People are drawing parallels between President Donald Trump and a 19th-century book series about a wealthy time traveler.
Ingersoll Lockwood’s Baron Trump novels were originally written between 1889 and 1893. They resurfaced in 2017 when people noted the similarities between the book’s titular character and the real-life real estate baron, who coincidently has a son named Barron Trump.
The collection of books consists of three stories, Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and his Wonderful Dog Bulger, Baron Trump’s Marvelous Underground Journey and The Last President.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 2025 Republican Issues Conference at the Trump National Doral Miami on Jan. 27, 2025 in Doral, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty
The character is introduced as a wealthy boy who lives in Trump Castle, similar to the president, who has a penthouse in Trump Tower. In the first two books, the character travels through time with his dog Bulger and meets various people from different cultures.
The final book, however, focuses on the rise of a controversial U.S. president. According to a synopsis, the country is “torn by division and dissent” and there are “references to a hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York,” where Trump Tower is located.
The president-elect is described as “an outsider” who causes a “chaotic atmosphere.”
Politico wrote about the book series’ newfound popularity in 2017. The titular character was described as someone who “can’t stop talking about his brain” and, once, successfully sued his tutors, “alleging that they owed him money for everything he had taught them.”
Despite certain characteristics of the baron and the real-life Trump being similar, such as their ability to spew insults, unwillingness to try new foods and inflated sense of sense, per Politico, the comparisons pretty much end there.
Yellow Taxis passing by The Trump Tower one of the icons of Fifth Avenue on Feb. 18, 2014 in New York City.
Ozgur Dong / Getty
Conversations about the book have continued into 2025 with people making similar comparisons.
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A recent video shared on X claims that the books have an “eerily similar story to what we’re seeing today.” The narrator says that, in the books, Baron Trump has a mentor named Don, which he related to President Trump’s first name. Another video, recently shared on Tiktokdives into a time travel theory, going so far as to claim that the books are “proof” that Trump is a time traveler.
More recently, Joe Rogan explored the similarities in a Jan. 28 episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
After reading the synopsis of the series, Rogan said, “Is life real? I think life’s mostly real but, you know, this is the problem with the whole idea of simulation theory. If it’s true, if there is a simulation, and if we develop technology where the simulation becomes indiscernible from reality itself, how will we know? Maybe we’ll know from goofy clues like that, like silly coding Easter eggs.”
Barron Trump shakes hands with President Donald Trump after the inauguration of Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20, 2025.
KENNY HOLSTON/THE NEW YORK TIMES/AFP via Getty
Finding these sorts of parallels in popular culture is nothing new. For example, The Simpsons has often been credited with predicting the future, most recently with Kamala Harris’ presidential run.
In July 2024, show writer Al Jean highlighted a 2000 episode — called “Bart to the Future” — which featured Lisa Simpson dressed in a similar outfit to Harris in an episode where the cartoon character became the first female president of the United States.
Previous episodes also seemingly predicted Richard Branson’s trip to space, the historic Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and Cypress Hill’s July 10 performance with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Executive producer and showrunner Matt Selman told Deadline in 2022 there is a method to the predictions, but keeping the show fresh is still the team’s “greatest creative challenge.”
“Luckily the world keeps delivering things that need reflecting on in the Springfield mirror. So that’s a thank-you to the world, but also the world needs to do better,” he explained to the outlet.
Perhaps, the same can be said for the Baron Trump books.
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