Trump endorses Jake Paul even though he’s not running for office – why?

Jake Paul, the former YouTuber turned boxer, made an appearance at a Donald Trump rally last night and was endorsed by the President – even though he’s not running for office.

Paul, 29, spoke at the rally in Hebron, Kentucky, praising Trump and telling the crowd that the President taught him to ‘never back down from a fight’.

‘We need more factories like this thriving all over the country,’ he said.

‘And I know Trump’s going to be the one to bring that here to us. God’s got us. Trump’s got us. God bless.’

Trump took the stand and called Jake a ‘great guy’ and ‘hell of a fighter’, before saying: ‘I’m going to predict that you will be, in the not too distant future, running for political office.

He added: ‘And you have my complete and total endorsement.’

Paul isn’t currently running for office, and given that he’s lived in Puerto Rico since 2021, it’s unclear if he can still vote in Presidential elections.

Despite that, in 2024, he endorsed Trump and even attended his inauguration with his brother, Logan Paul.

Why does Trump keep endorsing celebrities?

Dr Dafydd Townley from the University of Portsmouth told Metro that Trump’s endorsement of Paul isn’t surprising.

‘The Trump team has engaged with non-traditional media forms from his first campaign in 2016 to the present day,’ Dr Townley explained.

‘In his 2024 campaign, he used podcasts to reach an audience more than those through mainstream media. Paul is a celebrity who has extensive reach to an audience that Trump might not usually have had in the past.

‘Trump likes to surround himself with people who he feels are successful, and Paul fits that description.’

Still, being endorsed by Trump comes with a cost, Dr Townley said. Paul, if he chooses to run for office, will have to endorse Trump publicly.

‘Trump will welcome it, especially with his poor ratings and an impending election,’ Dr Townley added.

Why is Jake Paul controversial?

Formerly a Disney Channel star, Paul left the spotlight and began creating his own, now boasting more than 20,000,000 YouTube subscribers.

In 2017, Paul was fired from his Disney gig after neighbours in his Los Angeles neighbourhood complained about his extensive stunts, fires and creating what they called a ‘war zone’.

Eventually, he was sued for some $2,500,000 by the company which owned his house in Los Angeles.

His content has also been slammed as inappropriate – in 2018, he posted a YouTube video called ‘I lost my virginity’, which featured a semi-nude photo of himself and his then-girlfriend. He later deleted it.

Paul also used a racial slur in a clip of him at Coachella in 2015 while he rapped a Rae Sremmurd song.

A former girlfriend also accused him of dragging her down the stairs and emotionally abusing her.

In 2020, he was charged with criminal trespassing while going to a mall in Scottsdale, Arizona, during the George Floyd protests.

And in 2020, he threw a massive party during the COVID pandemic, outraging the mayor of Calabasas – still, he vowed to ‘live his life’.

And in 2021, two women accused Paul of sexual abuse, which Paul called ‘manufactured’.

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