Trump Mocked for Forgetting to Mention Eric and Lara in Victory Speech

After a swift victory in the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday, Donald Trump was mocked online over his speech for failing to mention two family members - both of whom were on stage with him.

The Associated Press and CNN called the race for Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, the moment polls closed across the state at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

In his victory speech celebrating the defeat of his Republican rival, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, in her home state, Trump thanked most of his immediate family. The former president appeared to be reading from notes when he listed the names of his wife, children and their spouses but did not mention his son Eric Trump and daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

"May I have the pleasure of introducing some incredible people," Trump said. "Because they stuck right from the beginning from the very moment we announced, and they believe in Make America Great Again. That's what they believe in. They believe in America first. We're putting America first. First of all, my family: Melania, Barron, Don Jr. and Kimberly, Ivanka and Jared, Tiffany and Michael. They're so, so supportive. So supportive of me and we really appreciate it and love them. They're great. We have a great family."

Newsweek reached out via email to Trump's representatives for an interview or comment on the criticism the former president is facing over appearing to forget his son and daughter-in-law during his speech. In response, Trump's spokesperson Steve Cheung told Newsweek on Saturday night: "They were up on stage with President Trump by his side as he crushed Nikki 'Birdbrain' in her home state."

Critics of the former president were quick to mock Trump over mentioning his other children but leaving out Eric and his wife, Lara.

BidensWins, an account on X, formerly Twitter, that supports President Joe Biden, shared a clip of Trump's speech, referring to him as "senile."

"BREAKING: Donald Trump is so senile he forgot to mention two members of his family, Eric and Lara Trump, while reading off a notecard," BidensWins posted on X. "Retweet to show off Trump's cognitive decline."

The post garnered more than 134,000 views and more than 3,000 "retweets" and 5,200 likes at the time of publication.

In another post on X, Ally Sammarco, a Democratic strategist and host for progressive media outlet MeidasTouch, wrote: "Trump just thanked all of his kids and their spouses except Eric and Lara lol."

Sunny Resistor, an X account that calls on people to "#ResistTrump" blasted the former president over appearing to use notes during the speech and still omitting two family members.

"OMGEE," Sunny Resistor wrote on X. "He needs NOTES to remember his family's names! And he still forgot ERIC and Lara! Poor Eric! So much was said about Biden using notes, but he doesn't need notes to remember his family's names. #TrumpNeedsNotes."

Maddow Blog, MSNBC host and author Rachel Maddow's website, also took to X to mock the former president over using notes.

"Wait... Did Donald Trump forget Eric and Lara are members of his family even though he's reading the names of his own family off of notes right in front of him," Maddow Blog posted on X.

Trump did mention Lara and Eric later in his victory speech, which also saw U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham greeted with boos.

Recently, the former president endorsed his daughter-in-law and North Carolina GOP chairman Michael Whatley to lead the Republican National Committee (RNC) after incumbent chairwoman Ronna McDaniel offered to step down after losing Trump's favor.

Lara addressed the former president's support for her as the next co-chair of the RNC during her speech at this year's annual Conservative Political Action Conference, calling it "a position for which I never imagined I would run, but I also never imagined that our country would be in such dire straits."