Barron Trump, 18, uses his charm to schmooze conservatives, gets into mischief with friends and has his own political aspirations

He has grown up behind a wall of secrecy because of his mom Melania's dogged determination to shield him from the public glare.

But Donald Trump's youngest son Barron, 18, has quietly blossomed into an engaging young man who has leading conservatives purring over his charm and political acumen, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Sources tell us the strapping 6ft 7in teen who has never uttered a word in public is nonetheless a steadfast supporter of the Trump 2024 campaign behind the scenes.

And – perhaps more ominously for the former President's Democratic opponents – he's also expressed an interest in following in his 77-year-old father's footsteps.

'Barron is handsome, tall - taller even than his father - and very knowledgeable for someone his age. He's also far more politically interested than people realize,' an insider told DailyMail.com.

'I see all the attributes of a future President if he has the appetite for it. And why not? He has the Trump genes.'

Barron, who turned 18 in March, is said to be increasingly comfortable with the idea of taking on a more visible role like his older siblings, Ivanka, Donald Jr, Eric and Tiffany.

Melania, 54, is also ready to give her son more space to be his own man, according to our source - though she'll continue to hawkishly guard his interests as her husband bids for the Presidency and battles on multiple legal fronts.

'While he was still a minor she zealously protected him and we knew very little about the details of his daily life,' our source added.

'I think he's allowed to make more decisions for himself now. He can invite anyone to dinner he wishes. He's slowly becoming more public.'

Barron has used his newfound freedom to schmooze a cadre of high-profile conservative figures, recently inviting the Iranian-American business mogul Patrick Bet-David to Mar-a-Lago.

Bet-David, worth an estimated $450 million, was impressed enough to tell listeners of his PDB podcast: 'For an hour and a half we just watched Barron run dinner with stories, entertainment. Oh my God. Everything.'

He described his young host as 'sharp, funny, sarcastic, tough - not weak.' In another clip posted to TikTok, Bet-David, 45, praised Barron's good manners and humility, calling him a 'freaking stud of a kid.'

Bet-David said on his podcast Barron told him, 'It's officially fair game to come after me,' apparently referring to the media and Trump's opponents. 'I don't care. Good, do it. They've gone and done it to every kid.' 

Podcast guest Adam Sosnick shared an anecdote from dinner when loud music started blaring through the speakers and they looked over to see none other than Donald Trump was the DJ. 

Sosnick said, 'Barron's like ''My freakin' dad is the DJ'' and you see the President on his iPad, the light's in his face,' playing Nothing Compares To You by Sinead O'Connor. 

Sosnick added, 'He was smart on politics, he says ''you know everybody's always going to fight, there's left, there's right.'''

Also invited to last month's intimate dinner was the Trump-supporting MMA fighter, Colby Covington, entrepreneur Justin Waller – a business partner of the controversial internet personality Andrew Tate – and 17-year-old Bo Loudon, Barron's best friend.

Waller later posted a photo of the Trump scion and his four guests to Instagram, Barron wearing a smart suit and tie and towering over the rest of the group.

Bo, an up-and-coming conservative influencer is the son of TV personality Dr Gina Loudon and former Missouri state senator, John William Loudon.

He boasts 148,000 followers on Instagram and frequently posts in support of President Trump.

'Bo is very ideological and extremely Pro-Trump,' added our source. 'He's over at Mar-a-Lago every night that Barron is home. The two of them are inseparable.'

The boys were recently involved in a minor accident in which a golf cart clattered into a Secret Service kiosk, the source revealed.

'It was all very minor, a fender bender. It just shows that these boys are rambunctious,' he added.

'Barron and Bo kind of run around Mar-a-Lago like Eloise in the legendary children's books about the little girl who lives in the Plaza Hotel.

'They are full of energy and keen to make their mark in the world.'

Barron, Trump's fifth child and Melania's first, was born the year after their 2005 wedding. He spent his early childhood in New York, attending various prestigious private schools.

Before relocating to Washington, D.C. Barron took his entire class from Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School on a tour of the White House in 2017, the year his dad took office.

Melania ensured her young son stayed out of the limelight during the Trump Presidency though he was periodically targeted by social media trolls for supposedly looking bored or withdrawn.

Rosie O'Donnell was forced to walk back a 2016 tweet that speculated without evidence that Barron, aged ten at the time, could be autistic.

Chelsea Clinton came to his defense when a 2017 Daily Caller article criticized the youngster's clothes for being too casual for the son of the Commander in Chief.

'It's high time the media & everyone leave Barron Trump alone and let him have the private childhood he deserves,' the former First Daughter pleaded.

Since 2021 Barron has lived in Florida and attended exclusive Oxbridge Academy, a private school founded in 2011 by billionaire William Koch, the brother of GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch.

Virtually nothing has been reported during his three-year stint at the $41,500 per-year school in West Palm Beach, in part because staff are required to sign NDAs when they're hired.

Barron isn't listed on any of the school's sports rosters but he's known to have a huge interest in soccer and computers. He's bilingual and can speak both English and Slovenian, his mom's native language.

There was a rare sighting of Barron on the school's Instagram page on April 12 when he was spotted at the back of a photo taken at a Monte Carlo-themed prom for his fellow Class of 24 students.

Oxbridge will find itself in the public eye when Trump attends his son's graduation, having petitioned the Manhattan Criminal Court to pause his 'hush money' trial so he can attend next Friday's ceremony.

No sooner had Judge Juan Merchan granted the former President's request, however, than it was revealed Tuesday that Trump will be headlining a fundraising dinner in Minnesota later that same day.

Aides are confident, however, that he can squeeze in both events.

The Daily Beast speculated last month that Barron is hoping to study at NYU after his graduation and that Melania will move back to New York with him.

But DailyMail.com's sources poured cold water on the report, suggesting the liberal-dominated college in lower Manhattan would be 'a most inhospitable' destination for a member of the Trump clan.

Whatever Barron chooses to do, Trump will be thrilled to see his youngest son blossoming into an 'outstanding young man', a family friend told us.

'Like his father, he is a solid athlete with a brilliant political mind and a deep love for family and country,' the friend said.

'He has a tenacious curiosity about all people from every walk of life and the same magnetism that draws people to him.

'Look for Barron to make a substantial mark on this world in his own way, in his own time. His future is very bright.'

A spokesman for Melania Trump did not respond to requests for comment.