The internet loves a good conspiracy theory, and the latest one making the rounds is a wild ride. From TikTok to Reddit to kitchen table debates, people are asking a question that sounds like a rejected movie pitch: Is Donald Trump a time traveler? A New York Post article from March 2026 pulled the thread on this one, and the response has been electric.
- A trove of 100-year-old sketches by Prussian-born artist Charles Dellschau has reignited speculation that Trump and his son Barron may have connections to time travel.
- In the 1890s, author Ingersoll Lockwood wrote stories about a boy named Baron Trump who lived in the lavish Castle Trump and was guided by a wise mentor named Don.
- Trump’s uncle, MIT professor John G. Trump, once reviewed Nikola Tesla’s papers, which conspiracy theorists claim could have included secret time travel technology.
The Dellschau Drawings That Started It All
Charles Dellschau was a Prussian-American born in 1830 who gained posthumous fame after the discovery of his large scrapbooks filled with drawings, collages, and watercolors of airplanes and airships. His creations often depicted fantastical, futuristic airships called “aeros” which stayed aloft thanks to a fictional anti-gravitational fuel he called “NB Gas.”
So far, so normal for a 19th-century artist with a big imagination. But things get weird. Some of his illustrations contained strangely coincidental references to Donald Trump’s presidency. Some of the machines he drew had the word “Trump” emblazoned on them, while another showed a man who looks like Trump alongside the number “45.” Trump is the 45th and 47th President of the United States.
One of Dellschau’s drawings also included a golden-haired person using a device bearing the number 45, which is another connection to Trump’s role as the 45th President. Conspiracy enthusiasts, naturally, ran with it.
The 1890s Novels That Went Viral
The Dellschau sketches aren’t the only piece of this puzzle. The Baron Trump novels are two children’s novels written in 1889 and 1893 by American author and lawyer Ingersoll Lockwood. They remained obscure until 2017, when they received media attention for perceived similarities between their protagonist and U.S. President Donald Trump and his son Barron.
The novels recount the adventures of the German boy Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Von Troomp, who goes by “Baron Trump,” as he discovers weird underground civilizations and repeats this pattern until arriving back home at Castle Trump. He boasts of his big brain and follows a wise mentor named Don into bizarre underground worlds.
Donald Trump’s youngest son’s name is Barron Trump, and Donald Trump used the pseudonym “John Barron” in the 1980s. A boy named Baron, a wealthy family, and a mentor called Don? You can see why people started paying attention.
Lockwood also wrote another book, 1900; or, The Last President, in which New York City is riven by protests following the shocking victory of a populist candidate. In the author’s tale, President Bryan picks a “Pence” for his cabinet, just like Trump’s former VP Mike Pence. That little detail alone has been enough to keep message boards buzzing for years.
The Tesla Connection
Every good conspiracy theory needs a mad scientist, and Nikola Tesla fills that role perfectly. John G. Trump, a well-known electrical engineer and physicist, worked on radar and advanced technology for the US government during World War II. After Tesla died in 1943, he was tasked with reviewing Tesla’s papers to assess their potential for national security. While there’s no evidence that John G. Trump discovered or built a time travel device, some theorists suggest these papers could have contained secrets lost or hidden from public view.
Trump himself has remarked on several occasions, “I know things that other people don’t know,” words that have circulated endlessly online. For believers, that’s practically a confession. For everyone else, it’s a politician being a politician.
Why This Theory Keeps Coming Back
Humans have a tendency to look for patterns anywhere they can find them. A forgotten children’s story with a character called Baron Trump is bound to invite connections, whether or not they were ever there to begin with.
Although these books contain some seemingly bizarre coincidences, they aren’t evidence that Donald Trump has access to a time machine. Time travel conspiracy theories like this one pick and choose material that supports their conclusions while ignoring everything else. These same books also contain giant turtles, alternate dimensions, a battle with a big white crane, a dog named Bulgar, and a little smiling man frozen in time. Since those details have no clear connection to the Trumps, they’re left out of the conspiracy theory entirely.
Whether it’s actual time travel or just another case of humans connecting dots that probably shouldn’t be connected, one thing’s certain: the Trump family continues to inspire theories that would make even Doc Brown from “Back to the Future” raise an eyebrow. Whether you’re scrolling through TikTok in South Bend or debating it over coffee in Brooklyn, this one isn’t going away anytime soon.
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