Who is really Melania Trump?
Prisoner of a husband-master or a devoted wife? A year after her arrival at the White House, and after a public absence of about a month, the First Lady continues to be an almost illegible character. Here is what American friends, political scientists and journalists think of her
She is probably the most mysterious character ever to enter the White House, the only one capable of attracting opposite narratives to her account: for liberals, Melania Trump is the prisoner of a sexist and psychopathic husband who sends coded messages to be saved (for this reason version there is even a hashtag: #freeMelania); to the people of Fox News, she is a good wife devoted to the family. For sure - says Elizabeth Mehren, First Lady expert for the Los Angeles Times - "her confidentiality and her deep sense of privacy make her different from all the others who have occupied that public role before her".
His gestures often lend themselves to ambiguous interpretations. It has recently disappeared from the spotlight for more than three weeks: the official motivation - a period of convalescence following a kidney surgery - has not served to reassure the media, to the point that, to calm the increasingly insistent rumors of an abandonment of the marital roof due to her husband's continuing sex scandals, the First Lady reassured everyone on Twitter about her stay in the White House.
A few days later, Rudolph Giuliani denied with an official note, just joined the legal staff of the president, who - commenting on the case of the pornstar Stormy Daniels who allegedly had an affair with Trump hidden for 130 thousand dollars - had claimed that Melania was al 100% on the husband's side. The same woman who had defined "boy talk", male speeches, her husband's offensive words about women that emerged during the electoral campaign no longer allows anyone to attribute leniency to her.
However, more than actions, it is what she does not do (or did not do) that feeds her mystery: Melania did not participate in Donald's election campaign and for the first six months of presidency she did not move to the White House. She rarely accompanies her husband on official occasions - from international summits to the historic meeting with the North Korean leader - and, when she does, she always emphasizes her autonomy. At the State of the Union Address, for example, dressed entirely in white, she went to Capitol Hill in a car other than Trump's, to sit in her seat a minute before the start. On that occasion, many noted that the choice of the dress (by Dior) was reminiscent of the protest gesture of the Democratic deputies, who at Trump's first speech to Congress dressed in white against the new president.
"The mystery depends only on the fact that he is a very private person," reassures Guido G. Lombardi, a long-time acquaintance of the Trump who shares a residence at Trump Tower and one in Florida with them. «The media have been against her from day one. You are not like Donald who knows how to take them head on, he prefers not to expose himself so as not to fall into the pitfalls ».
More analytical Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury, the book that revealed the secrets of the Trump administration: "Nobody really knows who Melania is, probably not even her husband. Over the past decade they have lived relatively separate lives and have spent little time together. ' In his book, Wolff describes Melania as the only one who believed in the possible election of Trump and, precisely for this reason, the only one opposed to the candidacy. "Winning the presidency and having a common life in a relatively small environment like the White House was a shock to the marriage," he explains. "The new role requires that their union be something that is not: conventional."
If it is true, as her friend Lisa Bytner said, that Melania's motto has always been "Live and let live", the former Slovenian model applies it perfectly to the new chapter of her marriage. According to a reconstruction by the Washington Post, the President and the First Lady sleep in separate beds, never dine together and lead independent lives on vacation. Between the West Wing - the west wing of the White House that houses the offices of the president and that of his daughter Ivanka - and the East Wing - the east wing dedicated to the First Lady - there is a border that is rarely crossed. The exceptions are rare, and for the hour of memorable only the preparation of the dinner for the meeting with Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron remains, who are greeted by the First Lady with a Franco-American white hat: "A diva's crown, a great gesture of independence, a church hat (…) that outlined a force field capable of keeping bad people out, ”fashion critic Robin Givhan wrote.
It is then that the reluctant First Lady transforms into a modern Jacqueline Kennedy capable of using fashion diplomacy better than anyone else.
"Mrs. Trump, ”explains Myra Gutin, a biographer of Barbara Bush,“ behaves like a ceremonial First Lady. It hosts some events, accompanies the president only on some of his travels, and is not engaged in any political activity ». Last month he finally unveiled his initiative for the White House on cyberbullying entitled Be Best: "The first sign that he could play a more active role in the coming months, even if after the announcement there has been no further gesture for" to sell "his project to the Americans".
The platform arrived many months late, not only because Melania struggles to enter the role, but also because the idea of focusing her commitment on hate on the Net is considered by the circle of Trump - the cyberbully president - a ' at least a bizarre idea. Yet Melania never questioned her project and to the most important Silicon Valley exponents, invited for the occasion, she said: "I really think we need to find a better way to talk to each other, to argue and t o respect each other."
Although there are no concrete signs of a new operational course for the First Lady (her staff continues to be only 10, half that of Michelle Obama), the "truth" is beginning to emerge. The infamous speeches copied from Michelle Obama's were allegedly commissioned by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. Partly also due to the responsibility of Melania, who - according to the American edition of Vanity Fair - would never have given any kind of feedback or help to the bungling speechwriters hired by Ivanka's husband. For her part, the First Daughter, who has never hidden neither her dislike of her stepmother nor her thirst for power, has often found herself forced to compensate for Melania's absence.
Raised in Communist Slovenia, Ms. Trump never abandons the mental model of that society. The friends with whom she shares an apartment in Manhattan at the beginning of her modeling career tell of a girl who did not go out very often and who walked around the house with ankle weights. According to photographer Matthew Atanian, it is precisely that rigidity that prevents her from becoming a successful model, but at the same time that affects Donald Trump. The two meet one evening at a party. Taking advantage of a ride to his companion's toilet, Donald asks for her phone number, but Melania gets hers. The rest is history, especially in the media, with Trump who over the years will never miss an opportunity to advertise their sexual performances and the physical qualities of his wife. The pinnacle is reached when she admits to radio host Howard Stern that he allowed her to have a child as long as she got her body back in a week. Ironically, it is motherhood that changes Melania, which makes Barron her only interest and project. "She didn't join her husband in the White House for the first six months," says Elizabeth Mehren, "because she wanted her son to finish the semester at her New York school." A choice that cost New York City $ 1 million a week. A scandal? Not at all. For the "First Mum" there is nothing that matters more than her son, including the White House.
