Lara Trump Unfiltered: Encore

Hi, moms. Please enjoy this rebroadcast of our episode featuring Lara Trump. Now, we originally ran this in June when we were celebrating the 250th program of the Moms for America podcast, but we loved it so much we wanted to share it again. Today's podcast is brought to you by the Herzog Foundation. We are at the beautiful Trump Golf Course in Jupiter, Florida today, and we have an incredibly special show because it is the 250th episode of the Moms for America podcast right alongside America's 250th celebration. So we've got an incredible guest. Let me tell you about her. She's a famous mom. She's a TV host. She's a political strategist and she just happens to be the daughter-in-law of the President of the United States. You might have guessed who it is. All right, stay with us because we've got a lot to talk about next. This is the Moms for America podcast. Each week, leaders and everyday champions tell personal stories, share advice, and tackle the issues most important to moms. Oh, my God. Great. How are you? All right. She's here. The 250th episode guest, Lara Trump. Wow. What an honor. Thank you. Isn't this so fun? Thank you for coming. absolutely no that's it it's my honor truly to and to be the 250th on america's 250th birthday what's better amazing i know and busy busy day so far you said you were at six different things dropping off kids you know we try to get it all in it's it's how we do it as moms they say if you want something done give it to a busy mom and they're right in that so yeah we're just rolling okay well before we get started and chit chat a bit we do this little thing sometimes oh my god And it's called, These Are My Favorite Things. Stop. You actually have my favorite things in there. Someone told you. Oh, well, we did a little research. What do you think here? First of all, this is so embarrassing. I don't even want to talk about it. Don't tell Bobby Kennedy about this. These we could probably tell him about. Okay. That's amazing. Oh, my gosh. What does she have in there? I've got a beautiful candle, let's say. Amber. I love amber smells. Oh, good. So we heard that you love to have a candle. relax a little bit you love that coffee that's an instant coffee we're always in a hurry we gotta go and then these are for your kids well they'll they'll take them i can tell you that much these are for the kids That's amazing and then what else do we have that's for the dogs oh my gosh that's so sweet big dog lover we've got the gourmet doggy biscuits oh and then for working out got to stay hydrated. A nice little Moka, no plastic. Beautiful. Mom's for America hat. Got it. I'm ready to go. What is this one? Mom's for America bag. Oh, and I got a shirt. Oh yeah. Show them the shirt. Hold on. That's a one-handed technique there. It's very specific. Mom's for America. There we are. Thank you. You're so diverse. I mean, we've got the doggies, we've got the kids, we've got the coffee, we've got the workout. A lot of coffee. A lot of coffee. You gotta do a of coffee. That's beautiful. Thank you so much. So, and then for the kids, I mean, just tell them aunt Deb. Yeah. Well, they'll go for that. Anything, any candy they can get, which is their favorite thing when they visit grandpa is the candy. That's what you were saying. You were saying when they go to the White House, it's just like trick or treat. Yeah. Well, and he's got the specific like presidential M&Ms and they think that that means that they are just, it's like a free for all. They could just take, and I'm not going to, mom's not going to say anything. Mom always says something but grandpa's always like just take it kids yeah well i know it's it's so tough being a parent now with all of the sugar and everything and i know oh but all right well let's start how how's the family how is eric how are the kids can you give us some updates yeah i mean we're great obviously eric and i just got back from a trip with the president to china which was incredible but as a mom i was slightly reluctant to go it was four days you know to be away from the kids on the other side of the earth yeah which is a little scary as a mom um but yeah we had a great trip and kids are good we're wrapping up the school year here so i'm going to soon have a second and a third grader my kids are first and second grade now but it's just crazy that's how life goes um we currently have a you know we have ben and betty are two dogs and then i those are beagles those are well betty's a beagle ben is like a bigger hound mix and i brought home a dog from big dog ranch to foster foster this weekend so we got three dogs at the house right now which i love all right well since you're bringing up the whole dog thing let's talk about that a little bit so how many dogs does eric have to say to you no more than two would you have 10 how far does it go oh my god i i feel like there's no number that you could tell me and i'd be like that's too many so i i love them look um i have always been an animal lover especially dogs I just think that they're such a gift and you know whenever you kind of find yourself in a position like I think we have it's hard sometimes to know who wants to be around you for the right reasons to be honest and so when you have a dog, oh they don't care you don't care what your last name is, they are man's best friend, clearly they don't care what kind of you know crazy stuff people say about you, they are there to love you and when you come home they're excited and it's the best so um i think at this point eric has sort of relegated himself to the fact that i'm his this crazy dog lady wife of his that's going to show up every now and again with just a random dog like i did this weekend he's like are you kidding me but he secretly loved it i think sure i saw your post on instagram with your daughter yes and the beagle yes and uh let's talk about that really quick because laurie simmons love her love the work that they're doing you're on their board yes um rescuing how many beagles so there were there are 2,000 beagles who were at this facility Ridgeland Farm and they basically breed and raise dogs for animal testing animal testing is something that is obviously very cruel you essentially torture these animals and the reality is we don't actually need to be testing on animals We are so far past that in our advancement We have, you know, AI modeling we can use We can grow organs to a certain extent or things that mimic organs that show you how something would react in the human body far better than you can ever tell from a dog. They use beagles specifically in animal testing because they have such a happy, pleasant disposition They don't fight back. They're very forgiving. And so sadly, they've become the dog of choice for testing So this facility had quite a few violations, and there was a large push from a lot of people. There were so many people involved in this. I just played a very small role, but we were able to get 1,500 of them out. And the 500 that are left are hopefully, by the end of summer, going to also go to new homes. And the great news is all of these dogs have applications in. People want these dogs, so they're going to go to great homes. They're going to have a great rest of their life. And so it was such a Herculean effort that, you know, it really just shows you how powerful things can be and how you can utilize social media for good and not bad, you know, in a situation like this. So let's talk about Mother of Influence Award. This February, we gave Lara the Mother of Influence Award. So deserving. Not only are you a great influencer in your home, but in America. When you look kind of at your life now and the journey that God has put you on, I mean, I'm sure when you met Eric, this was not anything you ever thought would happen. Is it kind of amazing to think of the blessings and where you are now? Oh, my gosh. So influential. You are a mother of influence. That's so nice. Well, first of all, I was so touched and so honored to get that award. Thank you very much. once i became a mom the fight in me to ensure the future of this country amplified 10 billion fold because it's not even about any of us in this room folks it's about our children our children's children and the future of this great country the greatest country on earth you know it's funny because i i could never have predicted and nothing could ever have prepared me for any of this but I have just tried to stay true to myself. I've always prayed about every decision I've ever made. I've always tried to follow my heart and my gut. And to be honest, I feel like I have taken oftentimes the more challenging path, but that's the path I've always felt like God has sort of led me down. For example, when my father-in-law called me to ask me to run for co-chair of the party, I said, are you kidding me? No, I, I, this is a huge election. I probably the most controversial impactful election ever in decades so to to consider me for that position at that time i was honestly it was like i don't i don't want to do this but i prayed about it and i really you know thought long and hard about it and obviously i had a little help from my father-in-law who was like it's gotta be you right um well he loves you you can you know we have a very special relationship but i i just i feel so blessed um to have been able to experience the things that i have to have been you know kind of on the front row of watching history and it's been it's been incredible so no growing up as a girl in north carolina going to public school my whole life i never could have imagined being part of any of this it's been truly a blessing and your family must be so proud of it your mom your family everybody must be like Lara look what hey i you have landed i hope so look i always want to be like that's kind of the the pinnacle of everything right is to represent your family well and whether it's the trump family or my you know my parents and my brother who all still live in north carolina um i i just want to represent them and wilmington my hometown well and yeah it's it's been really amazing and i hope they're proud that's what i'm trying to do every day i sure am um speaking about family and being a mom you You mentioned from this age, and I've heard you say this in other interviews, that the title of mom is the most precious title in the world. Did you, one, did you know that you wanted to have children? Did you always want to be a mom? Did you know how many? Or were you nervous? I think I heard that you were a little nervous about becoming a mom. Eric had to push me a little. I'll be really honest. So it's funny because I look at where we are right now with kind of our younger generation, and I'm so grateful that we have powerful figures like Erica Kirk, like Charlie Kirk, who we miss so dearly, who really put family at the forefront of everything and talked about the fact that really your most important job you'll ever have is to be a parent. because there was there was this huge push i feel like for my generation of young women to try to convince us that you shouldn't want to have a family you shouldn't want to become a mother you should really focus on yourself focus on your career it's a ball and chain yeah don't get married exactly the kind of feminist movement um and that ideology i really feel like seeped into the culture especially of my generation and so i found myself when eric and i got married kind of saying well i i don't know i'm a little nervous to have kids because what happens to me what how how does this work and eric was like look we both know we want to have kids because to answer your other question yes of course i mean i don't know that you could say you have a completely fulfilling life if you aren't kind of doing what god puts you on earth to do right um so he had to kind of push me and He's like, we got to go. We got to work on these kids. We got to get going on this. And so, yeah, we've been obviously blessed with two kids. Now, I always wanted two because I'm one of two. Okay. Eric would tell you he would have about 10 more kids right now if possible. Is there any hope? I mean, Eric, what's the deal? Don't talk to him about it because he's still pushing on it. I mean, look, our kids are six and eight. I feel like we're in a great spot. You are. But another two would be fine. Okay, whatever. I'll let you decide. thank you no no look i have two happy healthy kids and i feel like you know god has put in front of me what what he intends for me absolutely and what a blessing i mean they're they're adorable and they're keeping you busy they sure are so as every mom yeah it's just as that in and of itself is just full-blown chaos and i love every single second of it you know i try to no matter what happens in my day i was telling you before we sat down the only free time i got in my day today was basically to drop drop off and pick up from school because those are i try to make that time it's an hour on either end it kind of like round trip becomes it's so important to me because that's time i get to spend one-on-one with my kids and i feel like there's something special about that time in the car with the kids and you don't get it elsewhere because they're distracted and you're distracted and there's stuff going on so i always try to do that if i can and i remember when we were scheduling the mother of influence award with you your assistant i don't know what darren's title is he's so wonderful he does it all he does it all the man of all right let him know that one yeah he said listen if you could put laura a little bit earlier she really likes to pick up her kids from school after school and we were like oh zip right to the top and that It is. And as moms, we have to guard those moments in those times because it is, it's car time. My sister-in-law was just talking about the same thing. That's where you can pray with them. You talk through their day. They kind of get ready. And there's something, I think, very comforting about mom in the beginning of the day, at the end of the day, because they have so much to say, you know, and they have so many questions. So, so good for you, mom. Okay. Let's talk about when you met Eric. Is it true you didn't know he was a Trump? I mean, I didn't even know Eric Trump existed. No, I don't think most people did we met in 2008 and this was eric shortly thereafter i'm gonna say a year or two after that you know started making appearances on the apprentice and so he probably got a little more notoriety than then i had no idea that a man named Eric Trump even existed and um we were just out um with friends in Manhattan kind of like when does that work out when you just run into your future right there but i did and he did and i'll be honest the first thing i noticed he was with a group of guys and i was with you know some girls and he was the tallest of the group of guys so that's good you're like as you probably saw when i walked in if i got heels on i am probably like six two so with the shoes on i'm 5 11 um otherwise but yeah i said well this could work out this guy's pretty tall let's see what happens and it sure did that was it after the first when you met then he did some follow-up it took us a while to go on a first date we were both very busy i mean i guess it was kind of a prelude to what was going to happen in our lives we were both um work i i had a couple different jobs i was in culinary school at the same time Eric just started at the Trump Organization was really trying to prove his his kind of value there and that he really had what it what it took because i'll be honest if he didn't i can guarantee you the president would not have had him in any sort of a a management role look at that um so he was traveling around the world and he would get one time he got stuck overseas and then one time i was sick or then i had to work over it was just three months we made plans every couple of weeks and then one of us would have to cancel but when we finally sat down for that first date um we did not order a single bit of food for four hours because we were so engrossed in conversation could have been love at first sight then if you ask him love at first sight i should say because he saw you because we sat for a while and it was great we had such a great connection and conversation and i was very impressed immediately by sort of how normal he seemed because once i figured out who he was i kind of sadly made a judgment on that and i probably shouldn't have in retrospect but um he really impressed me with his kind of down-to-earth nature and a lot that he told me so it's been forever since then so who were you a voting republican where i don't know any of this about you were you involved in politics at all i mean because life is obviously different post trumps with you yes yes very different well i don't think really any of us in our family were and i actually think the president was a registered democrat for a long time right I grew up in a conservative family, for sure. I knew my parents had always voted Republican. And I remember in the elections I had, you know, kind of been around to vote in prior to meeting Eric, which I think it was two elections. I remember my parents kind of actively saying, well, here's who we're going to vote for. We hope that you'll vote the same way. There was no pressure, but I had voted Republican. But no, I don't think any of us were really involved politically on any front, nor did we really think that we were going to be until a couple of days before the famous Golden Escalator ride. And then here we are. Yeah. Wow. Can you imagine that? Okay. Before we go to that one, because I do want to talk about that, with you and Eric, who would be more spontaneous, you or him? I'm going to say me. Okay. Yeah. More organized. Eric would say him. Although I will I will say that I'm a very close second. But he's if you go in our garage, nothing is out of place. And that's all Eric Trump. Are you so you complete opposites in many ways? No, no. Actually, we're both we're both kind of neat freaks. And I have to everything has to be, you know, organized and put away. And I like a nice, clean aesthetic. But he is meticulous with it. And I actually really appreciate that. OK, so it works. It works very well. OK, as long as you could imagine the other one's messy. No. And now every now and again, it's hard with kids. Every, every parent knows this. What Eric doesn't see is that these kids come in from school and they just dump their stuff on the counter. And then we've got homework out over here and snacks out over here and a dog jumping over here. And then he comes in and he's like, wow, there's all this stuff we got to clean up. So every now and again, he'll come in and just kind of like lose it. And then we do like an ultra clean out, like a purge of all the stuff. And the kids get involved in it too. And we get everything reset so that we're perfect in the house but for another day that's life yeah how it goes when you come home from school all right what about when you met the family for the first time that had to be were you intimidated Was it a little bit of stress? Was what was the first family meeting? Well I mean, think about meeting anyone who might be your future in-law that is intimidating, that's number one, right? Yeah, enough when their last name is Trump, that is the ante is up exponentially, right? That is another level. Um, I did not know when I met my father-in-law that I was actually about to meet Donald Trump. Eric had told me that we were going to a tennis tournament, um he was like, "Oh, you want to go watch some tennis?" so we went to the U.S. Open, which is, you know, in Queens, Arthur Ashe Stadium, and he picked me up at my apartment and we drove and I was like, "Oh, you have like a special parking spot here? Okay, this is different. I know we're sitting in like bleacher seats okay because that's what I'm the kind of tennis, I'm used to. Yeah, in fact, I don't even know if I'd gone to a any sort of formal tennis event but we then went up an elevator and we came out on the suite level and I was like okay this is very nice and then the door opened and there's Donald Trump and there's Melania Trump and I was like oh my god your dad is here and you didn't even tell me it was kind of good because I didn't have time to get all worked up and freaked out about it, but um, I immediately was slightly panicked um, but I'll tell you, anyone who meets Donald Trump will tell you that he's very disarming and he almost immediately can put people at ease because he just talks to you like a normal person and we sat down and we kind of did the small talk of where I'm from, what I'm doing, what my, you know, future looks like, what all the things my family and then he immediately goes, "You know what, I'm gonna get" an ice cream, do you like ice cream and i was like, god i do, we both like ice cream like this is gonna be okay, he got me an ice cream we're all good, just i was like all right we're gonna have some ice cream, we're all, we're all set here, i don't need to be nervous and and then i remember meeting Eric's mom and his sister and you know everybody was very welcoming actually for me to the family and i found that i don't know why it surprised me but you know i i feel like this is a group of people who was kind of in the circle of who to know in New York City and they had you know they they knew all the people and here i was this girl who had driven herself up from North Carolina to go to culinary school again working multiple jobs literally trying to make it in New York and they treated me like from the beginning i was i was one of their own and so i it's why i'm incredibly loyal to this family they've always been wonderful to me, hi moms, i'm excited to share some news about our new sponsor the Herzog Foundation, we know you're passionate about raising patriots and empowering your children with the best education possible and the Herzog Foundation shares that passion, they're dedicated to promoting liberty through education freedom and helping parents like you choose the best educational path. 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What would you say about President Trump that no one knows? I've heard this a hundred times with these questions with you and I know you said he's funny and he's caring. Just some of the things that you said, he's so kind. When I've met him just about six or seven times with Moms for America Mar-a-Lago, the podcast, some different things he's always been complimentary You look great. Beautiful color you know you're doing a good job you know he's i mean even my husband he met met my husband i was like you better take care of her i mean he's just very complimentary it kind of is i shouldn't say surprising but he's well it's surprising because people the the the legacy media out there and the people who like to paint him in the way they want would have you believe that that version of Donald Trump doesn't exist it exists all the time and anyone who spends any time around him knows how much he really cares about people. You know, I remember we were getting ready, we were doing a debate prep session This is during the 2024 campaign cycle, which he hates hates debate prep, hated it always, which he's probably just better off anyway, like just let him go. Is there prep with him? I just want to know what there really is. Debate prep, we can put it in air quotes. But we were all gathered at Mar-a-Lago, you know, I was the co-chair of the party at the time. And so I was there with the whole team of people. and he walked in and he saw all of us sitting there and he goes, wait a minute, have you guys eaten? Let me get hold on, I want to make sure everybody's taken care of. Do you like shrimp cocktail? Do you like this? He went in the kitchen and he ordered all of us food and before we even did the first bit of debate prep now he could have been stalling, right? But he made sure that everybody ate and had what they needed and he just loved that, he really cares so much about the people around him. I've seen it, you know, on our trip to China on Air Force One, he literally walked around the whole plane to make sure everybody had what they needed. Meanwhile, there are people on there whose job it is to do that but he's ever kind of the host and hospitality is sort of baked in to his DNA and it's amazing because that's that's the side you don't hear about that's the side you don't see but I do wish more people knew that that Donald Trump existed because that's who he is. He sure is. Um, now you really married what, like six months before he announced he's going to, I mean, no training, no, I mean, was how does everybody prepare for such a thing? Well, we were thrown in the deep end, and we had to figure it out basically. Um, we all kind of sat down as a family. This is probably, I'm gonna say, a week before the famous escalator ride now we knew that he'd been kind of considering it and talking about it and he had people who he'd brought around who were a little different we hadn't seen before but he sat us all down and he told us all this was something he really wanted to do and he had such interesting perspective in that moment based on what we now know has happened to him and really our entire family and I would also say anyone in the conservative movement which is that he said you know what kids I'm going to do this and I want to do this but I want you to know if I do this the right way they're going to come after me and they're going to come after you guys and I need you guys to prepare for that and I don't think any of us could have predicted any of this but you know we all just said we're we're on you know on board we're ready to go with whatever and very quickly he also said we're going to find out who our true friends are oh and very quickly that became sort of immediately what we realized is that there are people who abandoned us from day one um and you know what it's been just a kind of a wild ride ever since then but look i would say that you could say a lot of things about our family which a lot of people do there's no daylight between any of us in our family we are incredibly close and this process as awful as it's been at certain times has only made us stronger as a family and so from that very first day up until now we're we're here for the ride and we're here you know on the team and um so honored by it honestly Yeah, well, speaking of that, there are some loyal supporters that we thought of President Trump now are front and center with different messaging, negative messaging about the president. And from our perspective, it's really hard as folks that have been, you know, fans of them, fans of President Trump, to see this division happening in very big platforms. Yes. How does your family handle it? I know how President Trump handles it, but there's everything right out there in front telling you what he thinks of it. How do you handle things like that? Because, you know, I guess you can't ever get your feelings hurt because then you would just be ever a victim. But what happens with things like this? It's very hard. It's why, you know, I think our circle of friends is incredibly small. The people with whom we surround ourselves is a very tight-knit group of people. but even then you know people can can kind of let you down in that sense um i will say to those people in particular they know exactly what they're doing and and i think it's disgusting and i think it's disgraceful and any effort to try to sow division within a group of of people who love this country so deeply i think is really sad and i would bet that at the end of the day if you really dug deep into why they're doing this there's really only kind of one reason which is or maybe too money and attention people who at one time maybe had a huge platform and got a lot of attention are no longer getting that attention and maybe that's what they're seeking maybe people are funding some of this commentary which they themselves know is insane um but it's sad to see and i don't think it does anything to help our country what i will say is i don't think it's effective. And I don't think that the average Trump voter out there buys into any of it. And I would advise that they all stay strong in their support of this president. This is a person who said the first time I ever remember us sitting down talking about it. One of the other things he said is, you know what, guys, if I get one term in office, but that one term I do what is necessary, that's all we want to do. We want to do the right thing for this country. That's still the man that's in office he's fighting for america every day and we have to stick together we've got midterms to win we want four yeah we want four years of President Trump being an effective leader in this country and so um those people i i find very sad yeah it's really tough to watch yeah Melania our first lady she's doing some amazing uh initiatives for moms and for families tell us a little bit about Melania we haven't had a chance to we've been at events with her but we really haven't had a chance to sit down with her so i mean she's a remarkable woman you know you think you think about what she has it's funny because you look at the presidency and i don't think you're ever going to see a normal campaign ever again Donald Trump has totally changed that he's changed what it means to be a politician quite frankly sure has i think she's changed the role of first lady i think she has taken it upon herself to kind of venture into areas where she's very powerful where people want to hear her voice yeah she's done something that i think is very smart which is that sometimes whenever you're not out there all the time when you do go out there oh man people pay attention sure and so she's she's really kind of done incredible things on that front but what she's doing championing you know families and children i think the things with AI and social media are hugely important as a mom myself i can tell you i am concerned every day about what's going to happen how do we prevent you know these people from blackmailing kids on social media online and the deep fakes and it's it's terrifying and so the things that she has kind of taken upon herself to bring you know light to and to focus on i think are so important to so many American families. Um, but you know, you think about coming from another country, becoming an American citizen, marrying into this family. Um, English is not your first language. She speaks like six different languages. She's, she's really incredible. And then being kind of thrust into this position, I think she's remarkable. And, um, you know, it's, it's so fun whenever we all finally get together as a family, which we don't do nearly enough. I feel like a lot of families feel like that though but when we're all together it's so nice to just kind of be a family again and to you know sit down with her and and every time we're at the White House you know she's kind of already planned everything out all the menus and stuff and so she's great she's great we're so lucky to have her as our first lady yeah and again just a lot of she's in a tough position but a great position yes and she has she has stood strong you know and she's really been a great model for all of us and to that AI summit and all the different um initiatives that she's doing she's invited moms from America to be there i mean we've been at those uh those events and and been a kind of like a participant in the audience and same thing with the White House Laura we were at White House events i think 56 times last year that's amazing so and that's the thing about President Trump i want to say too talk about bringing you know the organizations in and and the different variety of this landscape of America, he's bringing them to the White House. I mean, this is the people's house there. Well, and it's sort of how he's always operated. You know, there's this talking point that the left loves to use, Donald Trump is the dictator type vibe, whatever this crazy stuff they put out there. He couldn't be further from that. He wants the opinion of everyone in the room when he makes a decision. Now, he makes the ultimate decision, but he likes to hear from everybody, and no different when it comes to kind of deciding what the best best path forward is for America on a whole host of fronts he wants to hear from the people you know those are those are the people who put him in the White House and he's he very much wants to deliver on the promises he made and ensure that everything he's doing is going to benefit people's lives and so if people come to him and they say no sir this is not working this isn't hurting my family this way he immediately says okay well let's let's reconfigure so it's not surprising actually to hear that he's involved so many different groups who probably haven't really ever had a seat at the table but with this president they absolutely do we're very grateful all right let's talk a little bit about normal life you say you try to give your kids a normal life now that we've talked about all this yeah how do you balance all that how do we we go from you know dropping the kids off to to training I saw your training videos. I'm like rope climbing, CrossFit, everything. And then to host this show. Yeah. Well, listen, you just try to fit it all in. I feel like I will say I am grateful for my parents and the way they raised me. Yes. Because. So important. No, it's everything. It's your foundation. And I am an incredibly grounded person who has never forgotten where I came from. and I want my kids to have that same feeling you know I I want them to be normal kids as much as possible you know we do all the sports they're on normal sports teams we're not doing anything weird they're they're they're I'm just trying to give them the best childhood possible um while at the same time making memories with grandpa and going to events that one day they'll look back and say oh my gosh I was at the White House Easter egg roll like I got to do that as a kid but we we just try to keep it normal the rest of the time and you know order pizza and do normal family stuff like i did growing up um and so i think it's very important to both me and to eric that our kids grow up not not only appreciating who their grandpa is and knowing what a great figure in history he is but also just being kids and being normal american kids who love this country and who are proud to be american right and again the parents set the set the stage for the kids so if they feel like they're normal yeah they will be normal you know they're a trump but you know absolutely got a different life that god's called them to a different life and you'll just make it as comfortable and easy as possible what are you going to do with devices what do you i've heard you talk a little bit about this and this is constantly what everyone's trying to figure out well how do we raise kids in this new world of technology how do we stop addictions and phones and all of the scary world it's terrifying you guys are just coming up into this, yeah well I'm actually grateful that my kids are as young as they are because I still have full control over what happens with them, yeah, and that full control means we have no devices, my kids have none, no iPad, no iPhone, nothing, um you know Eric and I were at one time about a year ago we said okay if you have a great day at school and you finish all your homework and get back from sports you can have 15 minutes on the iPad, and then our son actually got in trouble, and we said, oh, you guys are a team, so the team loses the iPad for two weeks now, and it's so funny because for the first five days, they both were like, oh, we want the iPad. About a week into it, they kind of forgot the iPad existed, and Eric and I looked at each other. We said, we're never getting this back. We're throwing that thing in the trash. We're done with that, and it's very challenging. You know, I am not much of a person who likes to see regulation burdening people's lives or overregulation to any extent. I do think in this space I hear from moms especially who say we actually like what has happened in Australia and France where there is a an age ban. You cannot have a social media account until you're 15 or 16 years old. And I've actually talked to the president about this several times. And I think it's something that he's seriously considering. and that, you know, we are in kind of uncharted territory. What is this going to do to young kids' minds? You look at the fact that just looking at a screen boosts their dopamine and all of their feel-good chemicals in their body to such a level that you can't replicate that doing anything else. They create the addiction. They want you to be addicted. Yeah, we're setting them up for a lifetime of having to be on these devices constantly. So if we can prevent that by a couple of years, Eric and I are committed to that very much, absolutely in fact we did a couple of shows on this too that if you bring that now you have to decide when you have a baby you have to decide you're bringing it because you know a lot of moms are like should the baby be on it at one or two yeah all of a sudden it becomes literally like another person in the house and it becomes a barter were you good were you bad and so if you can hold that off as far as you can from here on out to heaven it is really the best for the home well and too i would also say that i know it's hard when you go out to dinner with your kids i see a lot of kids out at restaurants on phones and i get it it's very easy to just hand the phone over and then mom and dad can have a conversation but eric and i made a conscious decision from day one we were never going to give our kids a device at any restaurant and i think it's been amazing because the conversations we have whenever we sit down at the table with our kids whether it's at home or out it's it's remarkable the things that we talk about and they're getting that interpersonal communication that i think there's probably a generation of americans totally lacking yeah who have no idea how to communicate face to face because they haven't had to because they sit down and they pick up the phone wherever they are so i think you know it's incumbent upon us as the parents to set those parameters to ensure that yeah it's a little more challenging but sometimes that's the best path like i said Sometimes that's what I do. I take the harder path sometimes. Right. And I always say this to moms. I'm like, well, I made it. Coloring books, action figures. You just put them in a bag. Exactly. And they have, you know, just a great time there. And, you know, it is. It's something that you don't see anymore because everyone is just addicted to the phone. So I know a lot of moms are really struggling with this. So we hope that's some encouraging advice. All right. Fitness. I mean, you have made this a part of your life forever. Yeah. Because you're really quite inspiring for all of us. Not that we're ever going to get here with these muscles you've got. Thank you. No, that's so nice. I mean, this is, it's how I grew up. You know, both of my parents were into fitness growing up and are still to this day. My dad still plays full court basketball. He's almost 80 years old. No way. Yeah. And my mom works out, you know, multiple days a week. Oh, I've got to go hang out with my mom and get some tips from her. So I grew up kind of seeing this. And obviously, I played so many sports growing up and my brother, too. So it's sort of kind of been a constant in my life. And I'm really grateful that it was introduced to me early on because, you know, going and getting a workout in a lot of times for me is maybe the only time of the day that everyone's leaving me alone, that I'm alone with my thoughts. Yeah, when you're climbing that rope, no one else is with you. No way. But it's important. It's important to set time aside for ourselves. And if I get even 30 minutes or an hour a day, it's almost as much physical as it is mental for me to do it. And so it's been a priority for me. And I will say, I think maybe I've rubbed off a little on my husband because he's at the gym full time now, five, six days a week. And so it's a good thing. And you know what I also see is my kids want to emulate both of us. That's what happens. kids want to be like their parents and so they'll come with me sometimes to the CrossFit gym on Saturday morning or they always ask dad can we go go with you to the gym can we go work out mom when can i come with you on a bike ride that's contagious that's awesome and what a great way to set kids up for the future i love it what about your show do you love doing your show i do oh my goodness so fun thank you i i have a great time and it's funny because when I, when I officially said, all right, let's do this with Fox. And they said, all right, we're going to sign you and let's, you're going to have your own show. And I was so excited. And in my mind, somebody at Fox is going to be like, all right, here's what the show is going to be. Here's how it's going to run every week. And, and we'll just kind of, you know, set it up for you and we'll produce it for you. Yeah. That is the opposite of what happened. Actually. They literally said to me, what do you want this show to be? And I said, oh my gosh, I get to decide this this is amazing and but you have a background in television yeah i i do but you know then it becomes very personal and then like if it's got to be good so i was so impressed that they gave me that opportunity i said you know what i want it to be different i want to bring people inside of who is actually making the decision on this thing in washington dc who are the people who are affecting our lives and obviously i have a great opportunity to do that now so i have the best time yeah I'm so lucky oh so fun okay music another thing I mean are you playing do you get a chance to to play the piano it's so beautiful as often I wish there was a piano here oh my gosh me too because I just worked on this weekend I actually got about like 10 minutes to sit down and try to teach myself a new song which I usually don't get time to do and it's got to be an escape in a good way just a moment to kind of breathe and and anyone who plays a musical instrument I think will tell you it triggers a certain part of your brain that it's very calming actually even if i sit down for five minutes i just play the piano very quickly kind of walk away from it just like i can i can relax now but i love it you know i've always i i'm definitely right-brained i love drawing i love um you know music and all of that and so i wish i had more time but i'll tell you both of my kids i have doing piano lessons okay i figured and i vividly remember when i was a kid and my parents put me in piano lessons thinking to myself you know what I hate taking these lessons every week but one day if I'm able to just sit down at a piano and start to play it'll be worth it and here we are so fun what about singing you're gonna do any more songs listen I I had how fun no it's so fun that's I I am a person who never wants to look back on my life and say what and so when I had an opportunity to do to record some music I said you know what I know people I'm not going to back down yeah I know I'll get back down but you know what it it's been so fun and something so different and I really enjoyed all of it and so we'll see I don't I don't have anything right now planned but you never say never so we'll see what happens especially with you because I've heard people say to you you're going to run for office you could be this and you say I don't know. I may. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. We'll see. Whatever God puts in front of me, whatever door he opens for me, I try to walk through. So we'll see what happens. All right. Last two questions. What's it like? If you had your, you know, a night off with the kids and with Eric, what's a great family night for you? What do you guys love to do together? So actually, one of the things we really have fun doing together that I feel like we haven't done it in so long. We keep talking about it. We're going to have to do it. We got to do it. is we honestly, we love to go fishing. Oh, nice. Yeah, so we live on a golf course in Florida and we live on a golf course in New York during the summer. And there are fish in all the ponds. So we kind of go from pond to pond. This has been kind of a long time we've done this. And my son simultaneously likes to fish out golf balls at the same time, which then he cleans and tries to resell to people. Catch a fish and a golf ball. Yes, definitely Donald Trump's grandson, an entrepreneur at heart. So, yeah, we love to do that. I mean, we just love to, you know, honestly, one of my favorite nights is we'll go to this little pizza restaurant. They have a whole outdoor area. Eric and I will sit. The kids will run around and play. Then when the pizza comes, they come and eat. And it's just like, it's great because we all get to be together. Kids have fun together. It's one of those things where, you know, I think about all the time. If my kids were there with a phone, they wouldn't be out there, you know, take a football or something and throw it around. But they're out having fun together, making memories as siblings. My husband and I have an opportunity to connect, which is very important and you have to do. Do you get date nights at all? We force date nights. You do. It's hard because, you know, so many people kind of come into our orbit. And they're people we really enjoy being around. And every now and again, we'll have a night that Eric and I have said, okay, this is our designated date night of the week. Sometimes we plan it like three weeks out, but we look at our schedules and we try to plan it. and if that person just happens to show up in town and say oh hey you guys want to get dinner we're both like, we're not going to get dinner with them, we had a planned date night and i think it's important because it's so easy day to day to kind of get lost in all of it and to to lose the foundation of your family which i really think is the relationship that especially mom and dad have, yeah well especially all the travel all of it and so i think we have to prioritize that and we do, good for you Yeah. And I'm sure the president, he does call you probably spontaneously and say, could you go to China? We may or may not have gotten a couple of calls about going to China. He always likes to encourage me to get involved in things going on in North Carolina, my home state, for sure. But, yeah, he it's whether it's for my Fox show, whether I have a clothing line as well. Yes. Yeah. Fitness clothing line. So I have to travel some for that. There's always stuff going on. And then Eric and I are like, when are we going to go on a vacation? All we do is travel for work. One day we have to actually go on a vacation, which sadly, I kind of think our trip to Beijing was semi-vacation for the two of us. Or maybe your vacation, right? Maybe your vacation is just staying home. That's usually what happens. We both look at each other and we say, okay, whenever we have some time off, we just want to be at home with the kids, with the dogs, hanging out and being together. So that's usually what happens, which is great. You did a great job, Laura. Thank you. All right. Last question. It's America's 250th anniversary. At this moment in time for moms that are watching, how do we restore patriotism? How do we renew hope in our country and especially in our home? Because it is, it's tough right now. But we have so much to be thankful for in America. America's heritage and its history is amazing. How do you do that with your kids, and how should we do that this year with America's 250? Well, I think we have to. I think it's so fundamental to the future of this country. If you don't grow up loving our country, you'll never fight for our country. This country is kind of doomed to go down the wrong path if people are not willing to stand up and fight for the country we've had for 250 years. And, you know, for for us, I feel like we try to at every opportunity infuse something into our children, whether it's every night we do prayers with our kids. But the first thing we do is actually the Pledge of Allegiance before they go to bed every night. And we kind of talk about the history of what it means and what do those words actually mean and why is it important? and kind of teaching them little bits of history, whether it's got to do with grandpa or whether it's really old history of America and great things that this country has done. I mean, they're young, so it is challenging, but I think celebrating and seeing their parents celebrate is very important in this country. And, you know, I think we have to continue to teach the real history of America to our children. It's not a perfect history. America has grown leaps and bounds. We have come a long way in 250 years, but there is really no place on earth where you can find the freedom that we have here. There's no place on earth where it doesn't matter where you start. You are limited solely by how big your dreams are and how much you're willing to work for those dreams. And I think continuing to talk to children about that and telling them that there is no limit to what you can do in this country. you can be whatever you want to be is really important and we have to do it for our own children but for children everywhere and i think um that you know that's going to be fundamental to the future success of this country yeah and that's it you know obviously empowering moms promoting liberty and raising patriots yes at moms for america that's what we want to do we want to raise those kids that love god family country because those are our next leaders just like your children and my kids so thank you you're so welcome wasn't that fabulous thanks for joining us on the moms for america gosh thank you very much what an honor great so thank you it was wonderful all right here we go the interview is over and she's out i got my basket all of her favorite things yay thank you okay so great safe travel to you guys all right thank you thank you a special thank you to our sponsor the herzog foundation well moms i hope you enjoyed the rebroadcast of our episode celebrating our 250th moms for america podcast with our special guest Lara Trump, wasn't she great? I so enjoyed that sit down interview with her she was just so inspirational and we so appreciate all the great work that she's doing for our country and also this administration So I do want to leave with a reminder here, moms, you have such an important role in deciding the future of our country. Please make sure you vote your values in the upcoming midterms on November 3rd. All right, thanks for joining us again I'll see you next week. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Herzog Foundation.