In 2022, just before the pivotal midterm elections and the unofficial kickoff of the 2024 presidential race, conservative activist Christopher Rufo made a trip to Maine to appear on Tucker Carlson’s Fox Nation streaming talk show. Over the previous two years, Rufo had become a regular face on Carlson’s program, where he passionately discussed issues like the dangers of critical race theory and the pervasive threat of “trans indoctrination.” However, this time was different; he was eager to meet Carlson in person.
After a long cross-country flight and a 90-minute drive from the Portland airport, Rufo arrived at Carlson’s rustic studio, only to find another notable figure waiting for him: Donald Trump Jr. This was a particularly sensitive moment for the Trump family. Following the events of January 6, the former president had fallen out of favor with many elite Republican circles. When he formally announced his 2024 presidential campaign after the midterms, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post relegated the news to page 26, under the headline “Been There, Don That.”
Amid this political turbulence, many conservative leaders appeared to be rallying behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who promised a vision of “competent Trumpism”—all the right-wing policies without the associated controversies. This sentiment was reflected in Carlson’s programming, where he hosted DeSantis at least six times between September 2021 and the midterms, while not featuring the former president even once. During this time, Rufo was advising DeSantis on strategies to combat liberal narratives surrounding race and gender in Florida’s educational system.
During their meeting in Maine, Trump Jr. did not broach the subject of his father, DeSantis, or the ongoing presidential race. However, Rufo interpreted this as a subtle attempt to keep influential conservative figures like himself and Carlson aligned with the former president. Trump Jr. greeted Rufo warmly and praised his efforts, leading to a discussion about their political beliefs and the personal sacrifices they had made for them. Trump Jr. shared that, like Carlson, who had relocated from Washington, D.C. to Maine, and Rufo, who had moved from Seattle to its suburbs, he had also escaped New York in search of a community more accepting of his political views. By the end of their conversation, Rufo left feeling reassured that the perception of the Trump family as a group of New York liberals adopting populist politics for opportunistic reasons was misguided. He believed that Trump Jr. genuinely committed to the conservative cause.
This conciliatory approach bore fruit. Carlson maintained his support for Trump, and while Rufo did endorse DeSantis, he was careful to avoid any direct attacks on the former president. When Trump ultimately triumphed in the Republican primaries, Rufo quickly fell in line behind him.
The encounter was just one of many testimonies I gathered from those connected to the Trump campaign, who, both on and off the record, detailed a notable evolution in the role that Trump Jr. has played in conservative politics over the past four years. While liberals have long mocked him as a “sweaty failson,” deriding his appearance and social media antics, even his political allies once viewed him skeptically. For instance, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, testified to the House Oversight Committee in 2019 that Trump frequently expressed doubts about his son’s judgment, calling him “the worst judgment of anyone in the world.”
However, during the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump Jr. emerged as not only a key fundraiser but also a skilled surrogate—a “downright rock star,” as Sean Spicer, Trump’s first White House press secretary, described him to me during my reporting for The New York Times Magazine that year. Since then, his political stature has risen significantly in the eyes of his father and others within the conservative movement. Today, Trump Jr. occupies a unique position of influence within the MAGA movement, making him one of the most insightful indicators of its future trajectory.
