NYU College Republicans ex-president regrets resigning after calling Barron Trump 'an oddity on campus'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Kaya Walker, the former head of NYU’s College Republicans, is now second-guessing her decision to step down after her comment about Barron Trump sparked widespread outrage.

Walker, a senior at New York University, told the New York Post that her words were taken wildly out of context and that she now regrets resigning under pressure.

Kaya Walker's comments about Barron Trump

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kaya Walker was quoted describing fellow NYU student Barron Trump as “an oddity on campus.”

"He’s sort of like an oddity on campus," she told the magazine. "He goes to class, he goes home."

But Walker insists this was not meant as an insult. Instead, she empathized with Barron by pointing out that he is a commuter student rather than someone living on NYU’s Greenwich Village campus.

“[AF Post] took it to say that I was saying that Barron was strange for being a commuter—which I thought was crazy because I’m a commuter,” Walker told the outlet. “They [made it] look like I was calling the president’s son weird, but I feel like anybody who can read would know that’s not what I was doing.”

Walker’s comment quickly became a lightning rod for criticism, especially from conservative social media accounts.

The America First news aggregator AF Post blew up the quote on social media, triggering a backlash that ultimately led Walker to resign from her leadership position in NYU’s College Republicans on Sunday.

A day later, the National College Republican organization also called her comment about Donald Trump’s youngest child “inappropriate” and even extended an invitation to Barron Trump himself to join their ranks. But despite publicly denouncing Walker’s remarks, the organization later admitted they were taken out of context.

Kaya Walker feels bad for Barron Trump’s situation

Kaya Walker insisted that she meant no harm to Barron Trump and even feels bad for the level of media attention he has to deal with.

"I just feel bad that he’s having this hard college experience, and I understand that he wants to be left alone," she explained.

Unlike his older siblings, Barron has largely avoided the limelight. He has taken part in a few family business ventures, notably as the “DeFi Visionary” of the Trump family crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, but he has mostly stayed out of the media frenzy that often surrounds the Trump brand.

Walker also pointed out that she doesn’t personally know Barron and even campaigned for Donald Trump.

"Why would I have any ill intent towards him?" she asked.

This isn’t the first time Walker has expressed sympathy for Barron. In December, she told the New York Post that she found it frustrating when classmates would take sneaky photos of him and post them online.

"I feel bad for him more than anything," she said at the time. "He’s kind of watched like a zoo animal."

Kaya Walker regrets resigning as president of CRA's NYU chapter

Kaya Walker now deeply regrets stepping down from her leadership role. "I actually regret resigning," she admitted.

She had spent years working to support the conservative movement despite the challenges of being a Republican at a liberal university. "I had been dutifully trying to support the conservative movement and waging the uphill battle being a Republican at NYU," she told the outlet.

While the National College Republican chapter initially distanced itself from Walker, its president Will Donahue later admitted that they pressured her to step down. He also revealed that Walker should have sought approval before speaking to the media.

"Left-wing organizations have a tendency to misconstrue what we say, and a college student without media training tends to be a ripe candidate for predatory journalists," Donahue told the outlet.

He confirmed that his organization advised Walker to resign, although they framed it as a “prudent move” to protect both her reputation and that of the organization.

"The conversation that we had with Kaya is, ‘Look, this is blowing up out of proportion, to protect your reputation and the organization, the prudent move would be for you to step down,’" Donahue said.

He added that Walker ultimately resigned of "her own volition."