Eric Trump: 'The world will be a safer place because of my dad'

From Rory McIlroy to Kim Jong-un, Eric Trump talks to Niamh Horan about his famous father and everyday life inside the first family

It's slightly hard to grasp the fact that the man sitting opposite, in waterproof golf trousers sipping an iced-tea, is the son of America's commander-in-chief.

Dressed in a white open-neck shirt, navy V-neck sweater and hair slicked back, the 33-year-old could be mistaken for any one of the guests at the family's Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg, Co Clare.

Disarmingly polite, he asks where I would be most comfortable sitting during the interview and is concerned that one of his entourage hasn't eaten when our meeting eventually runs over time.

Far from the typical child of privilege you'd expect from New York's wealthiest, the only thing that gives him away as the son of Donald Trump is the ultra-confident gait, self-assuredness - and, of course, the fact that secret service men and gardai are outside the door.

He settles into the couch by a large open fire and looks out on to the perfectly maintained golf course he has spent the morning inspecting. As white waves from the wild Atlantic crash the coastline, a break in the rugged paradise gives him the opportunity to reflect on the biggest political battle in American history.

"They all got it wrong. Every single one of them," he says of America's liberal media. It's a remark delivered with the same satisfaction as if the victory was only yesterday.

"You know, we were a family who has never had anything to do with politics… so the learning curve was amazing."

The biggest lesson he learned was "how dishonest and disconnected the media were from the American population. I also realised how mean the process is. It's something that is not spoken about enough".

Mean?

"Mean," he stresses again.

"Politics is a mean game. I always said real estate is the most cut-throat industry in the world - but it is nothing compared to some of these politicians."

How does it make him feel when he sees the amount of vitriol directed at his father and family?

"I used to get bothered by it but honestly, now? I just shake my head because they all got it wrong. [The American liberals] totally misread the sentiment of the United States because they are so detached from the people of our country. Now it is like they are doubling down because they are so furious they got it wrong."

He goes on: "And it wasn't just by a little bit. The entire map of the United States went bright red [minus a few states] and they are so outraged that they have almost actually gotten worse."

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