Co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, Lara Trump, spoke at the Alabama Republican Party’s 2024 Summer Dinner in Montgomery on Friday evening.
Trump, daughter-in-law to the former President, explained the decision to take the role began with a phone call.
“I got a call sometime in January from a very persuasive person by the name of Donald J. Trump, you may know,” she said. “And when he called me, he said, ‘Listen, I think this is a great position for you. I think we’re gonna make changes at the RNC, and I really want you to run for co-chair.’”
Trump was apprehensive and originally turned down the position.
“I said, I don’t know. I have two young kids. I have a lot of professional pursuits of my own. I don’t know that this is something that I can undertake right now with eight months to, let’s face it, the most critical and important election of any of our lifetime. So I said, I don’t think so. And he goes, ‘well, honey, you’re the best for the job. It’s gotta be you’. He said, ‘okay, take your time. Everybody wants it, but I think it should be you.’”
Ultimately, it was the love for her children that solidified the decision to take on the role.
“So, truthfully, it was that night when I was actually putting my kids in bed that I looked at my son Luke and my daughter Carolina, and I knew how much time it would mean away from them,” Lara Trump said. “I knew really what a heavy lift this would ultimately be to come into this role, to try and sort of change the image in a lot of ways of the RNC. But as I looked at my kids and as I was putting them in bed, I said, you know what? I think I have to do it because of my kids, because what we’re fighting for right now in this country, what we’re fighting for on November 5, is truly not just about those of us in this room. It’s about our kids. It’s about our grandkids.”
“And so when he called me the next day, because, you know, he called, I said, okay, I will do it.”
“I’ve been so honored to come into this role. It’s really been incredible.”
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
