Melania Trump: the unusual conciliatory speech of the first lady who prefers to "stay out of politics"
It was, perhaps, her most important speech since she arrived at the White House as first lady.
Although she has stayed away from podiums and speeches in recent years, Melania Trump, the wife of the president of the United States, joined other members of the family on Tuesday at the Republican Convention, where her husband will accept the nomination on Thursday. of the party for the November 3 elections.
During her speech in one of the White House gardens, with an audience seated a short distance away and without a mask, the first lady opened her speech with an emotional message about the coronavirus and its impact on the United States.
"They are not alone," he told people who have suffered from covid-19 or have lost their loved ones, only to acknowledge that "the invisible enemy swept through our beautiful country and impacted us all."
It was an unusual recognition in a Convention that for now has avoided focusing on the damage of the pandemic in the country most affected by the coronavirus in the world.
In defense of her husband, who has been harshly criticized for the way he has handled the pandemic, the first lady assured that Trump will not stop until he finds a solution to the coronavirus.
"My husband will not stop until there is a vaccine for everyone. Donald will not rest until there is a cure for this pandemic," she said.
During her lengthy message, Melania Trump, born in Slovenia, touched on her personal story, thanked her family and spoke about her process to obtain her US citizenship.
"As first lady I have seen the American dream come true time and time again," she said.
She also asked the media to focus on coverage of the virus and claimed she was not using divisive language because the nation needed unity, one of the few messages of reconciliation so far in the Republican Convention.
Other keys to the speech
Melania Trump urged Americans to stop making assumptions based on race and critically reflect on American history.
"Like all of you, I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country," he said.
"It is a stark reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. I encourage you to focus on the future while continuing to learn from the past."
The first lady also urged Americans to "come together in a civilized way" so that they can "work and live up to our ideals."
"I also ask people to stop the violence and looting that is carried out in the name of justice, and never make assumptions based on the color of a person's skin," he said, referring to the racial protests that have rocked the country in recent months.
A "traditional" first lady
Glamorous and completely dedicated to her husband and his success, Melania Trump has been seen as something of a retro presidential spouse, a modern Jackie Kennedy.
Like former First Lady Kennedy, Melania, now 46, speaks four languages: Slovenian, French, German and English.
When Trump first hinted that she would run for the presidency in 1999, she told reporters: "(Melania) would be very traditional (as first lady), like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy."
But she is not such a traditional first lady, since, for example, she was the first to have posed nude for a magazine before arriving at the White House.
"Like all of you, I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country," he said.
"It is a stark reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. I encourage you to focus on the future while continuing to learn from the past."
The first lady also urged Americans to "come together in a civilized way" so that they can "work and live up to our ideals."
"I also ask people to stop the violence and looting that is carried out in the name of justice, and never make assumptions based on the color of a person's skin," he said, referring to the racial protests that have rocked the country in recent months.
From Slovenia to New York
The first lady was born Melanija Knavs in Sevnica, a small town an hour's drive from Slovenian capital Ljubljana, to a relatively wealthy family.
Her father, Viktor, worked for the mayor of nearby Hrastnik before becoming a successful car salesman. Her mother, Amalija, designed prints for a fashion brand.
Melania studied design and architecture in Ljubljana. On her professional website it said that she had a degree, but it was later learned that she dropped out of college during the first year. The website has now been completely removed and redirects to Trump's business site.
At 18, she signed with a modeling agency in Milan and began flying across Europe and the United States, appearing in high-profile ad campaigns.
It was at a New York fashion week party that she met Trump.
Like her husband, she reportedly never drinks and avoids late-night parties.
She runs her own jewelry business and is said to be involved in the design process.
They married in 2005 and had a son, Barron, in 2006.
In the white house
Initially, she did not move into the White House with her husband after his election victory. She remained in New York until the end of Barron's school term and joined the president in Washington in 2017.
Melania has justified her husband's attacks on immigration and for this she has highlighted her own personal story, saying that she carried out her nationalization process according to the laws.
"It never crossed my mind to be here without papers," she told Harpers Bazaar. "You follow the rules. You follow the law. Every few months you need to fly back to Europe and have your visa stamped."
"Politics is my husband's job"
Melania Trump has largely stayed out of the political fray, limiting her appearances to being by her husband's side.
"I chose not to go into politics," he said in an interview with GQ. "Policies are my husband's job."
Her only big moment of the 2016 campaign came when she took center stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention in July of that year for the traditional marital speech… And it didn't go well.
Commentators quickly noted striking similarities to the 2008 Democratic Convention speech of President Barack Obama's wife Michelle Obama, and the resulting plagiarism scandal overshadowed what she had to say.
Much better was her emotional speech on Monday, more focused on the humanitarian than the political.
In 2018 she generated a lot of controversy after wearing a jacket with the words "I really don't care, do you?" written on the back of her jacket during a trip to a detention center for migrant children.
"It was because of the people and the left-wing media that criticized me," she told ABC News of the message. "I want to show them that I don't care."
Despite incidents, it is a great unknown compared to its predecessors. She says she advises her husband, but does not reveal what.
"Nobody knows and nobody will know, because that is something between my husband and me," she said in GQ magazine.
