Love him or hate him, you cannot deny one fact about President Donald Trump—he is, was, and will likely continue to be ridiculously famous. One aspiring YouTube star tried to capitalize on that fame—or infamy—by legally adopting the president’s last name this week.
Meet Ernesto Trump, an aspiring web comedian from Odessa, Texas, with an affinity for lifting heavy weights and ingesting a variety of inedible objects, such as light bulbs and pepper spray. Trump published a video on Monday—the day after Father’s Day—displaying the legal documents that prove he actually changed his name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGTSPpMguWA&t=3s
“You can call me the Undeportable One, you can call me the president’s son, or you can call me simply Ernesto Trump,” he says in the clip. The YouTuber told KSAT that he changed his name in the hopes of gaining more online exposure.
Admittedly, he needs it. Trump boasts 7,600 subscribers on YouTube—hardly “celebrity” territory—and most of his recent videos have earned fewer than 1,000 views. He did, however, rack up 850,000 views on an 11-month-old clip in which he chugs a half-gallon of Jack Daniels and chases it with a mini-bottle of Fireball. (Think Shoenice.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4peNte4sZ_8&t=346s
So far Trump’s official name-changing video sits right around 4,000 views, but it clearly polarized much of his audience, garnering 47 upvotes and 19 downvotes. One viewer commented, “No respect for you buddy!” while another called him a “fucking loser.” Still, one commenter also championed him as a “fucking legend.”
Ultimately, Trump seems unfazed by the outrage of strangers. He told KSAT that most of his family disowned him when he embarked on his YouTube career, with the exception of his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Chihuahua, Mexico.
Besides his dream of YouTube stardom, Trump hopes to accomplish a few other modest goals with the name change.
“I wanna send a message out to the president of the United States—which, that’s what y’all call him, but to me he’s my dad,” he says in the clip. “So dad, if you hear this message or see this video, I don’t want no money or nothing from you. I just wanna spend some father/son time with you, maybe go to Wrigley Field, eat a hot dog, drink a pint of beer, go to the movies. Maybe I can go see my stepbrothers and sister and stepmom and eat dinner at the White House.”