Former President Trump led all fellow 2024 Republican presidential candidates in the Iowa Caucus on Monday evening and got visibly emotional during his victory speech.
After winning the contest, he began recognizing members of his family and mentioned Amalija Knavs, Melania Trump’s mother who passed away last week.
“I think most importantly, I want to thank my incredible wife, first lady, I’ll say former and maybe future, but more important than Melania, I want to thank her incredible, beautiful mother who passed away a few days ago,” Trump said, with a visible shift in his countenance.
He added, “And she’s up there, way up there. She’s looking down and she’s so proud of us. And I just want to say to Amalia, you are special, one of the most special people I’ve ever known. 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.”
Knavs passed away on Jan. 9, 2024. She was 78.
Knavs is survived by her husband, Victor, who the former president also briefly mentioned.
“They’re great people, great, great parents to all of us, really great parents.”
Trump also shared the impact his mother-in-law had on his youngest son, Barron. “Boy, did she take care of Barron. That’s how he got so tall. He only ate her food.”
Early in his remarks, Trump recognized the other 2024 Republican hopefuls, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy — who suspended his campaign after placing fourth in the contest.
He then thanked his children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, as well as his campaign officials for the decisive victory.
“I want to thank my family. Generally, they’ve worked so hard and they’ve taken so much abuse for being good people. I mean, good people. But Eric and Don, it really did. These two have been working so hard and they you know, they have another job also. So they have to do it all,” he said.
The former president, who has a reputation for often being divisive, struck a rare reconciliatory tone throughout his remarks.
H/T Fox News (read more at FoxNews.com)
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