The secrets of Melania Trump
An unauthorized biography reveals new details about the first lady of the United States: her power in the White House, the cold war with her stepdaughter Ivanka Trump and her decision to sleep in a different floor than her husband Donald Trump.
Of the first ladies who have passed through the White House, Melania Trump is one of the most enigmatic. Her predecessors used to be proactive and charismatic, like Michelle Obama. Or much more politically involved, like Hillary Clinton. But she remains reserved, quiet, and with a cold and distant look.
This attitude has caused public opinion to interpret it in many ways. Some see her as one more victim of a macho and misogynistic president, and even make jokes of the type "Free Melania" (Free Melania). Others consider her a rich woman, unconcerned with reality and locked in her ivory castle. Some even say that she defends her husband at all costs.
But beyond the rumors, very few know what the current wife of Donald Trump really is like. That's why Free, Melania (Melania, libre), an unauthorized biography written by CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett, has sparked so much interest in the United States. There, the journalist tries to play a woman whom she has judiciously followed in recent years. And it reveals various secrets and unknown facts about her.
Melania and Donald Trump: Separate Rooms
Bennett says, for example, that Melania and Donald Trump have been sleeping in separate places since they joined the White House. But not only in different rooms, something common for presidential couples. In fact, they live on different floors: the president sleeps on the second floor of the complex, and she decided to move up one floor, where Michelle Obama's mother slept in the past Administration. It is a kind of annex, separate from her husband's, with its own rooms.
Apparently she asked for it because she was terrified of losing her personal space in the White House. And there she has managed to create her own kingdom, a kind of bubble of comfort in a world that is alien to her. However, many things still make her feel confined: she cannot open a window without authorization from the Secret Service, she is prohibited from going out into the gardens without her security men doing a perimeter, and she cannot even control the temperature of her rooms. .
Beyond those logistical details, everything indicates that the first lady is much more powerful than she appears. According to Bennett, Melania has become more distrustful since the disappointment of the presidential campaign, in which, because of her communications team, she read a speech full of plagiarized phrases to Michelle Obama. She decided that from then on she was only going to trust her own judgment, not listening so much to outside advisers.
The first lady usually sends messages through her gestures and her clothing. When she's upset with Trump, she's distant. The controversial jacket she wore last year (above) was a message to Ivanka.
On several occasions, she has managed to get her husband to fire people who have disavowed her. The most famous, Mira Ricardel, Deputy National Security Advisor, had argued with her and members of her team during a trip to Africa. At first, Melania chose to discreetly ask her husband to take her out. But since she ignored her, she published an unprecedented statement saying that "it is the position of the Office of the First Lady that Ricardel no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House."
Many described the event as unusual, as never before had a first lady publicly asked for the head of an official. But the strategy worked: Trump, infuriated by the shame his wife was putting him through, had no choice but to remove Ricardel from his duties.
Relationship with Ivanka Trump
Bennett reveals in the book a bomb related to Ivanka Trump, one of her greatest advisers and daughter of the president's first marriage. Apparently, before her husband became president, Melania got along well with her. But since the family came to power things have changed. Above all, because the first lady is bothered by the fact that her stepdaughter assumes a leading role and gets involved in activities that, normally, are assumed by the wives of the leaders.
It doesn't help that the media describes Melania as a "show wife" or a "bland model", while treating Ivanka as "a smart, hardworking mother" or "the real power in the White House." Nor that, according to sources close to the presidential family, Ivanka presents herself as "the first daughter of the nation" and is always looking for visibility. Even so, they have never argued directly and their relationship is more like a cold war: "Cordial, but not close," according to the journalist.
She does not have a good relationship with her stepdaughter Ivanka Trump: they never go out together in a photo. Nor with Vice President Mike Pence's wife, Karen. With them she maintains a cold war.
Something similar happens with Karen Pence, the wife of Vice President Mike Pence. According to Bennett, she has such a cool relationship with Melania that when they travel together on the presidential plane, she never invites her into her spacious cabin, a tradition her predecessors used to follow. In addition, when taking photos together, she does not remove her heels, which makes her look much taller than Karen, something considered rude in the social world.
Hints to Donald Trump
According to the book, Melania specializes in sending these types of messages through her behavior and, above all, her clothing. When she's upset with Trump, for example, she often dresses in men's clothing and ties her hair up, knowing that the president doesn't like that. Also famous are the incidents in which she withdraws her hand when she tries to touch it or in which she pouts in a fraction of a second to show her displeasure.
This also explains one of the most controversial episodes of her tenure as first lady: the visit to migrant families, separated by her husband's decision. That day she wore a jacket with an enigmatic inscription: "I really don't care, do you?" Apparently, it was a direct message for her stepdaughter Ivanka, who usually monopolizes the philanthropic and social events of the Administration.
As Bennett says: "After covering him all this time, I know that everything he does has meaning." Even the smallest gesture.
