When Lara Trump was five years old, she told her mother, “I'm going to be in something really big.”
Her mother, Linda, replied: “That's beautiful, my dear.”
On January 20, Lara, 42, will be on the steps of the US Capitol to watch her father-in-law, Donald Trump, take the presidential oath for the second time. She will do so as a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, she hinted to The Post, perhaps in a new high-profile role.
“I'm excited to share something that will be very progressive and allow me to amplify the accomplishments of the incoming Trump administration in the next two weeks,” she explained.
In fact, Lara said she embodies the reasons women should feel they can trust the next president.
“This is a man who cares about women,” Lara told The Post in an exclusive interview. “And I'm telling you that as a woman I came into this family… from a background where I didn't have the ability to relate to the Trump family — a business family whose name people know all over the world.
“Donald Trump helped me get where I am today. He is a constant champion of the women he surrounds himself with.”
She noted that there are “so many great examples of strong women around Donald Trump” — including Chief of Staff Susie Wells, Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt, Cabinet members like Kristi Noem and Linda McMahon, and attorney Alina Haba.
“I think that's what people who identify with Donald Trump appreciate: He doesn't care what you look like, he doesn't care what religion you are, he doesn't care what gender you are, he doesn't care who you like.
“He cares about whether or not you can do the job to the best of your ability,” Lara said. “It's something I appreciate as a woman, because I would never want someone to give me a job because of my gender.”
She believes the United States will see a female president in her lifetime — “I actually think our first female president will be a Republican” — but that gender cannot be the deciding factor.
“Hillary Clinton tried to tell everyone that they should vote for her because she is a woman: Don’t you want to see a woman president?” Lara said. “There are a lot of women I can think of right now who I would consider voting for president. But the minute you dismantle it and use it as a reason why people should vote for you, I think you're going to lose a lot of people.”
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, and raised in Wrightsville Beach, Lara Leah Ioneska earned her bachelor's degree in communications from North Carolina State University, then spent a stint in culinary school.
She met Eric, the youngest of Trump's three children with his first wife, Ivana Trump, after moving to New York City and taking a job as a story coordinator and producer for the TV show “Inside Edition,” where she worked from 2012 to 2016.
Before they met, she said of her knowledge of the Trump family: “I didn't know there was a man named Eric Trump.”
The couple, who live in Jupiter, Florida, married at Mar-a-Lago in November 2014 and are now parents to Luke, 7, and Karolina, 6.
Lara was with the children, at their home in New York, last July, when a potential assassin shot Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“About 15 seconds before it happened, my daughter said, 'Look, mom, look who's on the TV. It's Grandpa.' And I looked up and I couldn't see him standing on the stage anymore. Eric was in the other room and he had another TV showing the march. And it started.” In calling me to come there and I knew immediately that something had happened. “I didn't want my children to see something terrible. So I changed the channel.”
As she watched alone with Eric, she remembers how “her father-in-law got up and I saw blood on him. And I knew something was wrong. We started calling people. And honestly, for about 45 minutes to an hour, until we heard directly from him, it was really scary.”
She and Eric weren't immediately sure what to tell their kids — but Luke and Karolina were going to summer camp the following Monday and she was afraid they'd find out from someone else.
“So, Sunday night, I had to sit them down and tell them that something had happened to my grandfather. “He's fine, but he has a bandage on his ear,” Lara said. “I knew they would see him next week, in [Republican National] “Agreement. But it was really hard to tell a four- and six-year-old that someone tried to hurt his grandfather.”
She thinks a lot about what her children will hear in the world and at school — including impassioned conversations about transgender athletes participating in women's sports and gender-affirming care for minors.
“As a mother, I can tell you it's something I consider a lot. My kids are very young, but it starts very early…the way this creeps into the culture.” “It's very scary to think that kids could come back from school one day and say : “I actually think I'm a different gender and I want to take these medications.” Medicines that may prevent you from starting a family of your own one day. I think that's a really scary prospect for a lot of parents out there. And certainly that's something [Donald Trump] He cares.
“Now, look, when you're 18 and you're an adult and you have the ability to make your own decisions, I don't think anyone really cares,” she added. “We want a happy society”
Although she now lives in Florida, Lara said she also thinks a lot about what's happening in her former home, New York City.
“I used to take the subway all the time. Even, by the way, when I was working for the Secret Service during my father-in-law's first administration. But I think what's become so scary now is… that we have a big problem with people not being punished for crimes. Americans They just want the right thing to happen. They want to feel safe in their communities. “They want to feel safe commuting to work or taking their kids around New York City or wherever they live,” Lara said.
“You go to these beautiful cities like San Francisco and you see the homelessness crisis, the drug crisis, the open-air drug use, and the way people are literally like defecating on street corners. And instead of helping these people, you know, [progressive leaders are] Just saying, we'll let you [to commit crime]”.
She knows that not everyone agrees with her, or her father-in-law – she lost friends during his first administration.
“I don't think any of us expected the backlash,” she admitted. “People who had been friends forever suddenly came out and said terrible things about my father-in-law, the family. “It was very difficult.”
She said that's why her sister and brother-in-law, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, won't be part of the Trump administration this time.
“Obviously, Jared and Ivanka were very, very involved during the first period and it was really hard on them. You know, every time we saw them, that was the constant — it was hard on them. It was hard on their families,” Lara said. “I think they've already done some really great things, things they may never get to get, but they definitely deserve some.”
She added that the lessons the Trump family learned from the first time Donald took office helped them know who to trust and who to just accept.
“You get to know who's around you for the right reasons and who's not. [Now] We are particularly sensitive to people whom we have allowed into the trust tree.
One person who has found his way is Elon Musk, who seems to have Trump's ears more than anyone else at the moment.
“Every time I go to Mar-a-Lago, he's there. It's a bit of a joke, but he's in on the joke,” Lara said. “He's great. Who wouldn't want to have one of the brightest minds of our time in the circle of people doing the right thing for this country? It really seems like he wants his legacy to be that he was able to achieve the unachievable. The great news is that we will reap the benefits. That's why I love him being my first friend.
Lara, who also has her own workout clothing line, left Fox News as a contributor in December 2022 — when Trump announced his decision to run again — and took on the role of GOP co-chair. She left that position in December amid rumors that she would run for Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat in Florida, but recently announced she was not seeking it.
“There were a lot of factors that influenced my decision for the US Senate seat, not the least of which was my young family in Florida,” she told The Washington Post, revealing that she had the support of the president-elect. “In fact, he tried to help really push me in that direction…
“It's a no for now, but not forever,” she added.
