Republican figurehead and conservative family-values advocate Donald Trump — who has long emphasized the traditional family structure — is father to five children from three marriages: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump with the late Ivana Trump; Tiffany Trump with Marla Maples; and his youngest son Barron with First Lady Melania Trump.
Those five children have given him a large and growing next generation. Donald Trump Jr. shares five children with ex-wife Vanessa; Ivanka and Jared Kushner have three; Eric and Lara Trump are parents to two; and Tiffany and her husband Michael Boulos welcomed one child. In total, the president now has eleven grandchildren.
One of those grandchildren has just reached a milestone — and a celebratory social media post is stirring up outrage from critics.
On October 22, Donald Trump Jr. marked his son Spencer’s 13th birthday with a multi-image Instagram post to his more than 10 million followers. The 47-year-old wrote in the caption:
“Happy birthday to the littlest of my little men. Spencer, I can’t believe you’re 13 and I hope you have an awesome day buddy. I love you so much. I can’t wait to get back into the outdoors with you. You make me very proud.”
While thousands of supportive comments poured in, not all the feedback was pleasant. Several of the twelve photos showed the new teenager outdoors with hunting rifles — and that was enough to ignite a backlash.
Some users zeroed in on Spencer’s use of firearms, with one detractor writing that it was “truly sick” to involve someone “not even 13” in hunting. Another commenter lashed out, claiming Trump Jr. is “not happy unless you’re killing innocent animals.”
This is not Trump Jr.’s first time drawing heat over hunting. Back in 2019, a high-profile trip to Mongolia raised questions after a ProPublica report said he shot a rare Argali mountain sheep and that the local government granted his permit only after the fact. The BBC also reported that U.S. taxpayers covered more than $75,000 in costs related to that trip.
More recently, he was filmed hunting birds near Venice, Italy, and was accused by activists of shooting a protected Ruddy Shelduck. Italian prosecutors reportedly opened a case, though Trump Jr.’s team has rejected allegations of wrongdoing.
Despite recurring criticism — whether focused on permits, protected species, or the ethics of trophy hunting — Trump Jr. has been unapologetic in his defense of gun rights and outdoor culture. His social feeds regularly feature his trips and trophies, and his supporters argue that lawful hunting and firearm education are part of the American tradition.
But judging from the uproar over a teenager posing with a rifle on his birthday, the cultural divide over guns and hunting is not cooling off anytime soon.