Bloomberg via Getty Images
Eric Trump seems different these days.
First, there’s the beard.
Then there’s the tan.
But finally, there’s the smile.
Looking at him now, it’s hard to see the “Saturday Night Live” punching bag or the quiet background fixture he used to be at his father’s campaign rallies.
Instead, he’s taking the stage himself tonight to help close out the final evening of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, alongside Hulk Hogan, Dana White and, of course, his father: Donald Trump.
It’s a moment years in the making but also one that arrives less than a week after an assassin’s bullet nearly took the former president’s life at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
“He’s the toughest man I have ever met,” Eric Trump told The Post the night of the attack.
Now he’s ready to tell the world a lot more just one speaker (White) removed from the biggest political address of the year.
The RNC is nothing if not a parade of speeches, and the most important is the elder Trump’s tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern.
Being a member of that introductory group is a huge badge of honor — one Eric Trump says he was not always sure he would receive.
“He certainly made me work for it,” Trump told The Post when asked about his rising position within his father’s inner circle.
“For him he never wants us to do anything we aren’t ready to withstand. But I’m ready now.”
This is a transformation Trump attributes to his self-described greatest strength: his often-overlooked business acumen.
Indeed, the second Trump son seems to have become the quiet inheritor of his father and grandfather’s first and most sacred skill — the skill that made the entire family famous in the first place.
Eric Trump knows how to make money.
“Back before 2016 we were everywhere,” he told The Post.
“I remember we were in Iowa and everything was moving fast . . . but mostly I remember him [Donald] pulling me aside and saying, ‘Hey, I want you to run the company.’ And from then on I was fully immersed. Since then I’ve acquired all our properties, managed all of our teams, and I have to tell you I really found a new love for my life while doing it.”
Trump said it was an honor to receive the nod to take over from his father, but he also saw the heavy responsibility he was being asked to assume — a responsibility that shows just how important the new Eric has become to the overall functioning of the ever-expanding Trump ecosystem.
“Like I said, he makes you work for it,” he said. “As he should. Nothing is ever free in life. But at the same time, I don’t think anyone has done a better job at protecting his flank, and we recognize that. My father knew he couldn’t run a business and lead a nation. For him to trust me with everything he’s ever built in his life — I’ve never felt more determined to succeed.”
But that success was never guaranteed.
Trump said his father was mulling a run in 2012, before eventually doing so and succeeding in 2016, but he didn’t feel his family was yet ready for him to step away from the business.
“Frankly he didn’t have faith we could execute yet,” he said.
“I knew I had to step up and prove that idea wrong . . . but now I have in my office a framed headline that says ‘This is all yours’ and a note from my father saying how we are the very best. That was the moment I felt the shift had actually happened, and I knew I’d managed to help take the burden of the business off his shoulders.”
That framed story is, of course, from the New York Post.
Eric is now the Trump Organization’s executive vice president alongside his brother Donald Jr.; he oversees all aspects of management, operation of the global real-estate empire, new project acquisition, developments and construction.
It’s a role his father used to fill — and built an empire in.
The son wants to expand that empire to even greater heights. That selflessness is what makes Eric special to his family — in fact, it’s what makes him essential.
“I have to say, you know you’re gonna see me a lot at events and things the next few months but after my father wins if you didn’t hear from me or see me again for say a year I’d be just fine,” he said.
“I’m much happier chatting with a foreman in a hard hat or helping our cleaning team solve a staffing issue than I am in front of reporters. . . . This is how I can help. This is what I think has made me sort of deadly in this big complicated game. I can switch off. I can work in the background. Make fun of me or hate my family all you want. Because I can’t hear you. Because I’m at work.”
As a privately held company, the Trump Organization does not release detailed financials or have a trackable stock price. But, it has shown the appearance of notable growth over the last seven years.
Since taking over for his father in January 2017, Eric and his brother have moved ambitiously to grow the company, with notable projects including the $250 million redevelopment of Trump National Doral in Miami, plus the acquisition and renovations of both the Trump International in Ireland and the Trump Turnberry in Scotland.
Asked if he believes he runs the company better than even his father could have, Eric once again demonstrated the surprising lack of ego that’s made him such a comforting source of reliability amongst the Trumps.
“Nobody is better at business than Donald Trump,” he told The Post.
“I wouldn’t be foolish enough to say I do it better. But what I’ll say is It’s been a long journey. And I’m happy we’re the best we’ve ever been.”
Eric Trump speaks tonight in Milwaukee just after 9 p.m. Eastern.