Eric Trump, at the Nixon Library, talks culture wars and his father’s presidency

Eric Trump, the second son of the president, was at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum on Sunday morning, where he spoke about culture wars, the mainstream media and the growing power of young conservatives.

Speaking before a friendly crowd — many wore caps with President Donald Trump‘s “Make America Great Again” slogan emblazoned on them — Trump said the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and issues like transgender student-athletes’ participation in sports are driving a legion of young men to the Republican Party.

“The youth male vote of this country didn’t want to see guys my size swimming against women in collegiate women’s sports,” Trump said during the event on Sunday, Oct. 19. “The youth of this country are energized, they’re engaged, and they’ve switched. Do you think they’re ever going back to the Democratic Party? Not a chance?”

The Trump scion reflected on the current political climate during a conversation about his new memoir “Under Siege: My Family’s Fight to Save Our Nation,” which details the legal challenges and indictments, as well as the perceived smears from mainstream media, that his family has faced since his father was first elected president in 2016.

“It’s been a siege for all of us. It’s a siege for this family …The good news is we won,” he said to loud applause from the crowd.

The discussion was moderated by Chris Nixon Cox, a board member of the Richard Nixon Foundation and grandson of former President Richard Nixon.

Trump said his father’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election might, in hindsight, be “the greatest thing that’s ever happened to this nation.” Fueled by shortcomings of the Biden presidency, he said, Republicans now control both chambers of Congress, the Supreme Court and every swing state.

The whole country has shifted to the right, Trump told the crowd, including in California, where his father increased his vote share in 45 of 58 counties in 2024, according to a Calmatters analysis. In Orange County, Donald Trump lost to then-Vice President Kamala Harris by just 3%, after losing to Joe Biden by 9% in 2020.

The day before Eric Trump spoke in Yorba Linda, thousands of demonstrators across California took to the streets Saturday to participate in the second “No Kings” protest of the year. The protests were part of thousands of rallies held across the country, in cities large and small, to express concern about the future of the country and democracy.

“Under Siege: My Family’s Fight to Save Our Nation” was released Oct. 14.