Lara Trump: What role does Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law play?

Everything about Lara Trump is big: big body, big words, and now big ambitions too? While her father-in-law, the party and family patriarch Donald Trump, is turning from a human being into a messiah these days, she is playing the loyal apostle.

But Lara is much more than that. As head of the Republicans, the 41-year-old is playing a key role in transforming the Grand Old Party into a Trump court and permanently welding the family clan to the top of the American political elite.

Lara Trump: out of the shadows and into the fast lane

“You like Lara, don’t you?” Trump asked fans at his golf resort in Miami last week. The MAGA crowd cheered. His daughter-in-law was “a social climber,” said the ex-president, who is increasingly likely to be re-elected. He was understating it.

Lara Lea Yunaska, born in a tranquil coastal town in North Carolina, once moved to faraway New York, where she attended culinary school. Six months after her move, the former waitress and bartender met a lanky guy in a nightclub – the two looked at each other “across the room”. In 2014, she married Eric Trump after six years of dating – and became part of what is probably the most powerful dynasty in the country.

She worked as a TV producer for four years – until 2016. Before that fateful year, she was apolitical, US media reports. But when she saw her father-in-law campaigning, that was her “awakening”. She helped to make her home state submissive. Trump won, including in North Carolina. Her hunger for power was ignited – and has apparently not been quenched to this day. While other women in the family, such as wife Melania or daughter Ivanka, burned under the scorching heat of the patriarch and gradually withdrew from the public eye, she stood firm. It would pay off.

In January, Trump asked his daughter-in-law to run for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, the organizing body of the Republicans. His direct descendants dropped out for various reasons. But it had to be a Trump, someone the head of the family could trust. After all, the RNC, which is largely responsible for the party’s finances, had long been a thorn in the MAGA man’s side.

She was “shocked” by the “big task,” Lara Trump said in an interview with the New York Times. If she hesitated, it wasn’t for long. In March, she took over the party chairmanship without an opponent or a single vote – her predecessor, Ronna McDaniel, had thrown in the towel beforehand. Since then, the Trumps have always had their fingers in the Republican wallet. Michael Whatley, with whom she shares the post, is dutifully going along as a loyal Trumpist with less of a strong desire to shape things.

The Prototype Woman in Donald Trump’s America

When Lara Trump, who was already 6’1″ tall without heels, glided onto the stage of the Republican convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, people screamed. Her father-in-law Donald, white plaster on orange skin, smiled patronizingly from one good ear. His son Eric, Lara’s husband, stood behind him in the second row.

“I know what you’re hearing out there about Donald Trump,” Lara said to the TV viewers (especially the female viewers). “But when I look at Donald Trump, I see a wonderful father, father-in-law and of course grandfather to my two young children Luke and Carolina.” She wrapped the crowd around her finger, skillfully tugging on thousands of tear ducts with the story of how her children watched the attempted murder of their loving grandpa on TV. Grateful audience or not: Lara is a born entertainer – as if she herself were of Trump’s blood.

If you want to get a perhaps not deeper, but perfectly censored impression of her, take a look at her Truth Social channel. On her father-in-law’s Twitter clone, she serves up a finely seasoned mixture of proud mom and ultra-right patriot – the prototype woman in Trump’s America. In terms of her appearance, she also relies on the typical American “housewife look” – for good reason. This way she can appeal to voters in the traditional suburbs and small towns. That possibly decisive group for whom Trump is actually too macho.

But Lara Trump is a master at playing the dual role – loving family person on the one hand, tough power politician on the other. That is exactly what makes her so valuable to Donald Trump.

A party to rule them all

Lara is not only supposed to sell Trumpism to the outside world, but above all to secure the family’s power within the party. As a kind of treasurer of power, she is supposed to break the last bit of resistance within her own ranks.

Democratic President Joe Biden may call his doubters “bedwetters.” For the Trumps, critics are just one thing: enemies. When Lara took over as RNC chair in March, she didn’t hesitate for long. She fired dozens of employees and played a decisive role in turning the venerable party of various conservative flavors into an either-or club. She held training sessions across the country to recruit up to 100,000 Trump supporters as volunteer election observers – so that “2020 can never happen again.” Contrary to expectations, Trump was spot on with his nepotistic choice. Literally. Lara de facto merged the previously largely independent party organization with Trump’s election campaign. According to Time magazine, she has raised around $280 million for the party’s coffers since taking office.

Her core task would be fulfilled if Trump won in November. RNC leaders are particularly important during the election campaign. Will Lara then retreat into the background? That remains to be seen.

With her rapid rise, she has already put herself in a precarious position. Family or not, her father-in-law is known for punishing those who fail. Or stealing the show. As the New York Times aptly put it: “With a lot of airtime comes a big risk.” Would she throw herself into the line of fire for her children’s grandfather if it came down to it?

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