Lara Trump busted out the world’s tiniest violin for her family when she claimed “it’s not a cakewalk” for the Trumps, while defending the White House from backlash over an AI-generated clip shared by deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.
The video depicted Lara Trump; her husband, Donald Trump’s second son, Eric; Scavino; and his wife, Erin Scavino, spraying Champagne while riding on a luggage cart purportedly after the White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Appearing on the Rupert Murdoch-owned British newspaper The Sun’s “Harry Cole Saves The West” podcast, Lara Trump was challenged by host Harry Cole over the optics of the clip ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Watch from the 12-minute mark on YouTube.
Cole noted that “Republican voters are preparing perhaps to sit on their hands and stay at home” while facing rising everyday costs, including gas, coffee and ground beef.
And he asked the Fox News host whether there was “a bit of a disconnect between the sort of reality of the world of Americans and this sort of golden age that seems to be going on behind the doors of Pennsylvania Avenue?”
Lara Trump dismissed the suggestion, saying the president has been “really unconventional in everything he does” and that “the rules have never really applied” to him.
“I think Americans understand this is a fun thing,” she continued, speaking about the video and calling it “tongue-in-cheek.”
“Anyone who’s truly upset about that, I think probably needs to go out and have a little bit of fun because I think they’re a little bit stiff, as far as I’m concerned,” she added.
Cole pushed back, suggesting the video fed into a “wider narrative” that “the rules don’t apply” to Donald Trump.
“He’s a man who’s sort of bent the rules in terms of demolishing the East Wing there, building the ballroom, building the helipad. Is he really focused?” he asked. “Can he really understand, do you think, the day-to-day realities of the American public who are struggling? And is that sort of political gravity-defying touch, as you kind of put it, does he still have it 10 years on?”
“I think he absolutely does,” Lara Trump replied, arguing the president isn’t “bogged down by all of the political nonsense and the political etiquette” and is “straight” with Americans.
Later in the interview, she turned to the impact Trump’s political career has had on his relatives.
“We’ve paid a very high price in our family. As everyone knows, it has not been a cakewalk for any of us. Of course, not a cakewalk for President Trump, but he does it because he really feels like he can make a big difference,” she said.
Cole acknowledged her claim that politics has taken “a toll on the family” but raised allegations that the Trump Organization and family “have made a supreme amount of money in the last couple of years.”
“Are you concerned and is the president concerned that, should these midterms go south with the Republicans, it’s going to be a long two years of batting away these allegations?” he asked.
Lara Trump pooh-poohed the prospect. “I’m not concerned and I — no one in our family has anything with which to be concerned,” she said, arguing that Trump would face attacks from critics regardless of how he acted.