Melania Trump, everything she hides
Latest biography of America's first lady reveals how she looks more like the president than we think
Enigmatic Melania. Born Melanija Knavs in Sevnica (Slovenia) 50 years ago, she is the first lady of the United States with a more bizarre trajectory than she can remember. We must go back to the British Louisa Johnson, wife of the sixth president John Quincy Adams (1825-1829). As a model, she became Melania Knauss and she was born as Melania Trump when she married in 2005 the then real estate mogul, and today 45 US President Donald Trump, who turned 74 on Sunday. Mary Jordan reveals much of what Melania (Knavs, Knauss, Trump) hides in her book The Art of Her Deal. The Untold Story of Melania Trump (Simon & Schuster), which is on sale from this Monday.
Mary Jordan, a Pulitzer-winning Washington Post reporter, explains that Melania Trump has always encouraged Donald Trump's presidential race. “She has circulated a version according to which Melania what she wanted was to marry a millionaire, but that she was horrified that Trump entered politics. But there is much evidence that she from the beginning not only accepted it but that she supported and encouraged him to do so, "writes Jordan in the work, as quoted by The Washington Post. A spokesman for the White House has said the book is full of phases.
Melania is in the media spotlight constantly. Her gestures arouse great interest in social networks. The last of her has been that forced smile of hers, at the request of her husband, her president, during her visit to the Sanctuary of Saint John Paul II of the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.
It is not the first time that Melania has shown her disagreement with Donald Trump on camera. In 2017, on an official visit to Israel, the first lady rejected the hand of her husband with a slap. With these signs she shows character, although she is usually shown as an effigy.
In networks, she has coined the hashtag #FreeMelania, as if she were a princess trapped in a glass cage. Another previous biography was titled Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography of Kate Bennet. This book also alluded to how Melania Trump has more power than she seems, and a great capacity to influence the president.
Mary Jordan argues in her biography recently published in the United States that her Melania «she does not tell Donald Trump what to do and what not to do. She simply expresses her opinion, and the president usually agrees with her. The key to her great influence on Donald Trump is that he believes that everyone else has an agenda, but that is not the case with the first lady. Trump is convinced that Melania knows well what is best for her political aspirations. “She understands who Donald Trump is and where her site is. She is the one who says, ‘This is who you are. You don't need to do this, '”writes Jordan.
The president often refers to comments made by Melania in his conversations with great respect. That's just what Melania thinks. You're right, "she often adds. POTUS (president of United States) knows that FLOTUS (first lady of US) is on her team and only on her team.
Family first
Melania Trump, born Knavs, retains Slovenian nationality, something extraordinary for a first lady. Her father, Viktor, barely a couple of years older than her husband, was a driver and car salesman. He was a member of the Communist Party under Tito. Her mother, Amalija, was a clothing designer at a textile factory.
Both Melania and her sister Ines Knauss, two years older than her and her main confidante, who also took her first steps in the world of fashion. Melania, as a model, Inés, as a designer. She now lives in a two million dollar apartment on Park Avenue, paid for by the Trump Organization.
The two stood out for their beauty since they were children. They have a stepbrother, the result of a relationship between her father and another woman, Denis Cigelnjak, five years older than Melania. They have never met.
Melania's parents, who have lived in the United States for a decade, obtained US nationality through family reunification in 2018, an option criticized by Trump when it comes to immigrants from South America.
Her son Barron, who turned 14 in March, also has dual citizenship. In an interview in the US media, quoted by Hola, Melania said of Barron, who is already taller than his father, who measures 1.90: «He is independent and stubborn. He knows exactly what he wants. He is a mixture of us in appearance, but his personality is identical to that of his father. That's why I call him Little Donald.
One of the revelations in Jordan's book concerns Barron William Trump. When Donald Trump won the presidential election, Trump's first lady and youngest son did not move into the White House. They argued that the best thing for Barron was to finish the school year and adapt little by little to the new situation.
In this latest book on Melania Trump, the reporter reveals that the first lady also used those months to improve the conditions of her prenup, especially with regard to the rights of her son Barron.
Melania had been with Trump longer than his previous wives. She considered that she had made important contributions to his success. If Trump did not regain control of his business when his term ended, Melania wanted to ensure that Barron would have a proportionate share of his inheritance, especially if Ivanka took over the family business.
Donald Trump has five children: Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka and Eric (from his first marriage to Ivana Trump); Tiffany, from the second with Marla Maples;, and Barron William, the result of his relationship with Melania.
In turn, Jordan reveals how the First Lady stood up to Ivanka, who intended to transform the Office of the First Lady into an Office of the First Family. That clash with Trump's favorite daughter resulted in a victory for Melania, although Ivanka serves as an adviser to the president, as well as her husband, Jared Kushner.
Modeling career
Melania began studying architecture at the University of Ljubljana in the fall of 1989. Two years later, Slovenia declared its independence. That's when Melanija Knavs put down the books for the shows.
She was tall, strikingly attractive, and ambitious. She was then born Melania Knauss and she toured Europe, with stops in Italy. She didn't look back. She did not maintain contact with her past in Slovenia, except her family nucleus.
To craft The Art of Her Deal, Jordan has spoken with over a hundred people who have known Melania Trump throughout her life. It is not an easy task because both she and her sister Ines hers have tried to erase the traces of her past.
After trying her luck in Europe, Melania Knauss decided to try to succeed in the United States. She arrived on an H-1B work visa, reserved for people of special skill or merit, with the help of an Italian modeling agent. Years later, she would obtain a green card for the elite, intended for those who possess some "extraordinary ability." Anything that concerns her path to American citizenship is top secret.
In the early 2000s she was still doing modeling jobs even though she was already dating Donald Trump, well known as a real estate mogul. She was then the image of a memorable cover of New York magazine.
Melania Trump, who is often portrayed by the networks as a woman subjected to her husband, is more like Donald Trump than many believe, according to the portrait of Mary Jordan. «His mystery of her is sought. In her own way, she is just as complex and complicated as her husband. They are much more alike than we think. The two have created their own story.
And for everything to fit, you have to erase some parts and recreate others. Her official biography contains data that Jordan has proven to be false. She did not achieve any college degree, nor does she speak five languages. She is fluent in native Slovenian and English.
She is one of the first ladies who has been seen the least. She barely gave eight speeches during the first year of Donald Trump's presidency, while her predecessor, Michelle Obama, on her antipode, made more than 70.
In her first speech at the Republican Convention, the speechwriter played a trick on her because she used entire paragraphs from a speech by Michelle Obama, one of the most extraordinary first ladies to ever pass through the White House.
Melania, who plays with fashion to emulate Jackie Kennedy, likes to be behind the scenes, but from there she runs the show. She is not some beauty kidnapped by the Beast.
