Kai Trump, 18, the granddaughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, took a small but very public step this week when she sat down for the first interview of her life.
The appearance came on Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive” podcast. In a move not necessarily expected from a member of the Trump family, the conversation stayed far away from speeches and slogans. Instead, it focused on the everyday life of Kai, including what it means to try to be a “normal” teenager when Secret Service agents are always close by, ready to react to anything that looks even slightly suspicious.
Trump, the daughter of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-wife Vanessa, candidly described a situation that would make almost any teenage girl uncomfortable: going on a date, sitting in a restaurant and knowing that two tables behind her sit her security detail. “It’s really awkward,” she said, adding that “it’s a little weird” trying to be in an intimate moment when “you have like a tall guy standing like three feet behind you.”
She said the first months under close protection were especially difficult. “For the first few months it was tough. It was not easy kind of having someone follow you all the time,” she said. “The feeling that someone’s following you all the time, even when you just want to be with friends or family, isn’t natural.” Over time, she said, she learned she had little choice but to adjust. “Once I was like, well their only job is to kind of protect me, I’m going to focus on my stuff and have them do their job, it made it so much easier,” she said. “I just focus on my stuff and they’re there.”
Still, Kai Trump is not only “the granddaughter of,” but also, perhaps surprisingly, a social media influencer in her own right. She maintains YouTube and TikTok accounts with millions of followers, where she posts content about her life as a competitive golfer, “get ready with me” clips ahead of tournaments and behind-the-scenes glimpses of her day-to-day routine.
In that sense, she has positioned herself as a more accessible, human face of the Trump family, while building an independent brand as both a Gen Z influencer and a promising athlete.
Beyond dates accompanied by the Secret Service, Trump opened 2026 with a golf training session alongside professional golfer Rory McIlroy, calling it “the best way to start the year.” She also revealed that she is preparing to join the University of Miami as a golfer in the class of 2026.
While the younger Trump is busy hitting white balls, her mother Vanessa is also connected to the golf world, albeit from a different angle. She is in a relationship with golf legend Tiger Woods, who made it public last year by sharing photos of the couple on social media and writing, “Love is in the air and life is better with you by my side.”
When the conversation drifted toward politics, the younger Trump chose to step back. On her grandfather’s political rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, she said there is no animosity. “There’s no bad blood,” she said, explaining that she prefers to stay out of the political arena altogether. Politics, she said, is “such a dangerous thing,” one that pushes people toward unnecessary extremes. “I’m very much in the middle,” she said. “I think if both sides met in the middle, everyone would be so much happier. They ran against each other, obviously, I’m going to support my grandpa, my family member, but that’s pretty much it.”
Asked about her grandfather himself, her description was brief and affectionate: “He’s literally just a cool grandpa. Just a cool grandpa.” When asked whether Donald Trump might attempt a third presidential run in 2028, she cooled the speculation while leaving a small opening for imagination. “He’s not running a third term. He’s not,” she said, before adding, “Who knows? A lot can happen till 2028.”
When the interviewer pressed her on a viral moment involving her uncle Barron Trump whispering something to Joe Biden at an inauguration ceremony, she dismissed the intrigue. “To be honest with you, I have no clue. I actually never asked him,” she said. “It’s not really interesting to me.”
Trump also criticized social media itself, arguing that algorithms push users to see only one side of the political map, leaving little room for moderation. “If you’re not loud enough, you just disappear from the feed, and that’s part of the bigger problem,” she said. It is a somewhat ironic observation from someone who grew up at the center of one of the most talked-about and polarizing families in the United States. Still, one can wish the younger Trump success in her golf career — and a healthy dose of self-awareness along the way.