Donald Trump had the eyes of the world on him as he declared victory in the US presidential election, but more than a few glances shot across the stage to his 18-year-old son, Barron.
Addressing a sea of jubilant supporters cheering for his astonishing comeback four years after leaving the White House, Trump was flanked by family members including wife Melania, daughter Ivanka, and his youngest child who towers above him at 6-foot-7.
In January, Trump addressed his son’s height after a record-breaking win in the Iowa caucuses.
The former President thanked his mother-in-law Amalija Knavs, who died that month, for all she had done for the Trumps.
‘Boy, did she take care of Barron,’ Trump said from his campaign headquarters in Des Moines.
‘That’s how he got so tall – he only ate her food,’ he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Trump in his speech celebrating winning the Iowa Republican caucus by 51% of the vote said Knavs was ‘way up there, she’s looking down and she’s so proud of us’.
‘I just want to say, Amalija you are special. You are one of the most special people I’ve ever known,’ Trump said.
‘And that was a tough period of time for the family but she’s amazing, she was amazing. So I just want to thank what she’s done for our family and her husband…
‘Great people, great parents to all of us, really great parents but also to Barron.’
Trump added of his 17-year-old son: ‘I said you’re gonna be a basketball player. He said, well I like soccer dad, actually. I thought… at you’re height I like basketball better but you can’t talk them into everything.’
He also called Barron a ‘special boy,’ according to the Daily Mail, and said he was ‘watching on TV’.
Trump thanked his entire family who he said have ‘worked so hard’ and ‘taken so much abuse for being good people’. He said, drawing cheers, ‘I want to thank my incredible wife, the first lady – I’ll say former and maybe future.’
Announcing his victory in the 2024 election, Trump again paid tribute to his late mother-in-law, saying Amalija would be proud of what he had achieved.
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