Though Kai Trump loves her grandpa and might enjoy the benefits that come from being the President’s granddaughter, it has taken a toll on her dating life. She appeared on Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast Jan 7th, 2026, and Trump peeled back the curtain on what it means to navigate teenage life—friendships, first dates, basic spontaneity—while federal agents shadow her every move.

“It’s really awkward when you’re sitting like and having like going on a date with a guy and like they’re like two tables behind you. It’s a little weird.” Trump admitted to Paul. “[They follow] everywhere I go.”

For most 18-year-olds, dating is awkward enough. Kai Trump does it with Secret Service agents watching from the next table, making it extra hard. The protection returned when her grandfather reclaimed the presidency in January 2025. But this wasn’t Kai’s first encounter with the bubble.

She lived under Secret Service watch from ages 10 to 14 during the first Trump administration. Then came four years of normalcy. Between 2021 and 2024, she earned her driver’s license at 16, built friendships without surveillance, and moved through her days like any other Florida teenager. Her parents had worked to keep life grounded even when her grandfather occupied the Oval Office.

The second wave hit differently, and for reasons beyond her control.

By the time protection resumed, Trump had already carved out her identity—a junior in high school with established routines and social circles. Agents now trail her through lobbies, restaurants, and friend hangouts. Logan Paul witnessed the arrangement firsthand when he arrived at his podcast studio and spotted “two large men and a tiny girl” in the lobby.

What makes the dynamic stranger is the operational limit. Secret Service agents protect only Kai. They cannot intervene in anything happening around her—underage drinking at a party, chaos at a social gathering, none of it falls under their jurisdiction. If they detect a threat, they text or whisper to alert her. She decides whether to leave. The bubble isolates rather than polices.

“Pretend like they’re not there,” she explained. “If you can like try not really focusing on that and more enjoying your time with your friends, your family, whatever it is, it makes it easier. Their only job is to kind of protect me. I’m going to focus on my stuff and have them do their job.”

Secret service was also present at the Annika, during Kai Trump’s LPGA debut.

That mindset—compartmentalization under constant observation—will face its real examination soon enough.

Top Stories

Pebble Beach Looks Unrecognizable as Harsh Weather Destroys Iconic Golf Course

Phil Mickelson’s LIV Golf Hope Shatters After Akshay Bhatia Decision

LIV Golf Launches Strict New Rules for Pros as Jon Rahm Makes His Feelings Clear

PGA Tour Hands Veteran Pro 1-Year Ban Despite Severed LIV Golf Ties

Jon Rahm May Have Just Given Away Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour Return Plans

What Kai Trump’s bubble might teach her about competitive golf

Trump arrives at the University of Miami for the 2026-27 season as part of a three-player signing class. Head coach Janice Olivencia brought her in alongside Bella Dovhey and Carlee Rogers in November 2025, building a recruiting class designed to elevate the Hurricanes in the ACC. Olivencia described Trump as “a multi-sport athlete with a strong competitive spirit and a true love for the game of golf.”

The collegiate stage will test different muscles. Galleries at ACC tournaments won’t include federal agents, but they will include expectations, cameras, and the weight of a surname that guarantees attention. Trump’s LPGA debut at The Annika in November 2025 offered a preview—she shot 83-75 and missed the cut, finishing 108th of 108.

But the scorecard obscured something else. In a year-end YouTube video released January 1, 2026, Trump admitted that her first tee shot at Pelican Golf Club rattled her more than standing before millions at her grandfather’s inauguration. “I’ve never been more nervous than the first tee shot at the LPGA event period,” she said. “My nerves were just through the roof.”

The confession reveals the architecture of her challenge. Waving at cameras during a political ceremony carried symbolic pressure. Striking a golf ball under professional scrutiny carries performance pressure—the kind that doesn’t care about your last name.

If Trump can train herself to tune out armed agents during a first date, tuning out gallery noise at a collegiate tournament becomes a related exercise. The surveillance that feels intrusive now may be sharpening exactly the focus she’ll need when the stakes shift from social to competitive.