Who Is Donald Trump Jr.? Narrated by Alyssa Milano

Donald Trump Jr. followed his father's footsteps, not just in name, but in beauty pageant involvement and Russia involvement. He also wrote a successful book —that might not be as successful as he’s making it out to be.

Donald Trump Jr. is the firstborn son of President Trump, who currently serves as a trustee and executive director of The Trump Organization, and a big booster for his Dad’s political agenda.

But their father-son relationship wasn’t always that close. Trump Jr. was born to Donald’s first wife, Ivana. When Trump Sr. and Ivana divorced because of his affair with Marla Maples, 12 year-old Don Jr. was absolutely devastated.

According to a few of Ivana’s friends, Don Jr. said to his father, “How can you say you love us? You don’t love us! You don’t even love yourself. You just love your money.”

He didn’t speak to his father for a year.

“It was obviously a difficult time to go through as a young kid. He’s always been there. Usually on his terms. It wasn’t a typical let’s play catch in the backyard,” says Trump Jr.

The anger resurfaced when Trump Jr. was attending his father’s alma mater: the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he was notoriously a hard-partying student. He would often get into drunken fights.

“I used to drink a lot and party pretty hard, and it wasn’t something I was particularly good at,” he said.

Trump Jr. decided to take a year off after graduating to find himself. He moved to Aspen, Colorado—where the debauchery continued. A few years later, he joined his family in New York City, where he would work for his father’s business in real estate development, which led to a role on his father’s reality show, “The Apprentice”

Much like his father, Don Jr. is a straight shooter. In 2011, Don and his brother Eric went big game hunting in Africa, and took photos smiling big next to their kills. They put out a joint statement:

"We have the utmost respect for nature and have always hunted in accordance with local laws and regulations. In addition, all meat was donated to local villagers who were incredibly grateful. We love traveling and being in the woods.”

Big game wasn’t the only thing he had his eyes on in 2011. He was a judge at the Miss USA pageant where he was able to “look at beautiful women without getting into serious trouble.” He also said on Twitter: “I have gotten absolutely nothing done since all 50 Miss USA contestants showed. CAN'T FOCUS!!! Prob back on couch 2nite but #totallyworthit!”

In fact, he tweets about ending up on the couch a lot:

“Not gonna lie I am not going to complain about the idea of Dayana Mendoza in the nude bodysuit. #justsayin... couch time tonight!!!”

And sometimes, he tweets things that should land him on the couch, like when Clay Aiken tweeted him “Don't be jealous that gay guys get to stick our hands up women's shirts like that with no issue!” and Don Jr replied “Can I pretend to be?”

Trump Jr.’s Twitter continued to be controversial as he joined the campaign trail, like when he compared human refugees to Skittles—to which Skittles responded saying: “Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don’t feel it’s an appropriate analogy.”

He also received backlash for posting a photo on Instagram that someone had photoshopped of himself alongside a handful of other conservatives, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones, and the well known mascot for white supremacy, Pepe the Frog.

But perhaps the biggest issue for Trump Jr. came via email. In June 2016, in the heat of the presidential race, Rob Goldstone, a publicist with close ties to the Russian Government, offered Trump Jr. compromising information on Hillary Clinton from the Russian Government.

Trump Jr. was told via email that “the documents would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father” and “this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

A giddy Trump Jr. responded quickly with “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

On June 9th, 2016, Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, a Russian-American lobbyist, and potentially a few more met with Natalia Veselnitskya at Trump Tower. The meeting was called “treasonous,” not by news outlets, but by former chief strategist Steve Bannon.

When Jake Tapper pressed him on this issue of possible Trump/Russia collusion back in July of 2016, a month after the meeting, Trump Jr. vehemently denied the reports.

Donald Jr was able to keep his story straight with that, but in the future? Steve Bannon predicts: “They’re going to crack Don Jr. like an egg on national TV.”

Don Jr. has also taken a page out of father’s book by, well, writing a book — “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants To Silence Us.” The 2019 book shot to the top of nonfiction best sellers lists, but no without a major caveat. Associated Press reported Zeke Miller tweeted that the book’s sales included bulk orders, which is a tactic to boost reported sales. So although the book has been bought plenty of times—it might not be fans doing the buying.