
President Donald Trump's recent praise of his youngest son, Barron, has left a lot of people confused.
The US leader is a proud father of five - sharing Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr with his first wife Ivana, as well as welcoming Tiffany with Marla Maples and his youngest child, Barron Trump, with current wife, Melania Trump.
But when it came to praising his wife and youngest child at a recent White House event, the 80-year-old went about it in a rather strange way.
In comments made last month, during an East Room ceremony, the POTUS spoke highly of Melania, saying: "Most importantly, and most importantly to her, she's done an incredible job as First Lady."
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Going on to talk about the Slovenian-born former model's role as a mother to their child, he continued: "She's an incredible mum."
Trump then went on to reference the 20-year-old's astonishing 6'9" stature, adding: "She has a little boy who's quite tall. He's a little boy to us, but he's quite tall, right?
"And his great parent," he continued, looking to Melania again. "She takes great care of him, thank you."
The comments are pretty tame in the world of Donald Trump remarks, but it didn't stop his critics from latching onto the fact that he didn't once mention his son by name during the moment.

"The distancing is quite strange. Imagine how his son must feel, hearing this," one X user wrote, speculating whether or not Barron would be hurt by the comments, while a second joked: "Nothing screams proud dad on Father’s Day like can’t recall your son’s name."
However, not everyone was critical of the moment, with several of the president's supporters quickly rushing to his defence.
"He’s literally making a joke. You’ve got to be kidding," penned one more sympathetic response, while another user said the president's critics were suffering from 'TDS' [Trump Derangement Syndrome].
The comments regarding his youngest son aren't the only baffling move Trump has made when discussing his fatherhood, with the president recently praising an unknown woman in a deleted Father's Day post on Truth Social.

Shared on his account the day before Father's Day, the leader shared a post honouring a 'great daughter' alongside the photo of a woman with no relation to him.
Although the post was swiftly removed, it didn't take long for internet sleuths to work out the identity of the mystery woman.
The Mirror's political editor Mikey Smith deduced that she was most likely Margo Catsimatidis, wife of billionaire Trump supporter John Catsimatidis.
"I'm pretty sure the woman is Margo Catsimatidis, and I think the picture was taken at Camp David (...where Trump is this weekend.), probably during the Clinton Administration," he wrote on X.

The most bizarre quotes from Trump's second term
'I love inflation'
When speaking at the White House in June, the president told reporters: "You know what I really love? I love the inflation.”
For context, the US’ current inflation rate sits at a hefty 4%, the highest rate since April 2023.
War crimes don't count if the enemy has done bad things too
When asked by a reporter at Easter how it isn't a war crime to strike Iran's bridges and power plants, Trump responded: "Because they killed 45,000 people in the last month. They kill protesters. They are animals, and we have to stop them."
Q: How would it not be a war crime to strike Iran's bridges and power plants?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 6, 2026
TRUMP: Because they killed 45,000 in the last month. They kill protesters. They are animals. pic.twitter.com/y3MvHyBLnI
Describing the Iran ceasefire as 'shooting in a moderate manner'
In a June 2026 press conference, Trump said when being questioned on the shaky ceasefire with Iran: “It's a different part of the world, you know. I'd say in that part a ceasefire is when you're shooting in a more moderate manner.”
A bombshell Pearl Harbor joke
In a March 2026 press briefing with Japanese prime minster Sanae Takaichi, Trump made a joke about the 1941 attack on the US.
A Japanese journalist asked Trump about why the US didn't inform its allies about its plans to attack Iran, to which he responded by saying that the US 'went in very hard' and 'didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise'.
He then said: “Who knows better about surprise than Japan?”
While this comment drew polite laughter from US officials in the meeting, the room was then plunged into silence at Trump's next remark, in which he said to Sanae: "Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?"
He won't deport Prince Harry because 'he has enough problems with Meghan'
In early 2025, Trump was asked during an interview with the New York Post if he had plans to kick Prince Harry out of the US amid ongoing questions about his immigration status.
"I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife," he said. "She’s terrible."
Saying Volodymyr Zelenskyy was 'all dressed up' in military attire
Ahead of a 2025 meeting in the Oval Office, the Ukrainian president wore a black, long-sleeved polo shirt featuring the Ukrainian trident - after which he'd vowed not to wear a suit until Russia's invasion of his country would come to an end.
Trump jokily said as he greeted Zelenskyy: "Oh look, you’re all dressed up."
Saying Denmark doesn't have a right to Greenland - despite it belonging to them
When the US was involved in that dispute over Greenland, as Trump wanted the land to be America’s, he claimed that Denmark didn't have the 'right' to the country.
Well, it's clear Trump didn't realize that Greenland is a self-governing, autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, and has been part of Denmark for 600 years.
Saying the Biden administration spent $8 million making mice transgender
During his address to Congress in March 2025, Trump accused the Biden administration of spending $8 million on 'transgender mice' experiments.
PBS later fact-checked this and concluded that this claim was false, with PBS News Hour's White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López saying 'the idea that scientists are making mice transgender is false'.
"These experiments were studying the effects of gender-affirming hormones on asthma and on whether gender-affirming hormones increase breast cancer risk," Barrón-López explained.
Saying a day like The Purge would 'curb crime'
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump wildly called for 'one real rough, nasty' and 'violent day' of police retaliation in order to eradicate crime 'immediately' - which many drew comparisons to the thriller film The Purge.
"One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately," Trump said to the crowd in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Calling Kamala Harris a 's**t' vice president
Another moment during his 2024 election campaign saw Trump take aim at his opponent, former vice president Kamala Harris.
He told his supporters: "We have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore. We can’t stand you, you’re a s**t vice president. The worst."
Topics: Barron Trump, Donald Trump, US News