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Pod Force One
Lara Trump: The one trait that makes the Trumps unbreakable & the advice she gave her father-in-law, the President
01:12:01
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- [00:01]
A
Hello and welcome back to Pod Force One. I'm Miranda Devine. Joining me today is former RNC co chair, Fox News host, and member of America's first family, Lara Trump. Lara Trump, thanks so much for joining PodVoice1. How are you?
- [00:18]
B
Oh, my gosh. Well, first of all, I'm honored. I'm a big fan of yours, Miranda. I think all the work you do, it's been incredible. It continues to be incredible. And so thank you for having me on. I'm doing awesome and just really honored to be able to sit down with you. So thanks.
- [00:32]
A
Thanks, Lara. And I love your backdrop there in lovely sunny Florida, you lucky thing.
- [00:39]
B
Yes. Yeah. I'm not going to rub it in too much for anyone who's not experiencing this, but Florida's where it's at right now for sure.
- [00:46]
A
So I have to ask you, first up, the pronunciation of your name. So many people pronounce it differently from the way I think it should be pronounced. So I call you Lara. What do you say?
- [01:00]
B
You are exactly right. So I say this, by the way, Miranda, this has been like my entire life going way back to even, you know, like when I first started playing sports. And you would have your name announced over the speaker in school, you know, first thing in the morning. My, my maiden name is Unasca. So it's Lara, like lar, like car. I always say yes. And then my, my maiden name when I was a kid was Unasca. So if you can imagine the way that's been butchered my entire life. I, by the way, take no offense to any way anyone pronounces my name. I have been called a lot worse than any of the mispronunciations. But you are correct, Miranda. So congratulations, you got it right.
- [01:39]
A
So it's not Laura. It's like Laura Ingram. It's Lara, like Dr. Zhivago.
- [01:45]
B
And it's from Dr. Zhivago, which, you know, maybe people of my generation may, may know, probably younger generations have no idea, but obviously a, a book that was turned into a movie and my parents were big fans. And so you're correct.
- [01:58]
A
Lara from Dr. Zhivago, Lara Trump. And Trump is a lot easier to pronounce than UNESCO.
- [02:04]
B
A lot easier to pronounce, but comes with a little bit to it. Yeah.
- [02:09]
A
Yes. Well, in fact, go there. Your meeting with Eric Trump. Tell us how you met him and when you realized that he was a Trump. I mean, Donald Trump wasn't in politics back then, but he was still a huge name. He was the Apprentice guy. He was A billionaire, a big developer. So tell us about your courtship and that first meeting.
- [02:36]
B
Well, what's funny is we are actually approaching March is the. Gosh, it's crazy to say we're in the 18 year anniversary of when Eric and I met. Is that right? That's right. It's actually bananas. We met out in New York City one night. I had moved to New York to go to, of all things, culinary school. And I knew no one in New York when I moved there at all. I had to find an apartment on Craigslist. And I lived on a little place called Roosevelt island, which New Yorkers know is right between Manhattan and Queens. There's a little strip of land right under the Queensborough Bridge, Ed Koch Bridge, whatever people are calling it these days, and it's called Roosevelt Island. So I lived there, and my roommate at the time was absolutely determined to go out one Thursday night. And I was not going out. I was in sweats. I was going to stay in. I was going to watch a movie. She was begging me to go out with her because she had a friend in town and she wanted to take this friend out. And I was like, oh, I don't know. She convinced me to go out. And I continue to say thank you to Marielle, my roommate at the time, because had she not dragged me out, I never would have ended up in the place where ultimately Eric and I met. And he happened to be out with some friends. I was out with my friends. We. We ended up in the same place. And quite frankly, I had no idea that a person named Eric Trump even existed. He did not tell me his last name when we met, but I did notice that we were the tallest two among our friends. I was the tallest of the girls I was with. He was the tallest of the guys he was with. I'm 5 foot 11. So anyone who sees me in person, I get it. Every single time people, you know, I go give a speech somewhere or something. People are like, wow, you're a lot taller than we thought because you wear high heels. Yeah, yeah. In high heels. Forget it. I'm like six, two, six, three. But we were the tallest two. And it wasn't until we hung out all night. And, you know, when does that mean that work? You meet out one night in New York City and you end up together, as we have been for almost 18 years now.
- [04:36]
A
And what was it about him that attracted you, apart from his height?
- [04:41]
B
So I, when we first started talking, he did something that was very different than most men who I was meeting at the time I was in culinary school, as. As I think I said, and most of these guys I would meet would say, like, well, hopefully we can cook together someday. And I was like, oh, that's, you know, real cool. He looked at me and he grabbed, like, my stomach, and he goes, wow, you're too skinny for any of your food to taste good. You must be a horrible chef. And I was like, oh, well, that's different. And so that. That caught me. That was. That was the intro, and here we are. I guess it worked out. Yeah.
- [05:18]
A
And you actually went to culinary school, but you specialized in pastry making, which, I mean, considering how slim and fit you are and Eric is too. Do you ever cook for him?
- [05:31]
B
I do. Not as frequently as I would like, obviously. Our lives are so busy, and, you know, if I could make something by the way that. That Eric and I would eat and that our kids would eat and everybody could eat the same thing, that would be one thing. But, you know, everybody's kind of got different tastes. But I did specialize in. In pastry, because there's, like, a bit of an artistry to it, actually. And I really loved how beautiful. I felt like the pastry arts were. You know, I ended up doing kind of cake making as my specialty, and I would make anything into a cake. People would send me the craziest things, and I loved figuring out how to do that. But if you ask my husband, it was a bait and switch because he says, oh, when we first met, she made me all these ice cream cakes and all this great stuff, and now she doesn't make it anymore. But, I mean, Miranda, I'm trying to be Maha over here. So we're trying to limit sugar. So not a ton of pastry making going on at the Trump house. No.
- [06:23]
A
So what. What's the most complicated creation you've made then in a pastry?
- [06:28]
B
Oh, my gosh. Well, somebody sent me. They wanted a. A shoe box with, like, a Christian Louboutin shoe on top. And so I tried to fully recreate that. I mean, I think I did a pretty good job, but, you know that there was a brain surgeon who wanted a cake, so I had to make a brain with, like, a scalpel. I. Yeah, I've done a lot of fun stuff, and I loved doing it. I love figuring it out. So it was really fun.
- [06:54]
A
And now then you get down the track in your courtship with Eric, and you meet Donald Trump. So what was that first meeting like? And what is he like behind closed doors?
- [07:06]
B
Well, I think most people at this point probably appreciate that Donald Trump that you see on camera and in front of your screens is the same person behind the scenes. I mean, and I think that that comes, comes through. And I think that's one of the things, quite frankly, that people love about him, is that he is authentic to his core. He's not trying to be a person on television and in front of the country and then a different person behind the scenes, he's the same guy. When I first met him, Eric and I met in March, I think, as I said, and then September was rolling around and obviously that's the big tennis tournament there in, in New York, the U.S. open in Queens. And Eric asked me if I wanted to go to a tennis match with him. And I said, oh, yeah, that would be great. Well, tennis, you know, in my mind, you go and you sit in the bleachers, because that's kind of how I grew up. Well, we arrived there at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, and it very quickly became apparent that I was not prepared for what was about to happen, because instead of kind of going to the bleacher seats, we went up elevators and we went into what was like the suite section. And I was like, oh, my God, I probably should have known better. And then the door to the suite opens and there's Donald Trump and there's Melania Trump. And obviously meeting your, you know, the person you're dating's parents is always a little bit nerve wracking whenever their last name is Trump. I mean, it, it takes it to quite a level. And so I immediately became very nervous. But in some ways, I'm maybe grateful that Eric didn't tell me because he gave me no indication that his dad was going to be there, that Melania was going to be there. And so I didn't really have an opportunity to overthink anything. So in the moment there, I was like, oh, my God, this is happening. And I was very nervous immediately. And it was, it was kind of small talk. Where, where was I from? What was I doing, where'd I go to school, all the things. And pretty quickly I, I was like, well, wait a minute. These are normal questions. This is kind of what anyone would ask. And all of a sudden, Donald Trump looked at me and he was like, you know what? I'm going to get an ice cream. Do you like ice cream? And I said, oh, yeah, I like ice cream. He's like, I'm going to get you an ice cream. Okay. And I was like, oh, my God, he eats ice cream. Okay. I can actually get through this. I can do this. And then I, you know what? Honestly, obviously, he's a person who I have the utmost respect for. Always have, always will. But it became apparent that he's a person and that he was a nice person. And he was so nice to me and so welcoming to me, and I was just this kind of girl that his son had been dating. I was from North Carolina. I wasn't from New York. I didn't have any real connection to him or his background. And he could not have been nicer to me. More down to earth. And then the ice cream, that was it. I felt like we were all good after that.
- [09:55]
A
I mean, when you married Eric, I guess you weren't aware of the political storms that would come ahead and that the entire family would be buffeted by. What was the moment that, I guess Donald Trump told you that he was going to run for president? What was that like?
- [10:15]
B
Yeah, I mean, listen, nothing could have ever prepared any of us for what was to come. I mean, I think he knew that things would ultimately kind of lead to a place where it would be unlike anything the country and maybe the world had ever seen. But I don't. I. I don't even think he could have predicted things would have gotten as crazy as they have. And that has happened to. To all of us and to him specifically. But we had a dinner one night. It was in. I want to say it was in June, because it was right around his birthday. This is just before he announced he was running for president. And it was at Bedminster at the golf club there in New Jersey. And we were all kind of talking about it, and he basically told us then, listen, this is something I think I'm gonna do. But the thing that I thought was really amazing was that he wanted to make sure that we understood what that meant, because he knew it wasn't just about him. He said, I want to do this, but it's not just going to involve me. All of you will ultimately become a part of this, because we all know that's how it goes. You know, one person runs for politics. You know, the whole family is kind of under scrutiny. The whole family kind of gets pulled into it, even those who try to stay out of it. And he said, I want you guys to know that if we do this right, they're going to come after us. And to all of us, I think we said, like, oh, how. How bad could it get? What. What could possibly happen? Obviously, a lot has happened, but I think it was amazing that he knew even then that things were going to be different. That, you know, I remember him saying things like, if, if I do this, I want to do it right, and even if that means that I only got, you know, one term in office, that's okay, as long as I'm doing the right thing. And we're, we're making change that needs to happen in this country. But he really wanted to get our buy in and hear kind of from all of us and ensure that we knew that this undertaking wasn't just going to be him. It was going to encompass the entire family. And so I thought that was pretty amazing. And that was probably the week before he actually announced that he was running for president.
- [12:22]
A
And did anyone around the table, I presume that you and Eric, Don Jr. And Ivanka were all there and Tiffany, maybe. Did anyone raise any fears or objections or concerns?
- [12:39]
B
No, not at all. In fact, we all said we're all in. You have our support. And I think he kind of joked with Jared and he said, jared, what chance do you give me on this thing? You know, what do you think? And I forget exactly what Jared said, but whatever it was was kind of a better percentage chance than I think my father in law ultimately thought he had. And he was like, oh, okay, well, I'll take that. No, listen, I think we all, we all supported him. We all understood that he was so frustrated at that time with the direction of the country. You know, we were still in the Obama era and he was continuing to get more and more upset about things that he saw in the direction of the country and that it just kind of felt like nobody was, was running things and that our country was being run into the ground. And we could all feel, as time went on, his frustration. So I don't think it surprised any of us when he announced this. And I think we all knew that, look, if he did it, he would do a great job and we all had his back and we were all going to be behind him. Obviously, things were, got crazy. Obviously none of us could have predicted any of this, but no, not for a second did any of us have any concerns about any of it.
- [13:50]
A
Just back to just the Trump family. You also met Eric's mother, Ivana Trump, well before she died. So I guess you had a few years with her to get to know her. And from what Eric says in his biography, she was, you know, very influential in their sort of a tough love upbringing, which, you know, he attributes to the fact that all the Trump kids are pretty grounded and not spoiled. What was your impression of her when you Met her.
- [14:25]
B
Well, I think that's. I think that's right. She's. Listen, she came from communist Czechoslovakia, right? She grew up during a time when she really understood what that meant. And I wish more people had an appreciation for what communism will do to a country, but she had to work hard for everything she had, and she wanted to instill that same work ethic in her kids. And that was very apparent to me when I started to get to know the rest of the Trump family. Because my hesitation, to be honest with you, after I found out who Eric was, was kind of like, oh, well, you know, we all have in our minds what someone with the last name Trump might be like. And I. It honestly wasn't great. And I was kind of like, I don't know, is it even worth going out on a date with this guy? I had my preconceived notions of what that would mean. And Eric shocked me our first date. You know, he was not the person that I anticipated someone with his last name to be. And then to my, you know, delight, the same kind of went for the rest of the family, for both his brother and sisters. And then when I met his mom, I said, aha. Now I understand. Because she was, you know, I think when you first meet, maybe you're. You're the girl your son is dating. You're. You kind of look at them with a bit of a skeptical eye. And she certainly had that the first time we met. But the second she learned, you know, more about me and, and fully who I was, she could not have been warmer. You know, she. She threw a bridal shower for me. She threw a baby shower for me for. For my son Luke. And she's a great woman, but you can tell that they respected their mom so much. She made them work, you know, out in the different properties. She put them to work, you know, on the different sites, job sites. They would go with their dad, but she would say, okay, but you're going to come back here and work, and you're not going to work for some exorbitant amount of money. You're going to make minimum wage and you're going to be under the guidance of the people who actually work here. And it's to be in easy go of it. And because of that, you know, it's amazing to go to a job site with my husband who has done every single job there is there, and can talk to the electrician who's, you know, in the corner kind of getting things together for the back of the house stuff. He can talk to the general manager in the front. He's done all of these jobs and he appreciates them. And that came, I think, a lot from their mom, ensuring that they weren't spoiled, that they had to work for everything. But she was an amazing woman. And I wish that she was still around for my kids to get to know her more. They only got, you know, a few years with her, but she was a great athlete. She was a tough woman, but she loved hard and she loved all of us so much. And her kids, I think, were the most important thing in her entire life.
- [17:22]
A
And Eric said that he had actually went to her townhouse in Manhattan and found her when she died after she'd fallen down the stairs. That must have been very traumatic for him and for the whole family.
- [17:34]
B
Yeah, I mean, I'll never forget, you know, the moment that I got that call that something had happened and that he was rushing over there. And I don't think anything like that leaves you, you know, I think he was the one who went in, he found her, you know, on the ground kind of on the stairs in her townhouse. And I can't imagine a son to, you know, have to see that, have to witness that. But that's, that's kind of how Eric has been for a long time. You know, he's the one who, whenever something needs to get done for the family, he's the one who say, like, I got it, I'll go and I'll do whatever it is. And so in some ways it was kind of appropriate that, that maybe he was the one who, who found her there. Um, but yeah, it was, it was a horrible time. Um, I don't think anyone's ever prepared for someone they love to have their life end in, in a way like, like that. And obviously for him to have found her was pretty terrible. So it, I don't think it'll ever leave him.
- [18:42]
A
You talk about Eric being the one who sort of goes in to, to make things better and fix things. Um, I, I, I think when the FBI raided Mar? A Lago and I mean, Donald and Melania Trump were not there at the time, but didn't Eric get the first call that they were in there rummaging through Melania Trump's underwear drawers, et cetera?
- [19:08]
B
Yeah, no, that's right. I mean, Eric runs the company now. I think one of the reasons my father in law felt like the time was right for him to run for president in 2016 is because he felt like he could leave this company, that he'd put his heart and soul into the Trump Organization that he'd literally built from nothing to be the incredible company that it's become. And he could leave that in good hands. And that was with his kids. And, you know, Eric is the youngest of the three of them, Don, Eric and Ivanka. But he is the one who has sort of taken the mantle and I think is the most like his dad in a business sense. And so he took over. And because of that, he's the first call from any property. Anytime there's anything that goes on, whether it's something great, whether it's something not great, and certainly whenever they had the FBI at the doorstep there at Mar? A Lago, who, you know, said, we're coming in, the first call was to Eric. And, you know, it's, it's amazing that people can look at what happened and not have an appreciation for just how absolutely ridiculous the whole thing was. To your point, going through a former first lady's closet drawers, including, you know, her intimate objects, that is, that is outside of the scope of anything we've ever seen in this country. But, yeah, Eric was that first call. Eric got a call from the FBI during the campaign who had some information leaked to them that the servers in the basement at Trump Tower had possibly been tapped or manipulated by Russians. And Eric said, well, we don't have servers in the basement of Trump Tower, so I don't know what you're talking about. But Miranda, it was already too late because the press had also gotten that same leak and they ran with it, and thus the Russia collusion hoax started. So, yeah, Eric has kind of been at the forefront of, of so much that has happened within the scope of his dad's presidency. Any sort of quote unquote, scandal that the press and the left tries to, you know, thrust upon him. Eric has kind of been the person who has been at the center of a lot of it.
- [21:23]
A
He seems very calm. You know, the few occasions that I've met him and when I've interviewed him, he seems a very kind of even keeled person, unflappable. Is he like that in real life?
- [21:38]
B
Yeah, he's like that, yeah. And I think that's one of the things that has been maybe his greatest strength is that so many other people get the call that the FBI is raiding, you know, a Trump property, his dad's home. So many people get a call like that saying, oh, well, we know that there, there have been some, you know, concerns about servers and basement of a property that don't even exist and people lose it. I think for all of us, we've kind of had to be unflappable to a certain extent. But certainly Eric has had to stand so strong in the face of all of this nonsense. And because he's the person who runs the company, Eric, I believe, might be the most subpoenaed person in United States history. Most subpoenaed civilian in United States history, at least because his name is on everything to do with the company and because these bloodthirsty Democrats can't help themselves and they want to go after anything to do with Trump, no matter what it is. Eric has been the person who's had his name attached to all of that. But I think you have to be that way. You know, we've all had to develop a bit of a callus and a thick skin throughout the course of all of this. Because I'll tell you what, I go back to some of the first things that happened those first days after my father in law announced his run in 2015. And the things that we thought then were a big deal that may have shaken us then are nothing to us now. The one thing I will say, Miranda, that's been very interesting that's happened is the crazier things have gotten and the more we've all had to endure. In some ways, it's almost been like Olympic training for all of us in the Trump family. And that it almost doesn't matter what comes our way from now on. Nothing will shake us. We are solid to our core. And, you know, in a lot of ways, maybe, maybe the folks, folks on the left who thought that they were somehow going to harm all of us have actually done the opposite. And in the case of the 47th President, have made him the strongest, most capable and most productive president, I think, in American history. And I would say that that probably goes for all of us in the Trump family, including Eric.
- [23:53]
A
And has all that adversity made you all closer as a family? I mean, a bit more suspicious of outsiders?
- [24:01]
B
Yeah. Well, listen, you either get kind of broken apart in the process of all of this, or you come together. And we've all certainly come together. And I don't think you'll find any daylight between any of us. We're incredibly close as a family. And yeah, I mean it. Sadly, you know, you get burned sometimes by, by people and you have to learn a lesson. I think the president will tell you that. I think the first lady will tell you that. And I think all of us in our family have had our own Personal experiences with people who pretty clearly we're not around for the right reason or decided to try to sell us out or do something to harm all of us or whatever it might be, you know, for their own personal gain. And so I think we all kind of take a second look at people who want to kind of come into our orbit and are maybe a little bit careful. But, you know, you also can't live your life kind of shielding yourself from everything or in a box where you can't kind of break out of it. And. And especially for. For me, for Eric, for our family. You know, I want to raise my kids in. As a normal away as I possibly can. I want them to have the same opportunity to live a great life as I had, you know, as a kid growing up in North Carolina. And yes, it may be a little bit different for them, but we try really hard to keep things as normal as possible. But I think part of that now, absolutely, is that we're all just kind of, you know, you take a beat with people. You don't. Don't let everybody in, you know, as they come and knock on your doorstep, for sure.
- [25:33]
A
So you mentioned your children. You have two children, a boy and a girl. And how has motherhood changed you? A and B, what's Donald Trump like as a grandfather?
- [25:43]
B
He's a great grandfather. And you can tell that because, you know, you can't fake stuff with kids, right? You can. I mean, you try to tell a kid to go do something they don't want to do, that you're not. That's not going to happen. They cannot wait to go visit Grandpa. I mean, part of that probably is that he's always packing candy somewhere for them, and they love getting a little bit of the candy. He's a fun grandpa, that's for sure. You know, he'll say, your mom doesn't want you to come on the golf cart. Come on the golf cart. You know, like one of those. So they love him. He's a great grandpa. I know he wishes he got more time with them. And whenever he's. He's around, you know, on the weekends and stuff, we do try to take the kids to see him. But, I mean, listen, I think motherhood changes everything. And I will say that I was one of the women who probably fell into the trap that I think the left set for a lot of women, which is that there was this idea in my mind that once I became a mom, kind of all these doors would be shut and that if I didn't have Everything accomplished in terms of, you know, my career and aspirations I had personally by the time I had kids, then I might as well just forget about that. And it's actually not at all the truth. And I hate that that was kind of sold to me and that it's been sold to any woman out there. I think, you know, being a mom has made me realize what's ultimately important. And one of the reasons that I worked so hard in 2020 and in 2024 to ensure that my father in law was elected was for my kids because they should have the same opportunity to grow up in the same great America that I got to grow up in. And you know, the things like ensuring that my daughter is not having to compete against men in sports one day. She's six. But you know, you don't do the right things now, who knows what happens, what opportunities get stripped away from her. It does feel like there's been a war on men for a long time. For my son's sake, I want to ensure that I can do everything to kind of rectify that problem. But it really sets in your mind, I think, what it is you're fighting for and it makes it very, very solid. And so I have had a lot of amazing titles. I've been the co chair of the rnc. I obviously have a show on Fox, I have a podcast. I have done a lot of things. The most important role I will ever have and title I will ever hold is the title of mom. You know, no matter what happens in my life. And it's the greatest honor to be a mom to my two kids and to hopefully raise two great bright contributors to society who are not woke, who are not indoctrinated, who love this country and are proud of everything this country stands for and especially proud of their grandpa.
- [28:34]
A
So how do you do that? You know, how do you kind of imprint your values on your kid when kids, when you are so busy? You and Eric are both incredibly busy. You have many hats. Is it time? What is it?
- [28:49]
B
Yeah, well, listen, I think that you have to have great people around. I'm very lucky. My mom plays a big role in my kids lives and my parents still live in North Carolina. But whenever I need her, I call my mom, she comes down to Florida, she stays with the kids. Obviously we have a great nanny who's with our kids as well a lot. But when I'm in Florida, I am doing everything I can to be there for all of it. The drop offs in the morning at school, the pickups in the Afternoon, any sort of practice, any sort of events. When I'm present, I'm incredibly present. And I think Eric is the same way. And, you know, I don't know that you ever get the perfect balance. I think there's always mom guilt. But I do hope that my kids watch me and they watch Eric, and it inspires them to try to achieve whatever it is they want to do in life one day. And I do see that in them already. You know, when my daughter writes down on her paper in class that she wants to be like mom one day and be on TV or whatever it is, I'm like, well, that is so cool to see that. You know, she knows that this is something important to me, that it's inspired her, that she wants to kind of follow in my footsteps. But look, I. I think that the values certainly come from spending time together and ensuring that, you know, the things that are important to us are translated to our kids. You know, every night before bed, we do prayers with our kids. And part of that, we start out prayers by doing the pledge of Allegiance. You know, we. We talk to them about this country, and they. They obviously learn things in school, and you have to watch out for what the kids are learning in school. We are sure that our kids are learning the right things in. In school, but you also have to teach them, I think, as a parent. And, you know, so day to day, we try to make sure those values are translated, and we try to spend as much time as we possibly can with them. And when I'm here, I am very, very much here and very, very present. And so you try to balance it. And I think everybody's trying to do the same thing out there as a parent that probably Eric and I are.
- [31:02]
A
And what about things like social media? I mean, I know they're young. They're, I think, six and eight. Is that right? Yeah. So, I mean, that's coming down the track, and that will be an influence.
- [31:14]
B
See, and this is. This is a space where it's so hard. I think, as parents. Look, we have a no screen policy at our house. Our kids do not have a phone. They do not. You know, they're not on an iPad. They're on nothing at all. That has been something that we've. We've established. And, you know, I. It frustrates me, too, because I go out to dinner and I see all these kids at tables, and what are they doing? They got a phone set up like this, and they're just watching the screen. Eric and I, a long time ago, we're like, we're not going to do that. And so it was very hard initially because our kids would look around a restaurant and say, well that kid is on a screen. And we'd say, well, we don't care. So they bring a football with them or they bring a coloring book with them or something, or they talk to us so that one day when they're adults, imagine that they're gonna have the ability to converse with people instead of look at a screen. And I get that it's hard and I know that it's so easy to put that in front of a kid. But you know, you look at the studies, Miranda, as to what it does to these kids brains and it is horrifying. And so Eric and I decided no screens at our house. We're not doing that at all. Our kids are into a lot of sports and I, I see things like what has happened in Australia and what has happened in France where you have a regulatory body saying we're going to wait until these kids are at least a little bit older, 15, 16 years old, in order to at least process a little more what they're doing in the social media space before they get online. And I personally would be so in favor of that. I mean, we're a ways out from our kids having any device or any access to social media or any of that at all. But when that time comes, it is hard because that's the way that all of these kids communicate. That's the, that's the method they use, that's, that's how they do it. And so if I'm the parent that's saying you can't have it, but all of my son's friends have it, that is a little tough. Now if they all weren't able to have it yet, that would make it a little bit easier. I'm not much of one for regulating things. I would be very happy with a little bit of regulation in this space. Just personally as a mom, have you.
- [33:24]
A
Talked to your father in law about that?
- [33:26]
B
I actually have. And when I talk to him about the, the studies that I've, I've read and the way that, you know, a kid looks at a screen and their dopamine and their oxytocin and all these feel good chemicals are firing and then you take the screen away and those all go away, well, how are they ever going to get back to that in just regular life without a scream? They almost don't. And it's actually frightening to consider the implications of this. 10:20, 30 years from now for these kids, I'm. I'm terrified we're going to have an entire society that's totally depressed because they can't get back to that level. And he's very interested in it. I don't know exactly where he stands. I've certainly told him where I stand on it. And I think it's something that he's. He's taking an interest in because, look, we can do all we want to make our nutrition guidelines better, to make the food supply in public schools better, and for our military better, to make America healthy again. But one of the things that is going to always kind of be over us will be social media, will be screens, will be that sort of thing. And so I do think it's something that he's looking into and at least educating himself on to make a decision.
- [34:40]
A
Another thing I believe I heard on your podcast that you've discussed with the president is UFOs. Do you think that he's. He's about to make an announcement about UFOs? Because President Obama was just on a podcast talking about how he believes in UFOs and hinting that he saw something when he was president.
- [35:01]
B
Well, I, I said this in my podcast, too. What's funny is we've kind of asked my father in law about this because we're like, well, what do you know? Because, Miranda, we all want to know about the UFOs, or we all want to know what's going on. And he played a little coy with us. And so that, of course, led us to believe. Eric and I were like, oh, my gosh, if he won't even, like, fully tell us, maybe there's more to it. And then I have just heard kind of around that. I think he's actually said it. I think my father in law has actually said it, that there is some speech that he has that I guess at the right time, and I don't know when the right time is, he's gonna break out and talk about. And it has to do with maybe some sort of extraterrestrial life, so to speak. I just, you know, I look at things from the perspective of the vastness of our universe. And I'm a. I'm a kind of a numbers person. You know, I don't get nervous flying because the odds are very much in your favor. Flying. The odds that anything will happen to you are far greater in a car than they ever will be in an airplane. But I'm also looking at the odds in terms of how much is out there in the universe. And it would be pretty wild to think that the only spot where there was any sort of life in the entire universe was here on Earth. So I don't have any information. I feel like there might be information out there and hopefully it's going to be able to be told to all of us very soon. We'll see.
- [36:33]
A
So does the president act as if he believes there are UFOs and that this is gonna be some momentous announcement or is it just, you know, a casual observation that there might be something out there?
- [36:48]
B
It's a good question. I mean he's, he's kind of been very cool about it. Whenever I've, I've heard this come up about the, this possible speech and when Eric asked him, he just knowing him as well as I do, the way he says things, they make a difference sometimes. And he's been a little different about this one. So it makes me personally think that there's something that he knows that the rest of us don't know. And so I'll let people determine for themselves, whatever that means. But yeah, it makes me think there's more to come.
- [37:22]
A
Very interesting because he's usually very open and frank about everything unless it's, you know, high national security or something.
- [37:29]
B
Yeah. Fox News is now streaming live on Fox 1. When news breaks, we don't just report it. We go beyond the headlines to get the full story. Get live coverage in depth analysis and perspectives from the voices you trust all in one place. Whether you're at home or on the go, stay connected to the stories share Shaping our world stream fox news on fox one download today quick choose a meal deal with Mcvalue the $5 Mcleal the $6 McDouble meal deal or the new $7 Daily Double meal deal each with its own small fries, drink and Four Piece McNuggets. There's actually no rush. I'm just excited for McDonald's for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Not valve for McDelivery.
- [38:17]
A
So the midterms are coming up. Are you going to be on the road helping the campaign and which other of the Trump family are going to be doing it?
- [38:29]
B
Well, I'm in a bit of a unique spot because I have a show on Fox and so I don't know how much I'll be able to campaign in the formal sense just based on how all that goes. But you know, we're always, and I think all of us in our family are always trying to champion the right causes and you Know, in. In whatever way I can, maybe from the perspective of, of Fox or my podcast, I certainly will be trying to encourage people to get out and vote, because I think that is very important. You know, the, the big thing in 2024 for us was encouraging low propensity voters. Those are people who don't vote in every single election to get out and vote. And I do think it made a huge difference. And there is the tradition of the opposite party who's in the White House winning the midterms. But that doesn't have to be the case. You know, if everybody who came out and voted in 2024 for Donald Trump comes out to vote in these midterms for Republicans, there's no question we're going to win these things. There's no question we're going to retain control of the House and the Senate and things will go, you know, that way. But it is about encouraging people to get out and vote. And certainly the President will be out there hitting things hard. And I think you'll see a lot of most our family out there. Don is a person who definitely likes to get out in front in politics. I think my husband will certainly be out there working hard. Jared seems to be working very hard around the world to try and ensure peace. So I don't know if he'll be available. But look, we're all always trying to kind of champion, you know, the right direction for this country in whatever way we can. And I certainly will do that from whatever perspective and whatever capacity I have.
- [40:18]
A
Yeah, you mentioned Jared. He's been incredible, hasn't he? I mean, first in the first term with the Abraham Accords, and now with his assistance to Steve Witkoff in trying to bring world peace to some pretty troubled parts of the planet.
- [40:33]
B
Yeah, we're so proud of Jared. And, you know, one of the things about Jared is he's very humble, too. You know, he. He doesn't seek the spotlight. He's not trying to get any sort of an accolade for this or acknowledgement for anything he's doing. He's doing it because he wants the right thing to happen. And you're right in Trump won the Abraham Accords, which obviously people said we'd never see something like that. Historic peace agreements and all these countries coming together in the name of peace in the Middle East. That would never happen. It happened. And then he's been working really hard with Steve Witkoff. You're right. Continuing in the Middle east with Russia and Ukraine to hopefully bring an end to things there. And I think when Jared tells his story as to all the things he's been a part of, man, it's going to be a story to tell. The little that I've been privy to has been pretty amazing. But we're incredibly proud of him and he's, you know, he and I have bonded for a long time over the fact that we're not blood Trumps, but we've kind of been brought into all of this and it's been so fun to see the incredible things that he's been able to do. And I hate that during the first term too, he and Ivanka had such a hard time. At least the liberal media gave them such a hard time in the White House because they never took a paycheck. They worked really hard. They wanted to ensure the success of Trump 1.0 for sure. And he's done amazing things. He did amazing things then and he's continuing to do them now.
- [42:09]
A
And he got dragged back in. I think they were determined not to.
- [42:14]
B
You can never escape.
- [42:15]
A
Yeah. And, and just. Does your father in law ever talk to you about, I mean, I know he's spoken to me in interviews about his great distress at the deaths over in Ukraine in particular. Does he talk about that much about his, why he wants to stop these wars?
- [42:36]
B
Yeah, well, I think, you know, he's, he says what he means and he said that many times publicly that the killing has to stop, the deaths have to stop. You know, you look at these 17, 18 year old, I mean, they're like babies, you know, over fighting in almost like trench warfare in Ukraine and it's horrific. And you know, on both sides of that, he means because you see the way that obviously Russia is a very big country, they have a huge population and they're sending these kids, it feels like, into battle and they don't care how the casualties, they don't care how many are injured or killed. He wants that to stop. And I think that, you know, whenever you look at what he's been able to do around the world, my gosh, he's been able to settle so many long term conflicts. You look at Azerbaijan, In Armenia, almost 40 years, they had a conflict going on there and he finally ended it. But multiple areas around the world that he's been able to say, like, hey, let's bring peace here, let's stop the killing, let's, let's stop harming each other. That's what he wants to see happen ultimately in Russia and Ukraine. And he's horrified by the deaths and by the casualties and the things that he sees happening there because there's so many young lives just cut short completely unnecessarily. And the quicker this comes to an end, the more lives can be saved. And that's certainly always been his goal.
- [44:05]
A
At the end of the day and at family gatherings. Does he talk about that? Does he talk about any sort of politics?
- [44:12]
B
They always come up. You know, we kind of, we, we talk about all different things, but certainly, yeah, those things come up because it's, it weighs heavily on him. He, I think you go back to whenever he was inaugurated over a year ago now, and he thought that this one would be easier to solve than it has been. I mean, I think Putin has certainly been very, very tough to deal with. And obviously Steve Witkoff and my brother in law Jared know that better than anyone because they've been over multiple times to try to deal with this. But yeah, his frustration certainly comes through on things like that. And it's a shame because again, I think the world would be better off. We want the killing to end. And I do think that it's something that continues to weigh on him every single day. Until that ends, he's going to continue to try and do whatever he can.
- [45:06]
A
And now you were co chair of the Republican National Committee during the last election, the 2024 election, very successfully, but what does that job actually entail and what lessons do you think you gleaned from that that could be applied to 2028 or even the midterms?
- [45:25]
B
Well, it was a job I was never, you would have never told me I was going to have that one. And quite frankly, when it was propositioned to me, I was still like, ah, I don't know. Listen, the chair and the co chair of the RNC obviously together run the, the Republican Party. And I was very heavily involved with a lot of fundraising, a lot of our social media, which I think was, was very impactful. Certainly once early voting started. One of the things that I think that we did a really good job of from the RNC perspective is that we had teams of lawyers around the country who were ready to go, who were ready to cause look at, we, we came out of 2020. People had so many questions, Miranda, about what the heck happened there. And people were just told, you know what, we just gotta move on. We know you feel like something was off in that election. It doesn't matter, we're gonna move on. You should just shut your mouths about it and we should continue forward. And we said, well, we can't have a country like that we shouldn't have half the electorate wondering if their vote mattered or their vote counts. That's part of this country. We have to believe in our elections and have transparency in our elections. And so we worked really hard to ensure that anywhere there would be a problem, we would go and we would tackle it. And we set things up, you know, in the months leading up to early voting. Michael Whatley, he was the chairman at the time, and I. We set things up in whatever way we could. Sometimes it was lawsuits, sometimes, you know, it was. It was demanding voter rolls be cleaned, you know, a parody of poll workers in locations getting a huge operation of people to volunteer to be poll watchers and poll workers. But I think one of the big things was when there were problems, we sent people to look at them and then we communicated that via vrnc, you know, X and Instagram pages and wherever we could to the rest of the country so that people would say, okay, well, somebody is watching this. Somebody is on top of this. I will go in that line, you know, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for four hours and vote, because it's going to matter and it's going to make a difference. And ultimately, I think it did. And that would be my big encouragement for the RNC right now, is that even though there were things that were done that I think really made people feel much better about voting in 2024, I think we have to continue to do that for 2026, for these midterms and for 2028, and encourage, you know, the low propensity voters, embrace early voting. As much as, you know, the Republicans typically don't like early voting, we like to come out on election day, but you never know what could happen. Right. And so we would say if you can go out and vote early, you got to go vote early. And that was a very different move from the Republican Party than we had seen in previous elections. And then I think that they have to just stay on top of things and continue communicating with their voters because that's ultimately what's going to make people feel like they should come out and vote and it's going to matter. So.
- [48:25]
A
And also voter id, this, this current brouhaha in Congress and with the Democrats calling it Jim Crow 2.0 and it's racist, oh, my God. When it's such a popular topic, you know, with the public, even Democrats, the vast majority of them think that it's a good idea to safeguard elections, but where do you think that's going to go? And I mean, you know, the, the Republican Party as well as anybody. What is wrong with these Senate Republicans who just don't think it's important enough to really go to the mattresses over? Isn't it the most important thing?
- [49:06]
B
I couldn't think of anything more important, quite frankly. I mean, you look around the country at the states that Kamala Harris won in 2024. What do they all have in common? They do not require any sort of ID to go vote. If we don't know that we can trust our elections, then we really can't call ourselves the United States of America. If we're, if there's any room for any funny business, then people are never going to trust this, the process of voting. And that is foundational to who we are as Americans. And so, yeah, I think it is crazy that anyone would not be fully championing this. And you do have to ask yourself, from the perspective of the Democrats, why is it that if 71% of their voters believe that you should have to have an ID to go vote to prove you are who you say you are, that you are of legal age and status to vote, and you can go vote in our elections, you're a legal United States citizen. What you. The only thing I can think of is that you have nefarious intent. I think everybody at this point, Miranda, knows that. And it's completely ridiculous. And so for anyone out there on either side of the aisle who is not pushing hard to make our elections more transparent, to make it so that every American feels secure when they go vote, it is a shameful thing. It has nothing to do with race. It is absolutely racist to say that it has something to do with race. We all know that, you know, you have to have an ID to get on an airplane to go do just about anything in this country. You should have an ID to go do your civic duty of voting in our elections. It's, it's ridiculous that anyone would be pushing the other way.
- [50:54]
A
It seems that the only way really that it's going to get through the Senate is by abolishing the filibuster. But that's just something that your father in law has been pushing for. And even senators like Dave McCormick says that he's changed his mind about. He used to think that we needed to keep the filibuster, but now he said he realizes he's done a 180 because the Democrats are going to do it for sure the minute they get back in control. So what is it about the filibuster that makes these, you know, hold out Republicans not understand the true nature of, of their opponents. They're not the Democrat Party of old.
- [51:39]
B
Well, and that's the problem is the Democrat Party of old. Then we, we would have said, listen, we should have the filibuster. It, it's, it's, it's a good thing to have that. You have to, you know, break 60 votes in order to pass something. But we're not dealing with the same people anymore. There's a socialist who's now in charge of New York City as mayor. You got a socialist out in Seattle. You got people like AOC and Mom Donnie, who are basically the faces of the Democrat Party now. And these people are not reasonable. They're not the same people as of even 10 years or so ago. It's a different animal. And so I think Dave McCormick is right, and I think the President has said this as well. The second the Democrats have an opportunity, we know they're going to eliminate the filibuster. We know they want to grant DC And Puerto Rico statehood. We know they want to pack the Supreme Court. So at least in this space, as it relates to doing something that would then allow us to, you know, pass legislation to safeguard our elections, at the very least, to not have to have a run on government shutdown like we saw in the fall happen. Maybe now's the time. Maybe Republicans just go ahead and do it, because we're going to look pretty dumb at the end of the day. When the Democrats get, you know, their hands back on any sort of power and any sort of majority and they do it themselves, then how stupid will we look and how much will this country have ultimately lost out on because of that? We used to be able to have gentleman's rules, so to speak, and it was like a handshake type of deal that you're going to play this game the same way we're going to play it. And that, that ended a long time ago. These people who want to impeach the president, which they will also be doing if they get any power back, they wanted to throw him in jail. They wanted to politicize every sort of part of our government for their own political gain. Well, those, those rules ended a long time ago, Miranda. And so I think at this point, a lot of people agree with the idea of eliminating the filibuster and at least doing good for our country while we still have the opportunity.
- [53:45]
A
So have you always been a conservative? Did you, did you ever flirt with socialism when you were at university?
- [53:53]
B
No, I never flirted with socialism at all. Yeah, listen, I grew up in a household of, my parents were Republicans and I knew they voted Republican, but I never really paid that much attention. And I think I probably sound like a lot of Americans did until 2015, until the famous golden escalator ride when my father in law came down and announced his candidacy for president. And look, I think there were a lot of moments of my time in college where I would say, well, maybe this is a good idea. And then you get out of college and then you start working and you start paying taxes and you start living life in a real way and you say, oh, well, that doesn't work. And so, yeah, I, I think I, I grew up with these values, but my parents never pushed them on me and said, this is how you have to vote, this is how you have to be. They allowed me to kind of have my own life experience. And I think once you have that life experience experience, you say, oh, well, you know, capitalism is the way, this is the way things should be. We should be fiscally conservative and all those sorts of things. And I certainly have learned a lot. I think our entire family has learned a lot. We were very green going into all of this back in 2015 and it's been a wild ride. I'll tell you, I think I said at the beginning nothing could have prepared us for any of this, but I don't think I would take any of it back either. It's been crazy, it's been incredible. It's been an honor to have a front row seat to history for so much of this. And I, I, you know, I talk about Jared having a story to tell. I feel like, you know, we all have a story to tell. And you talked about my husband's book. We all should probably write a book one day.
- [55:35]
A
Are you going to write a book?
- [55:36]
B
It's been quite a time.
- [55:37]
A
What about you?
- [55:38]
B
I would love to write a book. You know, I, I think I have maybe of the Trump family one of the more unique stories because I didn't grow up in New York, I grew up in North Carolina and in a very normal middle class family. So yeah, I have certainly thought about it. But I also saw how much work goes into writing a book when my husband wrote his. So I'm like, oh, I should do it and I would like to do it, but time's gotta be right.
- [56:02]
A
Well, you have your hands full with your show on Saturday night on Fox News. My view, it's fantastic. You do a beautiful job interviewing some of the top people, including your father in law. And how are the ratings going, oh.
- [56:17]
B
The ratings are great.
- [56:18]
A
Well, I knew they would be.
- [56:19]
B
Speaking of him, what's funny is that whenever I told my father in law, you know, this was going to be what I was going to do, I signed with Fox, I'm going to have a show. They said, that's great, honey, when is the show? And I said, Saturday night at 9pm and he goes, oh, honey, you know what they call that? They call that Death Valley, son. Oh my God, that's not good. So I have at least proven to the President of the United states that sometimes 9pm on Saturday nights doesn't have to be Death Valley.
- [56:48]
A
Well, it is. It's destination tv. You have some of the absolute top people from around the country. But what I love is that you sometimes, like with Carolyn Levitt or with Susie Wiles, you get a little tour of their offices or some little sneak peek of something and you bring out the best in people, I think. So congrats. It's really great.
- [57:09]
B
Thank you. I appreciate it.
- [57:11]
A
Who has been your favorite interview? And I have one interview I want to ask you about which I thought was very weird. I wonder if you know which one it was.
- [57:21]
B
My favorite. Oh my gosh. Well, you know, one that I really kind of wanted to do from the beginning was with my husband and it ended up that I interviewed him in the days after Charlie Kirk's murder because, you know, we were all very close to Charlie and it felt very appropriate for me to hear from him. But I would like to redo that one as a just me interviewing Eric Trump. And so that's on my to do list. But of course I have to say the President. Who, who doesn't? I mean, who gets an opportunity to interview the President of the United States? I think interviewing Susie Wiles was pretty cool because I remember her telling me, she was like, I haven't done an interview and I don't know how many y' all do. And I know she did. She did an interview with you, Miranda. But those were, it's. They've been awesome.
- [58:15]
A
She's an amazing woman. She's so. She's actually very frank and very warm and yet she has this steely demeanor. I think your father in law calls her the ice Maiden.
- [58:27]
B
Yeah. Which if you know how Susie operates in the political space. That's right. But you're right to be kind of in person around her. She is warm. She's a mom, she's a grandma. Right. She's. She wants to be this kind of. I think there's a Bit of a motherly side of her, but when it's business, it's all business. With Susie.
- [58:47]
A
Yeah, she's very tough. And now the weird one was the guy. I think his name's Brian Johnson, who is the longevity or he's trying to hack age. And, you know, honestly, who would want to live to 100 if you live like that? It's just. It looks like he needs a big feed of steak. I mean, how old is he? He looks. He looks ancient.
- [59:13]
B
No, I think he's. He's in his 50s and he's trying. Yeah. And he's. He's got a son who I think is in his 20s and he's trying to kind of like, get himself closer to his son, but see that. Drink his blood, you. Yeah, he does. There's some sort of a blood situation. Spending. You're Right. Like if you're. If you're gonna be kind of living but not living. He stops eating at 11:30 in the morning and it'd be fun to go to dinner with. Yeah. So it's kind of like, are you living, though, even if you are living to be over a hundred? I don't know. You gotta have a balance, and that's kind of everything in life, I think. Right? You have to have a balance for sure.
- [59:51]
A
And you certainly do. You are incredibly fit and athletic. How much. How often do you go to the gym? I mean, how many hours do you spend there?
- [60:01]
B
Well, it depends on the day. Obviously. I try to do something every day and sometimes it's like, not a crazy workout. Sometimes I'll go for a quick run or I'll go for a bike ride, but if I can, I love to go to a CrossFit class. I love to do Pilates. I, you know, I have different things when I have the time for them that I do. But, you know, I also like to take early flights so that I can come back home in time to put my kids in bed at night. So sometimes the mornings are very early and I'm not doing maybe the best workout, but I'm getting my body moving, I'm breaking a sweat. And I think that it's just the consistency. Obviously it's physical for me, but a lot of it as well is mental because that could be, and usually is the only time in my day where I'm just doing something for me, where I'm kind of alone with my thoughts, where everyone is leaving me alone. I'm not checking my phone. It's just for me. So if it's 30 minutes an hour a day. That's, that's what I dedicate and give to myself so that I'm in the right frame of mind to go out and do whatever I need to do, work wise, to go and be a great mom. And, you know, you have to make, I think, that time for yourself, dedicate that to yourself. At least that's been what's worked for me in order to kind of be the best version of yourself you possibly can.
- [61:22]
A
So what would you have, you know, if you were just going to give general exercise and diet tips to the rest of us who aren't in as good shape as you are? What, what are the top things you would say?
- [61:35]
B
Well, I would say that I think people underestimate weightlifting. I think it's one of the most important things you can possibly do. There's this notion, especially for women, that, oh, you're gonna bulk up. Unless you're literally taking steroids, you are not going to bulk up as a woman. You don't have the physiology and the, the general makeup of your body to do that. But the older we get, the more important muscle mass becomes because, you know, you get older, your, your bones can weaken. You need that muscle to protect them. And you know, women, we get older, we still want to look good. It doesn't look good to have saggy skin. You got to fill it out with a little bit of muscle. But my advice, generally speaking is I would say just start small. If you, if, if it's just going out and walking. Walking can be a great workout. Move your body. Park a little farther away from the store. Take the stairs instead of the escalator. You know, I travel weekly, Miranda, and anyone who travels with me knows I am not. It doesn't matter how much I'm bringing, suitcase wise, I'm taking the stairs. I'm not taking escalators anywhere. And everybody probably hates me for it who's traveling with me, but they actually will end up thanking me. Just try to move your body and do something every single day or any opportunity you have. And a little bit goes a long way. And then in terms of eating, I mean, I'm so excited about our, our new nutrition guidelines and the food pyramid. Yeah. I give so much credit to Bobby Kennedy and what he's been able to do. Cali means Mike Tyson is now in on it as well. But, you know, you want to think about what am I eating and is it something I could take out of the ground or I could literally like comes directly from an animal. And if you have to get it out of a package, maybe think twice about it. You need to be eating whole foods as often as you possibly can. And that's what our body was designed to eat. And I think that's what makes it run the best. It makes it feel the best.
- [63:30]
A
Everyone talks about Trump 2028, and everyone thinks, oh, well, that's Donald Trump. You know, everyone wants him to run another term, but he's ruled that out pretty much quite reluctantly, I think. But I always wonder, and I asked your husband about this, if it's another Trump that's being talked about, is it Eric Trump, Is it Don Trump Jr. Or is it you? Is it Lara Trump? Maybe not in 2028, but is that in your bingo card?
- [64:03]
B
You know what's so funny is that I have now considered running for Senate twice. You know, I considered, in the, during the midterms in 2022, running in my home state of North Carolina. And I ultimately ruled that out because we moved to Florida with our family. And then I thought about potentially here in Florida, Marco Rubio had a Senate seat that he vacated. And I thought seriously about, you know, trying to fill that seat. And I have looked at my father in law over the past 11, almost 12 years now, and I've watched the impact that he's been able to make in people's lives. And it's amazing. Look, he's dealt with hell, right? He has gone through so much that most people, one of the things that he's had to deal with, and he's dealt with thousands of them, would have been enough to take down one person. So he's incredible. But I've also seen the good that can be done. And, and so it's really inspired me and I think it's inspired everyone in our family. So much so that I've considered running for a possible Senate seat. So I would never say never to anything. What I do feel like, and whether it's for Donald Trump running, who thought about running for president for a long time before he actually did, or a Senate run or whatever it might be for me, or I think anyone in our family, I think the timing has to be right. And it didn't work out for me in 2022, it didn't work out for me in 2025. Just the timing had to be right with my family. My kids, as you said, are 6 and 8. I do think if the time is right, you know, I would consider something. And I don't, I don't know what that would be and what opportunities might lie ahead for me. But, you know, I would say that at this point, we've all kind of dipped our toe in the water of politics enough to know that it's something I think that possibly interests many of us in our family. And I know the Democrats will love to hear that, that it may not end just with Donald Trump, but I do think the timing has to be right for all of us.
- [66:06]
A
What does Donald Trump say about that? You know, does he encourage you to run for office? Does, does he encourage Eric or Don?
- [66:14]
B
I don't think I had a bigger champion in running for a Senate seat than my father in law. In fact, so much so that he would call me multiple times a week with multiple people from different backgrounds to say, this person thinks you'd be great, you gotta do it. So he is absolutely a champion of, of mine, of, I'm sure any, any of the kids. He certainly would have their backs on it. But yeah, I think he's, you know, he's gonna cheer for all of us or any of us if, if the time came for whatever that might be.
- [66:47]
A
So we may see President Trump of the new generation, but which one it is is still to be filled out. Maybe all three.
- [66:55]
B
Oh, they would love that, Miranda. Yeah, absolutely.
- [66:59]
A
Just make the juice absolutely wild. You've been very generous with your time. Just one more question. You've met lots of successful people. You've interviewed them. You're in a successful family and you are successful. Successful. What if you had to distill it down to one thing? What is the secret of success?
- [67:21]
B
I think perseverance. I mean, you know, I, I look at my father in law and like I said there any one of the things that he had against him, especially in the four years in between terms, would have been enough for one person to say, you know what, that's it. I'm, I'm out of this. I'm never going to do it again. But he never gave up. He continued to fight for what he wanted, but what he, I think knew was right to do.
- [67:50]
A
Did you ever see him despair?
- [67:52]
B
I mean, I kind of think we all were in, in a place of despair, leaving the White house in, in 2021. You know, when we got on the plane to fly down to Palm beach for the last time, we got on Air Force One for the last time of that term, it was very somber. I mean, it was, it was an incredibly tough time for all of us, and I think it was an incredibly tough time for him. But what's amazing is that we flew down to Palm beach. No one really had a lot to say. He told all of us that he wanted to have dinner that night and none of us really knew how that would go. And the first thing he did before he even sat down at the dinner table is he looked around at all of us and he goes, well, kids, I got to do it again. And I said, oh my God, this, this has been one of the craziest past couple months. You know, you had all the nonsense with January 6, people insinuating were these horrible monsters, the torture after the election in 2020 that we all had to endure as a country, like all of it. And he went through all of it and left Washington, D.C. and hours later knew he was going to do it again. And you know, to see a fight in somebody like that, it's very inspiring. And I also think back to a commencement speech. I don't even, I don't remember where it was, but that my father in law gave many, many years ago. And he talked about never giving up. And he said, I've seen people the greatest in their industry striving for something and coming just close to it and deciding to give up. You can never, ever, ever give up. And I think that that's, that's the key. You know, if, if you're willing to work harder and you're willing to fight more than anyone else for something, you're going to be victorious. And Donald Trump is certainly the, the picture of that to a T. There's no doubt about it. So I think whatever it is in life, go after it, go hard, fight for it, work hard. And that's the beauty of this country. You know, you're only limited by your imagination and how hard you're willing to work to get to whatever it is you imagine doing. And I would say perseverance is the key. Never give up.
- [70:10]
A
Great advice. Lara Trump, thanks so much for coming on Pod Force One.
- [70:14]
B
Oh, thank you so much. It's been an honor.
- [70:18]
A
Thanks so much for tuning in to Pod Force One. Let us know what you thought of this week's show in the comments below. And don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss future episodes.