But while Trump’s life has been transformed, Edward’s is mostly the same. He’s now 17 and about to embark on his final year at school, studying English, maths, RE, and of course, economics. But he tells me that he’s also started a few new businesses, including a wristwatch design house called Stilvoll Sein (meaning "to have style” in German) as well as a conservative blog called The Daily Rile —which produces such headlines as “ Edward Bourke makes bold donation to art gallery ."

For a while Edward Bourke was Australia's biggest, mini Trump supporter. When I first met him in early 2016 he was running a very DIY effort to get Trump elected via Twitter and a site called thetrumpcampaign.com. And now it’s 2018 and Trump is president, so I guess it worked.

I was curious, so I asked Ed to come into the office for a chat.

So Edward’s life is mostly the same—in the sense that it’s just as bombastic and bizarre as it used to be. Because how does a 17-year-old start a wristwatch company? Or make a “bold” donation to an art gallery? And how does he feel about Donald Trump, now that the guy is actually running the universe?

I immediately have to stop him just to clarify—”Wait, you think he’s gone too left?”

“Well I think it’s pretty concerning… Trump seems to be dragging his policies more and more to the left,” says Ed. “And I think that’s particularly concerning because I think he’s alienating his core conservatives.”

We find some couches and Ed’s mum—who gave him a lift from their Mt Macedon home—sits away from us and fiddles with her phone. Ed stretches out, placing his boots on the coffee table and we get down to business, starting with the Trump presidency.

Edward showed up in his usual suit and pocket square combo, but this time sporting a pair of cowboy boots. “If you walk around Melbourne, you’ll see so many people wearing the same thing,” he explains as I take some photos. “Sometimes I just like to break it up and put some lizard skin in there.”

I suggest this policy is totally in line with Trump’s isolationist, America-first ideology on trade and commerce, but Ed disagrees. And actually, the only area we agree on is how Trump has created a very standard-issue plutocracy, when he originally promised to be anti-establishment.

“Absolutely” says Ed and explains how he watched in astonishment as the Trump administration placed a 300 percent tariff on Canadian-built Bombardier jets, which, as he points out, has been terrible for American airlines like Delta. “So he’s trying to control the free market, which just punishes companies.”

“I think most politicians end up lying,” says Ed, sadly shaking his head. “And I think it’s unfortunate that Trump is becoming more and more like the politicians he rallied against.”

We made a video with Ed a few years back. You should watch it:

We move onto other topics, such as Ed’s foray into wristwatches, which he says he designs with a school friend with production outsourced to China. “We got to know the manufacturer and spoke to them personally. We put a lot of thought into what we’re manufacturing.”

And then, when it comes to running businesses, it turns out Ed runs another two. First, there’s Ardent Stallion Capital Management, a London-based hedge fund, and Kapitel Kapital Aktiengesellschaft, a German asset-focused investment group.

“But how do you manage two foreign companies from Mt Macedon?” I ask.

“Well, with a lot of Skype and things like that.”