Lara Trump Scrambles After Fox Host Says Trump Has Lost 'The Old Magic' In Awkward Viral Clip

Fox News contributor and Trump campaign spokeswoman Lara Trump was quick to refute a claim from Fox Business host Stuart Varney that her father-in-law—former Republican President Donald Trump—has lost "the old magic" after making a presidential bid announcement that was criticized for being rather "low energy" by politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Lara Trump—the wife of the former President's son Eric Trump—immediately went into damage control mode, telling Varney that Donald Trump still has the same energy he displayed on the campaign trail ahead of the 2016 general election.

She said she "highly disagreed" with Varney's take on a news network that has typically been criticized for its often deferential attitude toward and fawning coverage of the former President.

You can watch their exchange in the video below.

Varney said:

“I have to say, there wasn’t a great reception to the speech last night. Those of us on the outside looking at it, it didn’t seem that he got the old magic, you know what I mean?"

To that, Lara Trump replied:

"Oh, well I highly disagree with that. Look, for Donald Trump from the very beginning, from the first day he came down the escalator in 2015, in Trump Tower it's never been about elected officials, politicians, people in the swamp in D.C."

"It's been about the American people and if you look around the room last night, you had people there from all walks of life."

"The energy there at Mar-a-Lago was absolutely incredible. It really did to me feel like the 2015, 2016 campaign all over again."

Later, when asked whether people will come out and vote for Trump in 2024, Lara Trump said that people "know how good it was with Trump in office."

She assured Varney that even those who "dislike his tweets and personality" can envision "a better trajectory for their lives."

But her decision to defend Trump rang hollow and garnered immediate criticism online.

Trump's announcement—which he delivered at his Mar-a-Lago resort club—lasted more than an hour and was described as "incredibly low energy" by ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl.

The speech—which was riddled with outright falsehoods and inaccuracies—apparently bored much of his audience, including people who tried to leave but were blocked by security guards who were perhaps concerned that the ballroom would empty out before Trump had finished.

The New York Times this week reported that Trump's announcement—which has been largely discouraged by GOP insiders who have urged senior leadership to break from Trump following the GOP's disappointing midterm election performance—is largely an attempt to "inject uncertainty" into ongoing Justice Department investigations into his alleged criminality.