was saying, "Look, like father, like son."

The road ahead for “Kingmaker”

Kushner, who served as an adviser during Trump's first term, had his own office in the White House, just a stone's throw from the president's Oval Office. At that time, Kushner was in charge of a number of important policies, covering areas such as Middle East affairs and government epidemic relief. He assisted his father-in-law in brokering the landmark Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries.

“Kushner always portrays himself as an all-around expert who has a hand in everything and has an opinion on everything,” MAGA advocate and Florida Representative Matt Gaetz told the New York Times Magazine. In his opinion, Trump Jr.’s words and deeds are more targeted.

The MAGA circle may have never considered Kushner one of its own. Kushner, whose father was a major Democratic donor, did not register as a Republican until a year and a half after his father-in-law entered the White House. During Trump's first term, he was viewed as a moderate force in the White House.

As Ivanka and Kushner left politics after the 2020 election, Trump Jr. filled the void and became his father's most trusted adviser. The change of power within the Trump family reflects that MAGA has also taken a dominant position within this family after conquering the Republican Party.

Prompted by his son, Trump began focusing on appealing to fringe political voters and intensifying his focus on culture war issues. When Trump Jr. sensed the MAGA base's skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine, he urged his father to change his stance. Trump has always regarded the development of the COVID-19 vaccine as a political legacy, but gradually he stopped mentioning it.

In 2024, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who holds an anti-vaccination stance, joined the presidential campaign, Trump Jr. was the first to perceive the threat this person posed to his father. He had been actively seeking to get Kennedy out of the race and join his side.

Trump Jr. played a key role in promoting "junior" Senator Vance to become the Republican vice presidential candidate.

In the final stages of selecting a running mate, Trump preferred North Dakota Governor Doug Burgham. But Trump Jr. believes that only Vance can continue the momentum of the MAGA movement and consolidate his father's political legacy. For this reason, he continued to praise his close friend on his podcast and social media, establishing a good reputation for Vance in the MAGA circle. "Without Don Jr.'s help, I don't think I would have won the Senate election. Without Don Jr.'s help, I certainly wouldn't be sitting here and becoming the vice presidential candidate." Vance once said in an interview.

As the honorary chairman of the transition team, Trump Jr. opposed the usual practice of building an inclusive cabinet and insisted on promoting candidates who were as loyal to MAGA as Vance.

Trump was often hampered by the officials he appointed during his first term: Cabinet members delayed the implementation of his plans, the military pretended to carry out his orders, and White House staff continued to leak secrets to the media or resign in protest of his willfulness.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump Jr. said he was involved in the transition not to install people but to stop those who would "cause disaster" in the government. "Now we know who those people are. In 2016, we had no idea."

Trump's former Secretary of State Pompeo was once regarded as a strong candidate for Secretary of Defense, but Trump Jr.'s negative evaluation of him ruined his chance to serve in the Trump administration again.

Trump Jr. recommended three cabinet candidates to his father: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and Republican "troublemaker" Matt Gates. The three were nominated for Secretary of Health, Director of National Intelligence, and Attorney General respectively. Although all three have been questioned about their mismatch in qualifications, Trump Jr. is interested in their ability to attract anti-establishment voters for the MAGA movement.

However, Trump did not accept all his son’s suggestions. For Secretary of State, Trump chose Florida Senator Rubio instead of Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany who was highly recommended by his son.

Regarding his mission, Trump Jr. has stated this: “My most important responsibility is to ensure that we cultivate an America-first, MAGA reserve force for the future. In this way, after my father’s second term ends, the Republican Party will not fall back into the militant mindset of neoconservatism, and will not once again ignore the American working class.”

In both houses of Congress, Trump Jr. is also exploring and cultivating what he calls the "MAGA reserve force". During the election, he hosted numerous fundraisers for candidates such as Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Tim Sheehy of Montana, and Jim Banks of Indiana, and helped them clear rivals within the Republican Party. As Steve Daines, chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, said, Trump Jr. has become a "kingmaker."

However, Trump Jr. himself does not plan to hold an official position in the new administration. Promoting the MAGA movement started by his father has brought Trump Jr. many lucrative projects, such as a podcast partnership with the conservative platform Rumble, which alone has a basic annual salary of seven figures. While managing the affairs of the Trump Organization, he also joined 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm that specializes in investing in conservative companies. Forbes estimates that Trump Jr. is worth about $50 million, a fortune largely accumulated over the past four years.

Currently, only some distant in-laws are preparing to join the second Trump administration: Kushner’s father is nominated to be ambassador to France, and the father of second daughter Tiffany’s husband is nominated to be senior adviser on Middle East affairs.

Trump's close aides told the media that the Republican Party, which was full of doubts about Trump eight years ago, is now completely in step with him, so family members no longer need to serve as his advisers and gatekeepers. Moreover, the family has confidence in the governing partners and political advisers who now surround Trump.

Although he has no official role, Trump Jr.'s influence will continue to extend in the West Wing: Another of his close friends and business associates, Sergio Gor, has been named director of the White House Personnel Office. The two co-founded a publishing house a few years ago to publish books about Trump and MAGA.

But Trump Jr. may not be content with just being an adviser to his father. As early as when Vance became the vice presidential candidate, there were rumors in Washington that the two had reached an agreement. If Vance ran for president in the future, he would nominate Trump Jr. as his running mate.