A Connecticut pastor and influencer says he recently had a conversation with Barron Trump that led the first son to experience a spiritual awakening of sorts.
Appearing on “The George Janko Show” Thursday, Stuart Knechtle said Trump is “very close to putting his faith in Christ” after a recent phone chat the two shared.
“I thought I was hitting him with everything but the kitchen sink when it came to all the evidence for God and Christianity,” he said. Though he felt most of his remarks didn’t resonate with the 19-year-old, all of that changed when he brought up divine communication from God through “dreams and revelations.”
“I said, ‘Hey, look, Barron, I usually don’t go by this typically as evidence, but I’ll just let lastly you know this,’” he said. “‘I have a friend over in Africa who witnesses thousands of Muslims coming to Christ through dreams and revelations. How do you explain that?’”
It was at that point that Knechtle believed he’d presented sufficient “eyewitness testimony” to connect with Trump: “That was the only thing that stuck with him.”
The White House did not immediately respond to JS’s request for comment on Knechtle’s remarks.
Knechtle, 37, is an assistant pastor at Grace Community Church in New Canaan, Connecticut, where his father, Cliffe Knechtle, is a senior pastor. On social media, the younger Knechtle boasts more than 5 million followers across Instagram and TikTok combined.
The Knechtles have spoken at college campuses across the U.S. and also run a popular faith-based video series, “Give Me An Answer,” which has around 933,000 subscribers.
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The pair have spoken favorably about President Donald Trump in the past. On the morning of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, they offered a prayer for the president and Vice President JD Vance, described by Cliffe Knechtle as “men of integrity.” And in a conversation with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Cliffe Knechtle recalled witnessing “emotional fragile” young people seek grief counseling after Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016.
“I’ve got to go to a crying room because Donald Trump just won the election,” he recalled. “I mean, that’s pathetic. That is tragic … There’s an emotional sensitivity that, I think, at times is sad.”
Though the White House has touted Donald Trump as “the most pro-faith and pro-religious liberty” president in U.S. history, little is known about his youngest son’s faith.
Barron Trump was baptized in December 2006 at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, the same church where his parents married a year earlier. And though he’s largely avoided the spotlight since the start of his father’s political career, he attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, during his dad’s first term.
