What was meant to be seen as a heartfelt family moment between President Donald Trump and two of his grandchildren turned into an online roasting session.
Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, attempted to soften the image of a president whose popularity in recent polls has taken a hit by sharing photographs of her two kids with their grandfather.
Lara, 43, posted three pictures of Trump, 79, with her 8-year-old son and her 6-year-old daughter. Eric Luke Trump (born Sept. 12, 2017) and Carolina Dorothy Trump (born Aug. 19, 2019) joined the president inside the Oval Office for some shared time in front of a camera.
One snapshot showed Luke sitting on Trump’s lap as he sat behind the Resolute Desk. Carolina looked on from the side. In a second pic, Trump gave his grandson a kiss behind his ear while the boy appears to be cringing and leaning away from the MAGA chief.
“Just being a grandpa,” Lara lovingly captioned the trio of photographs. However, posters on Threads zeroed in on that awkward picture of Trump trying to embrace Luke, who seems to be drawing back from his grandpa’s peck.
One person on the platform asked, “I wonder why his grandson is reeling away when Trump tried to kiss him? Weird.” A similar post read, “That last pic is so telling. That little [boy] is trying so hard to get away from grandpa. Poor baby.”
“Those kids do not look like they signed up to be props for an awkward Oval Office photo-op. The little girl looks like she wants to disappear, and the boy looks stiff as a board while Trump grabs his hand and goes in for that weird ear kiss. If your ‘grandpa moment’ makes the grandkids look uneasy, maybe stop forcing the camera,” advised a Trump critic.
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One commenter suggested, “What about some photos at home… Playing with the kids in the backyard… like a normal pop. Not these ‘set up’ photos.” Yet another poster simply wrote, “This is creepy.”
Lara’s identical Instagram photo carousel of her kids and her father-in-law got more positive responses from her community of followers on that app. For instance, a fan of the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee expressed, “Thanks for sharing these precious pics with us.”
“Oh, how they’ll appreciate the capture of these moments. I can only imagine,” a second Lara supporter claimed about Luke and Carolina’s Oval Office drop-in.
Lara married Trump’s second-oldest son, Eric Trump, at his father’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in November 2014. Following their wedding, she transitioned from being an “Inside Edition” television producer to an on-air Fox News personality.
Both Lara and Eric were fully on board with Trump’s presidential campaigns, beginning with his successful run for the White House in 2016. In February 2024, an endorsement from her powerful father-in-law secured her position as second-in-command at the RNC.
The weekly “My View with Lara Trump” program debuted on Fox News in February 2025, the month after Trump was inaugurated as president for the second, non-consecutive time on Jan. 20.
Lara also tried moonlighting as a recording artist with the release of songs such as “Hero,” a collaboration with singer-songwriter Madeline Jaymes. Like her Oval Office-set photos of her children with Trump, the online reaction to the North Carolina native’s music career was polarizing.
Trump’s clan of grandchildren also includes five kids by his son, Donald Trump Jr., three kids by his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and one kid by his daughter, Tiffany Trump. The late Ivana Trump was the mother of Eric, Don Jr., and Ivanka. Ex-model Marla Maples gave birth to Tiffany.
