Was President Donald Trump's son Barron drafted into the military as of June 30, 2025? No, that's not true: According to the Selective Service website, the United States hasn't drafted anyone for more than half a century, as of this writing. Footage presented as a report by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, on the supposed drafting, was fake.
The claim originated in a post (archived here) published on TikTok on June 28, 2025, with the caption:
TRUMP_S SON DRAFTED INTO THE MILITARY AND THE FORMER PRESIDENT LOSES IT! #donaldtrump #usatiktok #learnontiktok #us #breakingnews #news #unitedstates
In the video, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow appears to deliver a report on the supposed draft, saying:
What started as a rumor has just been confirmed by military sources. Barron Trump, Donald Trump's youngest son, has officially been drafted into mandatory military service amid the ongoing global emergency, and Trump's reaction was instant and explosive. In an emergency press conference, the former president declared, 'My son is not going to any war -- this is a political hit job'.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot by Lead Stories)
First Lady Melania Trump (archived here) gave birth to Trump's youngest son Barron on March 20, 2006, which was immediately announced to the public (archived here). This means that in the spring of 2025, he turned 19, not 18 as the clip claimed.
Most men in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 25 (archived here) have to register for the Selective Service. However, registration is not the same as enlistment because the former doesn't always result in joining combat operations. That may only happen if the registrants are called for duty by lottery when, in case of a national emergency, a draft is authorized by both Congress and the President, but, as of this writing, the Selective Service website (archived here) clearly read:
There is no draft at present.
The United States has not had a draft since 1973.
A Google search across the White House website didn't show a single result suggesting that Trump ever used the combination of words "my son" and "war"(archived here) in the same statement between his second inauguration and the last day of June 2025.
A search across an archive of Trump's posts on Truth Social for the same keywords didn't yield any relevant matches (archived here), either.
The outfit of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in the video reviewed in this fact check was consistent with what she wore during the June 24, 2025, show (archived here), but a search across numerous publications, wires and broadcast transcripts via ProQuest demonstrated that Maddow never actually said what was attributed to her in the video:
(Source: ProQuest screenshot by Lead Stories)
Furthermore, every time the clip mentioned Barron Trump, the viewers saw a different face, but none of them actually showed Trump's youngest son:
(Source: TikTok screenshot by Lead Stories)
This is what the real Barron Trump looked like in the C-SPAN recording on the night his father won his second presidency :
(Source: C-SPAN screenshot by Lead Stories)
(Source: C-SPAN screenshot by Lead Stories)
Additional details -- namely, distorted faces -- seen in the background of the video on TikTok indicated the footage was likely AI-generated:
(Source: TikTok screenshots by Lead Stories)
Lead Stories reached out to MSNBC and the White House for additional comments. If we receive responses, this article will be updated as appropriate.
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Other Lead Stories fact checks mentioning Donald Trump are here.
