Inside Lara Trump’s World
Interview by Caroline Downey
Photography by Andrea Hanks
Design by Oscar Lopez
Makeup by Marisol Moyse
Hair by Fabian Cisneros
The Conservateur’s first cover girl. Lara Trump at Mar-a-Lago wearing a magenta iridescent taffeta ball gown.
Lara Trump warmly invites The Conservateur into her family’s secluded slice of paradise, exuding a cool Hollywood glamour in biker shorts, a tank top, and glittery baby pink Golden Goose sneakers.
Mar-a-Lago (Spanish for “Sea to Lake”) is a spectacular oceanfront property built by a Palm Beach socialite in 1927. Nicknamed the “Winter White House” in 2016, the Mediterranean-style private club is now one of multiple homesteads for the Trumps, who, like many Republicans, found sanctuary in the Sunshine State after the tumult of 2020.
Besides offering a refuge from the limelight and progressivism, Florida was free and prosperous even amid a pandemic, making it a no-brainer place for Lara and her husband Eric to raise their two children.
“We moved to Florida for our kids. We wanted to be around people who would treat them and us well,” Lara says, corralling her little ones onto her lap. “Florida embodies American values.”
You never know what will happen when you make a big move, but they feel vindicated after the political chaos of the last few years. “It’s the best decision we ever made,” she confides. Florida welcomes conservatives and offers more room to roam. A major perk has been getting her children outside and away from screens and devices, she says.
An avid rider, she wears a blush cheer gauze gown belted with clustered pearls while sitting atop a dark bay German warmblood.
She shares her motherhood journey. “If you would have asked me ten years ago, I would have had a different answer on kids,” she says. “There was never a perfect time,” a refrain echoed by many modern women torn between career and family. Then Eric stepped in and encouraged them to “get the baby train moving,” and suddenly their lives were enriched beyond measure.
Hollywood celebrities, medical professionals, and corporations spread the dangerous lie that childrearing can and should be deferred so women can live the lives of their dreams, sans the inconvenience of a baby. But sometimes “later” comes and it’s too late, she says. Besides, Lara doesn’t see it as a zero-sum game. With kids, she’s more woman than she’s ever been, and she’s leaving a legacy.
“I never imagined that the old me before kids would feel as empowered in womanhood as a mom. It is the ultimate feminist move to grow a human inside your body, push them out, and nurture them,” she says with confidence. “You are the reason the world continues to function. I felt so much power, like, ‘wow this is really incredible that I did this.’”
So, Beyoncé almost had it right. Who run the world? Mothers.
For Lara, family always comes first. Trump at her Florida home wearing a medallion guipure crop top and a treated illusion tulle skirt.
Inherited from her own mother, Lara’s parenting philosophy is refreshing and real, but some may consider it old-fashioned today. “I want to raise my kids to be great human beings, to treat people with kindness, to work hard. Those are inherently conservative values,” she nods. “Every moment of free time I get, I spend it with my kids.”
She and her spouse are teaching their children to be good citizens too, instilling civic duty and love of country — foreign concepts in some quarters of the culture. Every night before her kids go to sleep, they pray that God blesses them and the nation.
One evening, before one of those bedtime devotions, her four-year-old son Luke, “without even missing a beat, stood up and put his hand over his heart and recited the pledge of allegiance,” which he said he learned at school.
“Parents need to take back the reins,” Lara asserts as she guides a Spanish Andalusian through the stables in a blush silk gown with embroidered tulle and crystal embroidery.
Safe in DeSantisland, a majority of Floridians are proudly patriotic, especially the many Republican transplants who escaped blue state tyranny during Covid-19. Lara’s family doesn’t have to worry as much about critical race theory in classroom curricula or obscene books in the children’s library. That environment suits her, she says. There’s also less of an invasive press stalking their every move.
But Lara remembers when she didn’t feel quite so secure. There was a time when her family was targeted viciously, and the vitriol followed them everywhere.
“We were all a little naive in the beginning,” the North Carolina native says with a sigh. “We assumed there was a nastiness in politics, but nothing prepares you for that.”
The critics assumed their attack positions before her father-in-law had even reached the bottom of the golden escalator in New York City’s Trump Tower. The mainstream press and politicos left no corner of their private lives uncriticized, blasting even Lara’s animal rights activism and Eric’s charitable fundraisers to cure child disease, she laments.
“It was especially a foreign feeling for a family who wasn’t involved in politics. Whereas the Bushes, the Clintons, they grew up like this,” she says.
It took them a while to acclimate to the scrutiny that comes with being the First Family. Each time her family was smeared, Lara took it very personally, at least for a while. Amid the uncertainty, Lara counted on true friends.
“There are people out there who know you’re good people,” she says with gratitude.
“Florida embodies American values,” Lara says from her porch wearing a swirl cascading diamond maxi gown.
In the political lion’s den, you’d better have endurance and stamina, traits which Lara had already acquired from years of high-intensity fitness. Her friends say she’s the strongest woman they know. She pushes her limits at frequent CrossFit-style workouts, Pilates classes, and triathlons, which she trains for by running, biking, or swimming at least once a week. Typically sporting some athleisure combination of Lululemon and Splits 59, Lara likes to vary her routine, “just to mix it up and keep my body guessing,” she says. Rocking a toned physique that is proof of her rigorous exercise regimen, Lara embodies an aspirational health and wellness mindset.
Her friends say she’s the strongest woman they know. Lara sports a Splits59 workout set on the ropes.
Despite her beauty and accomplishments, Lara, and the other ladies that share her last name, are accustomed to being overlooked by lifestyle media and Fashion Inc. Just as Melania Trump was one of the only first ladies to be refused a cover in Vogue, while even Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush got their time in the sun, Lara was never interviewed by Vanity Fair, Elle, Marie Claire or any of the other fashion and lifestyle magazines, all of which claim to cater to all women but espouse a left wing agenda that doesn’t represent half of them.
She doesn’t need Vogue for validation. Lara at Mar-a-Lago wearing a magenta iridescent taffeta ball gown.
While behind the scenes, Lara is a jill of all trades and the moral stewardess of her home, in public she is in front of the camera tackling the political fray. Last year, she admirably decided not to run for a Senate seat in North Carolina, her home state, for the sake of her family.
“My parents taught me that when you do something, you give 100 percent of yourself. For me to be the kind of mom I want to be for my kids and the kind of senator I want to be for my home state, I was going to stretch myself too thin,” she says. “But there will be a time in the future.”
While committed to her children, Lara didn’t retreat from the bully pulpit. On frequent Fox News appearances and her weekly podcast, The Right View, Lara readily and articulately discusses the pressing issues confronting America. Before media hits, she “asks God to use her as a vessel.” She represents her family, and her country, with conviction and honor.
Since becoming a parent, education especially weighs on her heart. “There is an entire generation of Americans who are being indoctrinated to hate this country. Schools are being infiltrated with ideas that aren’t even based in science or reality,” she says. “Thirty years from now when those people are in charge, it’s terrifying to think about what will happen.” Parents need to take back the reins, she asserts.
The ultimate all-American woman. Lara rides off in a blush cheer gauze gown belted with clustered pearls.
Lara guides us to her friend’s stables, where she greets a handsome dark bay German warmblood for her afternoon ride. She is wearing breeches, Italian boots, and a breathable shirt. An equestrian since the age of ten, she asked for a horse on every Christmas list she ever wrote. We’re left wondering, what can’t she do? She puts on her gloves and straps on her helmet, and she’s off to the races.
Caroline Downey is editor in chief of The Conservateur and education reporter at National Review. She can be found on Twitter @carolinedowney_.
Andrea Hanks is a former model and Fashion Week-turned-Trump White House photographer best known for capturing First Lady Melania Trump’s exquisite style. She can be found on Instagram @ahanksphoto.
Oscar Lopez is a Cuban-American fashion designer, winner of Project Runway “Under the Gunn” in 2014, best known for his elaborate haute-couture designs worn by famed celebrities and socialites. He can be found on Instagram @realoscarlopez.
