What REALLY Happened Behind the Scenes: Lara Trump Exclusive

➡ The text is a conversation between Michael Franzese and Lara Trump, President Trump’s daughter-in-law. They discuss President Trump’s financial losses during his presidency, his dedication to the country, and his family’s admirable composure during challenging times. They also touch on Lara’s role in the campaign and her personal experiences with the Trump family. The conversation is not solely about politics, but also about family life and personal experiences.
➡ The text discusses a person’s relief and vindication after a family member’s victory, and their fear of what could have happened if they had lost. It also warns about a scam where criminals can steal your home by forging documents and transferring your home title without your knowledge. The text recommends a service called Home Title Lock to protect against this. It also shares the speaker’s admiration for a large, close-knit family and their surprise at marrying into the Trump family, praising their down-to-earth nature and ability to connect with people from all walks of life.
➡ A woman recounts her relationship journey with a man who turned out to be part of the Trump family. She was initially unsure about him, especially when he misspelled her name, but their first date went well. She met her future father-in-law, Donald Trump, unexpectedly at a tennis match, which made her nervous. They dated for six and a half years before getting married, during which she asked him not to hurt her. The story also touches on a tragic event where a young man died from a drug overdose, highlighting the fentanyl crisis in the country.
➡ The speaker expresses gratitude for the efforts of an unnamed individual, likely a political figure, who has faced criticism for doing what they believe is right for the country. The speaker believes that the past four years have been a necessary period of awakening for many people, and that the individual’s time away from the White House was crucial for them to plan their return. The speaker also discusses the family’s initial reaction to this individual’s decision to run for president, highlighting their lack of political experience and the challenges they faced. Despite these challenges, the speaker believes that their journey has brought the family closer together and that their actions were part of a divine plan.
➡ The text discusses the motivations and experiences of a man who ran for president, emphasizing his dedication to the country and his resilience in the face of adversity. Despite losing money and facing threats, he remained committed to his cause. The text also touches on the importance of strong male figures and the value of hard work, as seen in the man’s family.
➡ Eric and I met a long time ago and it took us months to go on our first date due to our busy schedules. We respect each other’s hard work and roles as parents. Balancing family life and career is tough, but we make it a priority to have a date night once a week. We also strive to be present for our kids’ activities. Despite the challenges, we believe that struggles make us stronger, just like how the best tasting grapes come from plants that struggle a bit.
➡ The speaker had an enjoyable conversation with a woman named Lara, who he greatly admires for her intelligence and balance of career and family life. He challenges Mark Cuban’s statement about Donald Trump not surrounding himself with intelligent women, using Lara as an example. The speaker hopes to meet up with Lara and her husband Eric in the future, and ends by wishing everyone safety, health, and blessings.

He was losing from the day he decided to run for president, millions and millions of dollars. So anyone anywhere who assumes that there was some, like, get rich quick scheme some, you know, way that he was going to enrich himself even further, it’s complete trash. It’s complete garbage. Donald Trump has lost so much of his net worth running for president. He’s the only person to come out of the White House with less money than he went into the White House with. He’s never taken anybody who’s, who’s trying to claim there was any motivation other than feeling like he owed it to this country because his country had been so great to him.

Unfortunately for them, they are very wrong. After that moment, he called us all from the hospital in Butler and he was honestly in such good spirits. The only thing he was concerned about, to tell you the truth, was what was happening with the other people who had been shot. And he made a decision, literally on the phone with us that night that he was going to go several days early to the Republican National Convention. Butler happened on a Saturday, and he said, I’m going tomorrow. I’m getting on the plane tomorrow, I’m flying to Butler. It wasn’t even like we had time to say, wait, we think you.

No. He was like, we have to stand so strong right now. He knew that that was the moment that was going to define it all. And I feel like it did. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another sit down with Michael Franzese. Hope everybody is doing well. All is very good, very blessed on this end. As always, my friends, I give all the praise, honor, glory and thanksgiving to our God for that. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Lara Trump. And I’m sure many of you know that is President Trump’s daughter in law.

She’s married to Eric Trump, one of Donald’s sons. And it was really a great time. She’s a terrific lady. We had a great conversation, A little politics, a little bit life, you know, experiences and so on and so forth, but it was really a great conversation. I suggest you tune in and look at her platform and look at that day that we spoke. And then she agreed to come on my platform. And we had a very, very good conversation. And, you know, it wasn’t really all about politics. I was interested in other things. You know, I try to judge people quite often by looking at their families and see how they’ve raised their families.

And you have to say this, Donald Trump’s family is really admirable. I mean, you know, from what I see of them. Every time I’ve seen them in different interviews, when I see them on the stage, you know, one of the things that got me, I have to say this, the night that of the election, on November 5, November 4, November 5, when Trump was elected, the whole family came out on stage and they weren’t jumping up and down, they weren’t cheering, they were not doing anything like that. They just came out on stage very dignified, very kind of matter of fact.

Obviously, they were excited that, you know, Donald Trump had won the presidency, but they just, they had great composure. And I was very impressed by that. So was my wife. We were watching. I said, wow, look at this family. After all they’ve been through, whether you like them, you don’t like them. It’s a grueling, grueling job to be on a campaign. The four years that Trump went through with all of the indictments and all, everything that he went through, whether you like him or not, you have to admit it was a rough, rough deal for him and the family.

You know, the assassination attempt, everything like that. But they came out just very businesslike, very matter of fact, and it was impressive to me. And Lara Trump, I think, had a tremendous job during the campaign. I mean, she had to, you know, make sure that, you know, the votes were counted properly. She had to make sure there was no issues going on at any of the polling places. And she did a wonderful job. Again, like, the family dislike the family, you have to be honest about it. So I’ve been very impressed with her all along, and I had a great sit down with her on her platform, brought her on mine now, and we’re going to have a great conversation, I’m sure.

So I’m excited about it. It’s not going to be all politics. I want to ask some personal questions. You know, how was it when you first met Donald Trump? Because remember this, before he became president, he was a big deal, you know, the Apprentice, big developer in New York. He was known all around the world. So all of a sudden, wow, there you are, you’re meeting Donald Trump, you know, you know, how did it feel dating his son? You know, what was the experience like, you know, raising your family? You’re a career woman. How do you do both? You know, very, very difficult.

And obviously, like I said, you know, she’s done a great job. So we’re going to talk about those things, so I hope you enjoy it. With no further delay, my very special guest, Lara Trump. Lara, I am so excited to have you on. We had a Great, Great interview. I thought last week on your platform, I saw some of the comments. People really enjoyed it. So I’m really excited to talk with you today. Oh, thank you. Yeah, you were awesome. Loved having you and I’m excited to be on with you. You know, it’s not, it’s funny because I feel like these days I’m the one interviewing so many people, Michael, so I’m, I’m happy.

Lay it on me. What do we got? Well, you know, I want to kind of stay away from a lot of the political stuff. And I want to ask if, you know, without getting too personal, just more about your family life. And one thing that I have to ask right up front, my wife also gave me some questions. Oh, I love it. Yeah. The night that you won the Trump won the election, your father in law, you all came out, the whole family came out on the stage and you were all so calm and so businesslike and so just ready to go.

There was not, whatever excitement you had, you held it in and you just carried yourself so well, the entire family. And I was sitting there, my wife and I, and I said, listen, after what this man went through and this family went through, to come out there just like this, like, okay, I’m ready to work with business, we’re ready to go. It was just fascinating. It, it really was. And what, what was the mood like? Yeah, it’s so funny you say that, because I, I actually haven’t heard anyone else say that. You know, for me personally, there was so much invested in this election.

I mean, obviously I was the RNC co chair throughout the duration of the campaign. And that’s a position, Michael, that I, I was not so sure I wanted. I was very hesitant to take that role because I knew the gravity of this election. I knew, you know, ultimately what it would mean if we won and what it would mean if we lost. And to be in a position like that, you know, if, if you, if things don’t go right, then people will forever remember. Lara Trump was the co chair of the rnc and things went wrong.

So I had worked so hard with Michael Whatley. He was the RNC chairman. And personally, you know, directly for me, there was a lot invested, but obviously for our whole family. And, you know, you just kind of alluded to what my father in law especially had been through over the course of, I’m going to say the previous two years, but honestly, really, the past eight years. And so when I came out, first of all, when I, when I knew for sure that he had Won. It was almost one of those things where I had conditioned myself to not get overly excited about anything.

Like you almost want to take out any of the anxiety of it. And I was just like, I was trying to be calm and it almost didn’t feel real to me because honestly, you look back to January of 2021, when he left office, when, I mean, it felt so bad. It was, I mean the low there was very, very low for those of us in our family. I think in a lot of ways I was almost kind of numb on election night. And it didn’t really hit me until honestly like a week later. But look, that’s, that’s how we all are.

We’re not the people who are going to, you know, slam dunk on a two year old or any of that kind of crazy stuff. You know, we’re good people and we’re solid people and you can judge us based on what we’ve actually done. Not all the trash that gets written, of course, about all of us. But I, I think it was that honestly the overall feeling was vindication and, and truly relief because, you know, I wonder where this country would go, um, if my father in law hadn’t won. But I also wonder what they would have gone on to do to him and probably all of us.

And it’s a scary thing to think about. Um, and I know you, you spent some time, you know, behind bars and doing, you know, in places that probably aren’t pleasant. I imagine they probably would have worked until they found a way to lock him up somewhere. So sense of vindication, sense of relief, but you know, we’re never going to be the people who do the crazy like in zone celebrations or any of that. That, that’s never part of our. My friends, did you know that there are scammers out there that can literally steal your home right out from under you? That’s right.

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I’m one of seven, right? My wife, her father was one of. Her father was one of 23 kids and every one of his brothers and sisters had seven, eight, nine, ten kids. So I have a huge, huge family. And then I’m one of seven. My wife’s one of seven. I have seven. I’ve got seven grandchildren. So family is everything with us. And you’re on the Elon plan. Yes. Except we’re married. That’s a difference. But, you know, you always. I always judge people by the way their family reacts to them and the way their family carries themselves.

And that night on the stage, I myself was very proud of the family. And I said, if people would only look at this man and look at his family and understand, no matter what you might say about him in business, and he does these tweets and all of that, he has been able to put a beautiful family together and hold it together, you know, and it really says a lot. And that spoke a lot to me, and I think it did to a lot of people that night. Really. Well, that’s. That’s so nice. You know, I know he’s not a popular figure, but our former Vice president Mike Pence, in his convention speech in 26.

Yeah, 2016, I guess it was, said, you can judge a tree by the fruit it bears, which is, you know, straight out of the Bible. And he said, I will tell you, Donald Trump has raised some of the greatest people I have ever met in his children. And it really is true. And, you know, for me personally, I am not blood related to President Trump. Right. This is my father in law. I married into this family and I grew up probably like a lot of people in this country did. I had, I have a very kind of normal American background.

I don’t want to get all Kamala Harris on everybody, but I did grow up in a middle class family, um, and my parents were small business owners. I went to public school my whole life. And the idea that one day I would have the last name Trump was just like that. That was never in the cards for me. As far as I knew, the bingo card did not have that filled out. But when I first met my husband, he was so different than what I anticipated someone with the last name Trump would be. In fact, I didn’t know that his last name was Trump until, you know, several hours after we met and had been hanging out a while.

And I was like, oh, well, he was actually nice and like down to earth and seemed relatively normal because in my mind, you know, you expect a certain way of people whenever they have a famous last name. But it wasn’t just my husband, it was the entire family. And I would take that all the way up to my father in law because, you know, for the things he’s done in his life for, you know, the Apprentice, the changing the skyline of New York City, now, obviously being President of the United States twice, this is a man who can connect with anyone, Michael.

And I think that’s One of the really cool things about him, if you go back in Donald Trump’s history and you go back to when he was building, like, Trump Tower, for example, which, by the way, he had a woman in charge of building Trump Tower, just going to throw that out when that was not a popular thing to do. He wouldn’t go straight to the building manager, the person who was in charge of the entire group there. He would go to the one guy all the way on the other side, you know, with a nail gun, and say, what do you think’s going on? How do you think this, this job is going? He.

He’s always gone to, you know, the, the wait staff or the janitorial staff or the housekeeping crew at any of the hotels or properties and talk to them before he talks to the general manager. Because those are the people who really see day to day what goes on. Those are the people who are going to give you the real lowdown on what’s happening. But he’s able to connect with anyone, and that was immediately apparent to me when I first met him. So I love that you saw that, and I love that. I hope other people have seen that and feel that about this man.

Donald Trump doesn’t care, you know, what your job title is. He doesn’t care how much money you have in the bank. He cares about finding out what you think about a certain topic or getting your opinion on things. Because he loves to take opinions from all different kinds of people and oftentimes the people who least expect it. Well, he generally seems to like people and like to be around people. I mean, that’s obvious. You know, if you don’t look at him with any bias, you can see that in him, you know, very clearly. Let me ask you this.

How did you meet your husband, and did you have any anxiety in knowing you were going to meet Donald Trump? Oh, well, yeah. So I met my husband out. It’s like the least romantic story ever. But we were both out one night downtown in New York City, meatpacking district, you know, out of the club, to be honest. And I. I was with some friends, and he was with some friends, and I didn’t know anything about anything, but I knew that the guy who was, you know, with this group was taller than I was, and I was wearing heels, and I’m a tall drink of water.

I’m 5 11. So I was like, oh, well, I don’t know, this could kind of work out. Let’s see what’s happening. And we talked, you know, like the whole Rest of the night. And he got my number. And this is back in the day before smartphones existed. I mean, there it was, the beginning of smartphones. I had a Razer phone, I think he had a Black Barry. And the next day he texted me, this is, this is the, the way the famous story goes. He texted me and he spelled my name LA U R A in the text.

And I was like, I don’t know about this guy. You know, I gave him my name. Lay R A. Yeah, maybe this isn’t going to work out. Maybe this isn’t so good. And then we went out on our first date and we did not order a single item of food for four hours because we were so engrossed in conversation. And yeah, I didn’t know I was meeting my father in law, my future father in law, the first time I met him. You know, my husband did not advertise that this was part of the, the trip. We went out to the US Open in Queens and you know, we’re going to watch a little tennis and we show up there and sure enough, the door opens and there’s Donald Trump.

And I was like, oh my God, you didn’t tell me your dad was going to be here. Like, of course I immediately am like panicking. But in retrospect it was probably good because I didn’t have a lot of time to get myself worked up. It was just like, there he is and we gotta talk. And I almost, as soon as I started talking to him, I was like, oh, he’s like an easy person to talk to. And it felt very good and very normal and. But yeah, if I’m being really honest, of course I was nervous about meeting him.

Of course I was nervous about meeting Melania, Ivanka. I don’t know if I knew 100% that Don existed. Don Jr. My brother in law. But yeah, it’s nerve wracking. Anytime Michael, you meet who could be your future in laws, their last name is Trump. Like, that’s another level, you know. Sure. And when, you know, you get married, obviously. How, how long were you courting one another or was he courting you before you got married? Quite some time. He really took his sweet time with this deal. Had to make really sure. We were together for six and a half years before we got married.

Yeah, we got engaged about five years in, but. And then of course had to plan a wedding and all the things. But yeah, friends of mine were like, is this gonna happen? Like, is this guy just kind of dragging you along? And I said, you Know what? And I only said it one time to him. I think you. Look, if you really have a good relationship with someone, there’s an element of trust, right. That exists. And I said one time to him ever. I was like, just do me a favor. Don’t do me wrong. Like, don’t.

Don’t screw me over here. And he was like, yeah, no, I won’t. And I trusted him. I was like, you know, I just said it one time. I’m going to leave the rest up to him. And if he’s a good person, then, you know, one day, I guess this will be part of the plan. And indeed, here we are. Yeah. It’s funny because my youngest daughter got engaged, and she was with her future husband, her fiance, for about four months, you know, and he came on a trip. We took him on a trip to Italy. He wanted to come, and.

And then he said on me that I want to get engaged to your daughter. So I said, well, you know, her four months. And I said, and, you know, she’s my daughter. I said, so you’re not messing around, right? And so I. Yeah, I saw. My daughter was really. She really liked. We had a little bit of a tragedy, you know, in our home. She was. She was in love with a guy about three and a half years ago. They were about to get engaged. And. And Lara, he took an Adderall. He was my video guy.

He used to do all the video. He took an Adderall. He was staying at my house, and it was laced with fentanyl. And he. Yeah. And within five minutes, he. He died in my. In the bathroom of my home. And it was. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. Yeah. I was in Chicago on a speaking engagement, and I’m driving in the car, we’re heading to the airport, and all of a sudden I have ring, you know, on my phone, you can see the video. Who’s at your door? And I see police going in out of my door.

And I shit on the. I got so scared. I said, what happened in my house? Turns out he collapsed, died on the floor. The paramedics came, so she had a very traumatic three years. I mean, it really, really vulgar. My God, there’s literally. There’s like. There’s no one who hasn’t been touched by the fentanyl crisis in our country. I am so sorry. That is. That’s such a tragedy for your entire family, especially for your daughter, for. For, you know, the boyfriend’s family. Oh, my God. That’s awful. I’m so sorry. Yeah. It was tough. And he was a young 24 years old, an athlete, you know, in good shape and all of that.

So that’s one of the reasons without getting into politics right now, I am so thrilled that your father in law has shut down this border and is really going after this because I’ve heard so many stories, tragic stories about this, so many too many. Oh my God. God, it’s absolutely horrible. So for three years we went, really went through it, I mean therapy. And this girl was up and down and up and down. So she meets this guy, he’s a good Christian guy and you know, she’s falling in love. So he was a, he was in the minor leagues, he was a baseball player.

And then he didn’t go the distance, but he was in the system for five years. So he comes to me, I really liked him, but I said, hey, don’t mess around. My daughter’s been through it, I’m telling you right now. I said, I’ll let you get engaged. I said, but you can’t get married for at least a year. I want you guys to really get to know each other and all that. So he agreed to that. And we have their engagement party this Friday night and the next year they’re going to get married Italy. So it worked out amazing.

That’s amazing. What a happy. Oh, that’s, you know what? Good for her. That’s exactly what she deserves. That’s fantastic news. Happy to hear that. And by the way, she’s a big fan of yours. She watches. She was very excited. That’s so nice. Tell her thank you. Oh yeah. She said that’s a strong woman, dad. That’s who we have to. Women like have to be like Larry Trump. And I said great. Because I, I kept saying throughout the campaign, I kept saying she’s got the most important job in the whole campaign, I’m telling you. And I kept saying that.

I says if, if Larry can do her job and we can make sure these polls are correct this time we’re gonna win. And as a team, it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy. They, I, man, we had to, we had a lot to do in a very short amount of time. But you’re right, that, which is, that’s exactly why I was so hesitant. I told my father in law no initially when he called and first was like, I think you should run for co chair of the rnc. I was like, are you crazy? Absolutely not. As I knew but thank God.

And you know what? We had a great team of people at the rnc, I think people learned a lot of hard lessons unfortunately in 2020. And we were, they weren’t messing around on my watch, I could tell you that much. So we got it done. Thank God. You know, and I want to tell you this. I really believe after the events that happened in the last four years, I believe it was almost meant to be for your father in law to lose that election and really get an understanding of what was going on and come back with the determination that he has now to really straighten this country out.

Because, Lara, if your father in law had lost, we were finished. There’s no question about it. We were done. The things he’s doing now too, the things for which he’s of course most criticized, are incredibly necessary to sustain this country. You know, the, the fact that they’re continuing to attack Elon Musk for Doge and I mean, the way they’re going after that guy Tell probably tells you all you need to know that he’s doing exactly what he needs to be doing for this country. The way they’re going about the same way they’ve attacked my father in law.

But, you know, those are the things you get criticized for. Doing the right thing sometimes isn’t easy, but it’s, it’s necessary. And you know what? I’m just incredibly grateful for everything that they’re doing. I, this country would not have survived. And I love what you said about not winning in 2020, because throughout the course of the past four years, look, like I said, there were some really, really awful times. There were some very low lows for our entire family. And I continued to tell my father in law exactly that. I always said God’s timing is not our timing.

And sometimes things don’t happen the exact way we want it to happen. We just have to trust that he’s got a plan. And I believe that this was the plan from the beginning. There had to be people who were awakened to truly what was going on in this country. And if you didn’t see it the past four years, I don’t know if you ever see it, but a lot of people did see it. And for Donald Trump himself, as you just noted, for him to kind of resettle himself, figure out a plan, figure out exactly how he was going to operate when he got back in that White House.

He had to have the four years off, eight consecutive years of him as president, we would never have gotten already the things that he’s achieved in the first, you know, 50 some days. I don’t know that we would have even gotten that. So it’s, it’s amazing the way things work out. And you know what? If you were not someone who believes in God, I don’t know how you came out of the past year, really, after seeing what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania. You know, by all accounts, this, you know, my father in law shouldn’t be here today, but he’s here.

The timing of everything with that election that I just. All of it, you have to believe that there is a higher power and that, you know, he’s in charge of, of everything. And we just have to be patient sometimes and wait for, For God. No. And you said it. God’s timing is not always our timing. But I. I’ll tell you, I think it was necessary because these people on the left have gone so far, they’ve lost their minds. It’s a cult. It’s not even a. You can’t even call it a party anymore. These people, any rational person looking at them says they’ve lost their mind.

To me, it’s demonic. A lot of it is. It’s demonic. These people have absolutely lost their minds. And they’re going so far off the deep end that normal people, and I think there are more normal people in this country than their radical group are seeing it. And I think it worked out just according to the plan. I got to ask you this. When, when he first started to talk about running for president, what did the family think about it? You mean the first time? Yeah, the first time when he said, you know, I’m going to throw my hat in the ring.

What was the. How did the family react to that? You know, we were. I don’t know that any of us, if I’m being totally honest, thought that, that it would get as far as. I mean, I think we thought that he was serious about it, but I don’t know that any of us had enough experience. Experience to really appreciate what that would mean. And he sat us all down a couple days before the famous escalator ride when he announced he was running for president in 2015. He announced, and he sat us all down. He talked to all of us about it.

And he was like, you listen, I’m very serious about this. I wanted to do this, but I think, you know, we all have to talk about this as a family sort of thing, because they’re not. It’s not just going to be me. It’s. It’s our entire family. And if I do this the right way and I do the things that need to be done and say the things that need to be said, it’s not going to be easy. We’re going to find out who our true friends are. And I want you guys to understand, like, what we’re getting into.

But I think we were all like, oh, how bad could it possibly get? Like, what could they actually do? Little did we know, but we were all incredibly supportive, of course. And I think I remember, I’m trying to remember exactly the percentage chance that Jared, my brother in law, gave him. But Jared was, you know, it was optimistic and he was like, listen, listen, people love you. I think you’re gonna do great. But, you know, keeping in mind he’d never been in politics before. None of us had ever gotten involved in politics before. And in the beginning, that was like kind of it, it was kind of our family and a handful of people who’d done anything political.

So it’s kind of miraculous in so many ways. And I think it just speaks to the fact that the country was ready for some change. The country was ready to stop with all the PC nonsense. The political correctness was killing us. People were sick of it. No one was talking about the real dangers to America, like China, like our southern border. Donald Trump brought both of those issues up in his announcement speech in 2015, and of course was attacked for it. But we were all just like, yeah, we’re on board for whatever. And we’ve operated like that from that moment all the way up until now.

You know, it’s funny because I feel like the, the stress of a presidential campaign, which we’ve all gone through three times now, and the spotlight being on on you and in such an intense way, and you’re scrutinized every possible way it could, either I feel like, break a family apart or make a family closer. And I think it’s made all of us so much closer because, man, when you’re in the trenches with people, those are the only people sometimes you really can trust to have your back. And I think that’s, that’s why our family has remained very close and supportive of one another.

And yeah, I think if you would have told any of us that day, we would be sitting here and things would have manifested in the way they have. I don’t know that any of us would have believed it. But again, it wasn’t our plan. It’s God’s plan. That’s right. And did he ever sit down in those initial talks and tell you what his motivation was to become president, why he wanted to do it? He, he never got super specific, but I think we all knew that there were. There were certain things that were making him crazy, like I just talked about with China.

You know, as a businessman, he would. He would complain about some of these things. And one of the things I very vividly remember him being upset about was the government waste, the wasteful spending, which obviously we’re addressing now. He was so inundated his first term, I don’t think he could address it the way he would have liked to. But if you recall, there was some sort of a government experiment where a shrimp was, like, running on a treadmill, and it cost the American taxpayers some exorbitant amount of money. And I remember him talking about that and being like, why? What is this doing for the United States? Why are we wasting our money on this? You know, our companies are leaving, manufacturing is dead in America, and people aren’t inspired anymore to do anything here.

They’re all going overseas. We’ve got to get this country back in order. And he would continue, you know, dinners or any. Anytime we were with him to kind of like, say these little pieces of things, and you put them all together. And I think you also go back to an Oprah Winfrey interview with him, and I think, like the 1980s, and she very famously asked him then, would you ever run for president? And he said, I don’t think so, but if things got so bad, then I feel like I would have no other choice. And I think we were there for him in 2015.

All these things kind of culminated together. He felt like this country wasn’t the same country he grew up in that allowed him to become the. The, you know, business mogul and the household name that he became. And I think there was just a level of frustration that no one was willing to step up to the plate and actually do the job necessary, that everyone was bought out. Everyone was, you know, you know, scratching each other’s backs in Washington, D.C. and if you remember as well, he did not take a single donation for his campaign until he became the Republican nominee because he said, I don’t want any special interest groups.

I don’t want any money from anybody other than if I become the nominee, because I’m not going to be beholden to anyone but the American people. And so I think overall, it was just a general frustration and feeling like, who else was going to do this job? He was there in 2015. Well, you know, I’m so happy you said that, because that’s what I assumed. And I want people listening to this to understand that he was motivated from day one to straighten the country out. It wasn’t egotistical, it wasn’t narcissistic about it. He was a self made billionaire at that point.

But he really felt that this country needed a reset. And obviously he was right, you know, so I want people to really understand that, you know, and I’m glad you’re buying away from just, just to piggyback off of that. If you also remember one of the first things that happened the day or in the days after he announced he was running for president, the, the first time he lost so many of these big contracts like Macy’s, canceled his like tie collection. There were all these people who were just cancel, cancel, cancel. He was losing from the day he decided to run for president, millions and millions of dollars.

So anyone anywhere who assumes that there was some, like, get rich quick scheme some, you know, way that he was going to enrich himself even further, that it’s complete trash, it’s complete garbage. Donald Trump has lost so much of his net worth running for president. He’s the only person to come out of the White House with less money than he went into the White House with. He’s never taken a salary. And anybody who’s, who’s trying to claim there was any motivation other than feeling like he owed it to this country because his country had been so great to him, unfortunately for them, they are very wrong.

That was his only motivation. Well, I’m so glad you said that, and I hope people understand that. I felt that from day one with him. Let me ask you this. After the first assassination attempt, and which was extremely, I’m telling you, that was, that was God’s hand on him, without a doubt that day. What was the family thinking at that point? Did anybody want him to maybe quit and say, all right, enough, you know, this is getting too dangerous. What was the general feeling within the family? I mean, if I’m being really honest, I think we kind of expected something like that to happen.

You know, things had just kind of reached a fever pitch and there was so, there were so many people just seeming to attack him. And, you know, this is in the midst of all the lawfare with, you know, you had Letitia James in New York, you had Alvin Bragg in New York, you had Fanny Willis in Georgia, you had Jack Smith. Smith, like all those things were happening. And it felt like he was just being squeezed so tight from every different angle. And you kind of wonder, and we talked about it, I mean, Eric and I talked about it like, well, what’s next? What can what can possibly happen next that they’re going to throw at this guy? And I think we kind of settled on somebody’s going to try to do something really awful to him.

And it happened. And none of us ever said to him, we want you to quit or we think you should quit. That was a hundred percent his decision. I’ll tell you, I was so shocked by just him in general, the way he responded to this, because some people, you can’t fake something like that. You can’t fake your response in a moment like that. And you saw who this man was. You saw him get up, fists in the air, fight, fight, fight. Not for him. That was for us. That was to make sure that this country knew that he wasn’t going to back down, that all the people there at Butler knew he was okay, that the people watching on TV knew he was okay, that our adversaries out there knew that he was okay.

I mean, imagine what that would have done to this country if that. That shot had been, you know, on target. But I think for us, you know, we left it up to him. And after talking with him for the first time after that moment, he called us all from the hospital and in Butler, and he was honestly in. In such good spirits. The only thing he was concerned about to. To tell you the truth, was what was happening with the other people who had been shot. He knew other people had been hit, and he was very concerned with finding out their status.

And he made a decision, literally on the phone with us that night that he was going to go several days early to the Republican National Convention, because that was the next week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I don’t think he was scheduled to be there until maybe Wednesday. He spoke on Thursday and that Butler happened on a Saturday. And he said, I’m going tomorrow. I’m getting on the plane tomorrow. I’m flying to Butler. And so it wasn’t even like we had time to say, wait, we think no. He was like, we have to stand so strong right now.

This is the moment. Like, he knew that that was the moment that was going to define it all. And I feel like it did. And we always continue to worry about him. Then, of course, you had the second attempt, the guy in the bushes at the golf course in Palm Beach. And to hear that that had happened again was just, you know, your stomach drops and it’s just like you can’t even breathe. But thank God, you know, there was a great Secret Service agent who spotted that guy. But, you know, this has always been. Always been up to him, and we’ve been there to support whatever he wants to do.

And I knew he was going to run for president again the day he left office in 2021. I mean, he, he was not done with his, with what he came to Washington to, to do. Far from it. He did a lot of good the first time he was there. Historic changes, historic peace agreements, you know, closed border, all the things, no new wars. But he, he, he didn’t scratch the surface, surface truly of, I think, what his potential will ultimately be as president. And so, yeah, we said, okay, if you’re, if you’re ready to go, if you feel like you’re, you’re back in it, then we’re right there by your side.

Well, I’ll tell you, when you look back at everything that he’s gone through and, and I don’t think there’s, there’s another story like that. And I really mean that. You know, I got so much respect for him that day. I mean, I always respected him. But when he got up in that fight, fight, fight, that was a, of the campaign, I believe, without a doubt. I want to ask you this, Lara. I ask a lot of women this. You’re obviously a very strong, intelligent, independent woman, and you’re surrounded by very strong men, your husband included. What is your, what is it that you look for in a man? What are the qualities that you look for in your husband, in any man? Because, you know, we’re going through this period, hopefully it’s changing a bit now where men have been feminized, I would say, in a way and downgraded in a way.

And, you know, I like always like to get the opinion of a strong woman because a lot of people think when a woman, when a man is acting like a man, it’s demeaning to women. And I keep saying, no, it’s the opposite. When a man acts like a man and has the characteristics of a man, it’s actually benefiting women. And I want to know what your thoughts are on that. Well, I agree with, with that 100%. And that’s how I’m, you know, Eric and I are raising our son. I want him to, to be a strong man and to be proud, by the way, that, to, to be a man.

And I feel like that is, that’s lacking in America right now. You know, we have, we have done so much damage to a generation and probably more, but hopefully we’re starting to rectify it right now of men in this country. And it’s, it’s terrible. You know, for me, one of the things that I really immediately saw in my husband that I appreciated was one of the first things was his work ethic. And that was really important to me because I was raised a certain way, and my parents raised me to be a hard worker and no excuses and never given up and, and taking accountability for things.

And that’s one of the first things I noticed about Eric Trump is that, you know, with a last name like that, you, again, expect, you know, them to have a silver spoon and not, you know, want to work hard and have everything given to, to them. It was quite the opposite. I mean, Eric and I met in March. I won’t tell you of what year, because it was so long ago. We didn’t go on our first date until July because he was so busy. He was traveling the world working for the Trump Organization. He had just started working there.

He’d only been there, I don’t know, maybe two years at that point. And he wanted to prove himself, and he wanted, you know, to prove that he deserved to be part of that company because. And when, you know, a lot of people would have just said, oh, just kind of sit in an office and twiddle my thumbs. No, he wanted to earn every single second of it. And, and I was, I was also busy, but our schedules didn’t line up, so it took us so many months to finally sit down and go out on a first, like, proper first date.

But, you know, I, I, I respect that a lot, and I appreciate that a lot, and I’m raising both of my kids to be that way, but especially, especially our son. And, you know, the level of respect that I’ve always been shown by my husband is also something that’s appreciated. You know, you don’t have to be a beta male to respect women. My husband is incredibly gracious with everything with me, but I think he, he respects how hard I work. He respects anything that I have going on. And he also respects our different roles as parents, which I think, you know, moms have a different role than dads.

And anybody who tries to tell you differently, I mean, it’s a lie. You know, moms are generally the nurturers. We’re the ones who care for the kids, you know, in the, when they get a bruised knee or whatever it is, and dads are there to kind of rile them up. He gets them at bedtime, gets everybody worked up so that I can calm him back down. But, you know, for me, I think it was really, the general nature of a person is very evident. He’s a hard worker. He is. Has such great respect, not just for me, but for the people with whom he surrounds himself.

And these are people who work for him. That’s another thing that I noticed very early about the Trump family is that they really care about everyone they’re around. They are very. They’re very humble in a. In a certain way. And I don’t know that a lot of people appreciate that. I mean, it comes. Comes from top. Comes from their dad. But those are certainly things that impressed me almost immediately with my husband and continue to this day to be true. Well, that’s great. And I got to ask you this last question, because I know we’re wrapping up.

You’re a career woman, you’re a mother, you’re a wife. How do you balance between the two of you? I mean, your. Your husband is obviously very busy also running this business, big company, and doing his part. How do you balance family life, your career, getting together? Do you still have date nights? Do you have time for yourselves? Because it seems with both of your schedules, it would be very difficult. So how do you manage it all? Yeah, it’s hard. You have to make it a priority. I mean, we try once a week at least to schedule.

We have to schedule it. I mean, that’s the truth. We schedule a date night, and I’ve gotten messages. You know, I’ll get a text from somebody who’s in town who I haven’t seen in, like a year. They’re like, oh, could you, you know, could you guys get dinner with us Friday night? And I’m like, sorry, can’t do it. But that’s our date night, and we don’t break that. We. We are very serious about that because it’s important. You know, it’s. Nothing is easy about long term being together with somebody, bringing two lives together. You have to work at it, and you have to stay connected.

And that’s the one way that we do that. We try to take time just for the two of us, and we schedule it in. And sometimes that, you know, it feels like things are crazy, crazy, crazy. But I know, you know, like this week, Saturday night, that’s our night. We’re just the two of us. Nobody else is invited. But then, you know, with our family, too, with our kids, we. When we’re present, we are super present. I am at everything. I am at every soccer game, every gymnastics practice, every jiu jitsu practice and tournament. When I am physically able to be there, I will kill myself to be there.

I will not sleep I will, whatever it is. Because you don’t get that time back with your kids either. You know, once they’re grown up and they’re out of your house, like, that’s it, you’re, you’re, they’re done. So everything I can do, I will take the first flight out first thing in the morning just so I can get back in time to tuck my kids in bed at night. Because I think it’s important. So, you know, you, you have to hustle. None of it’s easy. You got to plan it out sometimes. And you know, it’s not always perfect, but, but you know, I always kind of go back to this idea.

We own a winery in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump Winery. And what I learned about growing grapes for wine and sparkling wine is that the plants that struggle a little bit actually have the best tasting grapes and make the best tasting wine and sparkling wine. The plants that grow too easily don’t really have any extra character to the grapes. It’s kind of like flat and like, okay, it’s fine. But the ones that have a little bit of struggle are the ones that ultimately end up, you know, really being the prize winners. And by the way, Trump Sparkling Wine wins out in San Francisco at the Food and Wine Festival.

A lot of times it’s a blind taste testing and when they pull the bag off and it’s Trump out in San Francisco, Michael, imagine the faces of the people out there. But I say all that to say that I always think back to that when I feel like, oh, I missed this. I wish I could be there for that, or I didn’t get to pick the kids up today. Like, you know what, one day there’ll be those very tasty grapes. Because it’s not always perfect, it’s not always easy and everybody’s got something like that. So I hope parents out there remember that too.

Like you’re, you’re doing great, everybody’s doing their best and Eric and I are the same. Well, that’s great. Now you just brought up something, you stimulated something in me. I also have a, I also have a wine company, Franzi’s Wine. And our wine is imported from Armenia and we’re selling it now all over the country. But I know your father in law famously doesn’t drink, correct? He doesn’t know. He’s never drink anything his whole life. Okay, do you have any non alcoholic product, any of your wine nonalcoholic? We have some, we have a cidery too. So I think they have some non alcoholic of the apple Cider, but I don’t know if we have any non alcoholic wine.

Let me ask you this. Would you be okay if I sent you a case of our non alcoholic wine and maybe gave it to your father in law? And we also have. Okay, if I can get an address maybe from your, your assistant, I’ll send you a case. And hopefully he’ll drink it and like it. This way he can have a glass with everybody. No alcohol at all. Still part of the team. Put the diet on the side for a night. That, that’d be great. And I, and so I’m going to do that. And then last question.

Grandpa Donald, how is he with the grandkids? Oh my God, they. Are you kidding? They, they love him. That’s the thing. People with kids understand this. You can’t fake anything with kids. Right? They’re, they’re, they’re tough judges of character. And, and if kids don’t like you, then probably a lot of people shouldn’t like you. The kids absolutely adore him. I think he, look, he wants to know the first thing he says to me anytime he gets me on the phone. Forget anything else going on. How are the kids? What’s going on? What are they up to? When can we see them? And they adore him.

You know, they, it’s a different grandpa than my dad because he’s President of the United States. And I don’t know that they appreciate that yet, which I sort of love. He’s just grandpa to them. And as much time as they can get around him, they absolutely love it. And he’s just like any other grandpa who gives him too much candy and then sends him back to us. And I’m like, oh, you did it to us again. But yeah, he’s the best. Well, that’s the joy of being a grandfather. I do the same thing. My daughter says, dad, they can’t have this and that.

I say, don’t worry about it and I’ll do it. And you know, that’s the end of that. And she gets mad, but the kids love it. Juice and cookies. I’m like, what? He gave you what? Yeah, exactly. I know, I know how it goes. They love it. Larry. Yeah, I know you have to leave now. You said 1:45. I think 145 your time. So listen, this was a terrific conversation. Really a delight. One of my favorite ever. I have to say that hopefully we get to do it again at some point. And I’d love to meet up with you one day.

Yeah, maybe in Florida, maybe New York. Me and my wife get together with you and Eric. Let us know. Let us know. We would. We would absolutely love that. So let us know. We’ll look out for the wine and then we’ll get together. And I would love to do it. And thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. No, you were the best. Thank you very much. And have a great rest of your day. Enjoy New York tomorrow. Thank you. I will. Thank you. All right, so there you have it. Hope you enjoyed the interview.

I thought she was terrific. We got into a lot of personal things. You know, one thing I have to say, Mark Cuban, I hope you watch this. You know that ridiculous statement that you made about Donald Trump not surrounding himself with intelligent women? Well, there you have Lara Trump. What do you have to say about that? The woman is extremely intelligent, and you got to give her a lot of credit for everything that she’s done during the campaign. She balances her career. She’s got a family life. She knows how to spend time with her family. I asked her what she thought of a real man.

She gave us the right answers. You know, she’s a very intelligent, very remarkable woman. She did a great job during the campaign. It really was a pleasure to sit and talk with her. So I hope you enjoy it. Mark Cuban, you know, you’re ready to take that statement back, you know, not only from Lara, but from all the great appointments Donald Trump has made, you know, since he got into office. So that’s it, my friends. Hope you enjoyed it. You know, how do I always leave you? Same way. Never going to change. Be safe. You know the deal.

Be healthy. Robert F. Kennedy. He’s doing his job. I’m supporting him. He’s terrific. And God bless each and every one of you, your families, your friends, your neighborhoods. God bless America. Yes, I’ll see you next time.
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