President Donald Trump’s son Barron had some toys. They were reportedly scattered around his own entire floor of his dad’s and Melania’s three-story penthouse in Trump Tower back in 2010, so golden it looked like Versailles.
There were several life-size stuffed animals, a furry rocking lion, a Louis Vuitton “soot-case” that reportedly now retails for nearly $10,000, and a Barron-sized electric toy Mercedes convertible with his name on the license plate that he could drive.
It was all featured in a piece on Entertainment Tonight.
But now Donald Trump has taken to scolding parents and their little girls for demanding 30 dolls (he later upped it to 37) and needing all kinds of “junk.”
Little girls are just gonna have to suck it up and live with less during the high prices triggered by his tariffs, Trump has lectured. As the New Republic noted: “Abundance for me and not for thee.”
“A young lady – 10-year-old girl, 9-year-old girl, 15-year-old girl – doesn’t need 37 dolls. She could be very happy with two of three or five,” Trump explained to reporters on Air Force One.
Barron Trump was 4 when he was in the Entertainment Tonight episode.
Earlier in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump said: “I’m just saying [Americans] don’t need to have 30 dolls, they can have three.”
He added, apparently referring again to girls: “They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”
He noted that the Chinese ships delivering cheap goods to American ports are “loaded up with stuff, much of which … we don’t need.”
One critic quipped that he bet Barron had “more than five pencils” — the number of pencils the president has decreed for girls, instead of the “250” he imagines they’re used to.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders flamed Trump’s clueless remarks.
“Billionaires like Trump … don’t have a clue about what it means for a working-class family trying to buy presents for the kids or to take care of the basic necessities. It’s an incredible arrogance and ignorance on the part of these people.”
Toy maker Mattel might be surprised that Trump is encouraging Americans not to spend money, particularly in a nation whose economy relies on consumer spending.
Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz told CNBC the company will be working to keep toy prices low, but will also have to raise toy prices to help cover the costs of Trump’s tariffs which are paid by the American company.
Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence attacked his old boss on his tariffs in an interview Monday, warning that Americans are going to suffer from “sticker shock” due to Trump’s tariffs.
As for dolls, Pence told CNN: “I have two grown daughters, I have three small granddaughters. And look, keeping dolls affordable, keeping our kids’ toys affordable, that really is part of the American dream.”
