C-Span addresses rumors that caller ‘John Barron’ was really Trump

C-SPAN has finally confirmed whether President Donald Trump really called into one of the network’s shows last week under a pseudonym.

Rumors about the president making the covert call began on Friday, when a mysterious “John Barron” said that the Supreme Court had made a “terrible decision” in striking down much of Trump’s beloved tariff policy.

While speaking, the caller even employed Trump’s tendency to digress by taking swipes at opponents and making grandiose statements.

“And you have Hakeem Jeffries, he’s a dope, and you have Chuck Schumer, who can’t cook a cheeseburger,” John Barron said on the show. “Of course, these people are happy, of course these people are happy. But true Americans will not be happy.”

Eventually, he was cut off by C-SPAN host Greta Brawner.

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Social media quickly kicked into overdrive, with many pointing to a 2016 Washington Post article that claimed Trump had previously used the John Barron pseudonym to defend himself against criticism.

Now, after a weekend of speculation, C-Span has finally confirmed whether Trump was on the other end of the line.

“Because so many of you are talking about Friday’s C-SPAN caller who identified himself as ‘John Barron,’ we want to put this to rest: it was not the president,” the network wrote on X. “The call came from a central Virginia phone number and came while the president was in a widely covered, in-person White House meeting with the governors.

“Tune into C-SPAN for the actual president at the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.”

According to The Washington Post, Trump first debuted his John Barron persona in the 1980s.

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In 1984, Barron defended Trump after the future president’s plan to build a casino named Trump Castle in New York fell apart. He argued that Trump had actually benefited from selling a Madison Avenue property rather than developing it.

“It sure is easier to get a large commission on a $105 million sale than to put up a building,” Barron noted.

Barron was quoted again in 1985. This time, he was calling for businessmen involved with a pro football league to reimburse Trump for signing Doug Flutie.

He told The Washington Post that “when a guy goes out and spends more money than a player is worth, he expects to get partial reimbursement from the other owners.”

Years later, while testifying under oath in the 1990s, Trump finally admitted to using the pseudonym, according to The Washington Post.

“I believe on occasion I used that name,” he said, referring to Barron. Barron is, of course, also the name of the president’s youngest son.

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Although the C-SPAN caller was not Trump defending himself under a pseudonym, he did seemingly leap to the president’s defence.

The caller slammed a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling that found the president’s tariffs were unlawfully imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both appointed by Trump during his first term, voted with the liberal justices.