Melania Trump issued a rare statement about her son this week after a joke that was swirling around the White House went public, author Michael Wolff told The Daily Beast podcast.
The joke suggested that President Donald Trump’s vendetta against Harvard University was revenge for the Ivy League school rejecting his youngest son.
Barron Trump, 19, is finishing his freshman year at New York University. The first lady said—via her spokesperson on Monday—that her son “did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false.”
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Wolff, the author of multiple popular books about Trump, said he’s not sure if the claim itself—that Barron Trump applied to the prestigious school—holds any water, but it certainly “became the joke” within the White House.
“Because they’re like, ‘What is he doing?’ This is, you know, this is crazy stuff,” Wolff said of people in Trump’s orbit. “Why would this be happening? And then they tell the Barron joke.”
Wolff claims credit for reporting the existence of the joke several weeks ago.
Podcast host Joanna Coles noted it’s “also odd because so many of the people around Donald Trump went to Ivy League universities,” including several who went to Harvard, and Vice President JD Vance, who went to Yale.
“It’s important not to lend too much calculation and planning to anything he does,” Wolff commented. “But the other thing is that, by the way, he didn’t get into Harvard.”
When asked this week if the president applied to Harvard, a White House spokesperson deflected, telling USA Today: “The President didn’t need to apply to an overrated, corrupt institution like Harvard to become a successful businessman and the most transformative President in history.”
Trump’s crusade against Harvard has escalated in recent weeks, with his administration freezing billions in federal research funding, revoking the university’s ability to enrol international students, and threatening its tax-exempt status.
The crackdown came after Harvard refused to comply with demands to dismantle diversity initiatives and overhaul its admissions processes. The university is now fighting back in court, accusing the administration of unconstitutional overreach and political retaliation.
According to Wolff, Trump is going after Harvard because “he needs an enemy.”
“That’s what makes the show great. The Trump show. He picks fantastic enemies, actually. And Harvard, for all it represents, fits right into the Trump show,” he said.
“Going after Harvard has proved to be an incredibly reliable headline,” he added. “So he’s on the money. So he’s done what he set out to do. Dominate headlines.”
The author also touched on the Trumps’ marriage, amid questions about the first lady’s noticeable absence from Washington.
The two “simply exist in a marriage that may be good for both of them in its transactional way,” said Wolff.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
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