A bizarre clip from an interview between conservative commentator Alex Stein and Lara Trump in which a baby doll was subjected to a variety of theatrical abuses has gone viral on social media.
Lara Trump is the wife of Eric Trump and the daughter-in-law of Donald Trump. Previously working as a press surrogate and adviser for her father-in-law, she was recently elected as co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) by a unanimous vote after the former president endorsed her for the role.
She has raised eyebrows and alarms for many after pledging that she would use the position to ensure that all of the organization’s funds went to helping reelect her father-in-law in November, leading to worries that funds would be used for his legal bills and that down-ballot Republican candidates would suffer.
On Saturday, a clip from a recent appearance Lara Trump made on a show hosted by Stein, a right-wing commentator known for disrupting local government meetings and confronting politicians in public, was passed around on X, formerly Twitter, and remarked upon for its bizarre content surrounding a baby doll. After a bit in which another host for the show asked Lara Trump to hold a baby and sign an autograph, Stein produced a baby doll and theatrically punted it offscreen, claiming frustration with the other host for bringing babies on-set. He later subjected the doll to various other abuses, like hitting it on the head with his shoe.
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“During Lara Trump’s interview, Alex Stein used a baby doll to pretend to punt a baby off his set,” X account PatriotTakes wrote in a post. “Afterwards, Stein lit the doll on fire, slammed it, repeatedly hit it in the head with a ‘Biden’ shoe, advised having babies smoke, and threatened to light the doll’s hand on fire.”
“Gotta love those Republican ‘Conservative Christian’ Family Values,” one user wrote in a reply to the account’s post.
“Oh but tell us MAGAs how Dems are inappropriate with children,” another user wrote.
As of Saturday afternoon, the post had been viewed over 420,000 times.
During Lara Trump’s interview, Alex Stein used a baby doll to pretend to punt a baby off his set.
Afterwards, Stein lit the doll on fire, slammed it, repeatedly hit it in the head with a “Biden” shoe, advised having babies smoke, and threatened to light the doll’s hand on fire. pic.twitter.com/8XcFTIPo1W
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) March 16, 2024
In response to the traction that the odd clip received on social media, Stein responded to the PatriotTakes account with a screenshot of an online dictionary’s definition of “satire.”
As the PatriotTakes account noted, the episode of Stein’s show featuring Lara Trump’s appearance also featured other alarming material, including the host’s inviting viewers to take a pledge to storm government buildings and Target stores, for the latter citing conservative grievances over the company selling products targeting transgender customers last Pride Month. A host also asked the RNC co-chair during her interview about the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, to which she asked if its validity was “even up for debate.”
Newsweek reached out to the RNC via email on Saturday evening for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.