What is Melania Trump doing? At the White House, the subject is taboo
Mrs Trump intrigues America and beyond. The most alarmist rumors circulate about her, she would be depressed, unhappy ... She remains alongside President Trump, First Lady half-submissive, half-reluctant.
Is she real? Seeing her looming, apathetic behind her president's husband, her face frozen, her mechanical gesture, one thinks for a moment of those androids made in Asia who are announcing a disconcerting future. Strange and fascinating Melania… Her appearances, as we say of specters, question and disturb. We saw her, posed like a figurine at the heart of official ceremonies. We watched her descend the Air Force One gangway in dizzying stiletto heels, giving out forced smiles. We discovered him, ghostly, at the White House, inaugurating the Christmas celebrations among dead branches in a setting of Sleeping Beauty.
Where does this discomfort come from? What makes it impenetrable? For some, Melania Trump is an unhappy first lady, locked in a role she is unwilling or unable to take on. During the swearing-in ceremony, alarmed by his sad face, fans held up sympathetic signs: “Melania, if you need help, blink your eyes twice!” For others, this woman just got what she always wanted. Melania Knavs, born in Slovenia in 1970, has certainly followed a path that many envy her. Thanks to her slender figure and her cat eyes, at the age of 16, she extracted herself from her milieu close to the communist nomenklatura, for the fires of modeling in London, Paris, Milan, and New York. where she met Donald Trump in 1998. Married in 2005, mother in 2006, she quickly adopted the gold-plated life of the reality TV star. But the White House ... that's another story she might not have wanted.
Already during the election campaign, she was seen as rigid, uneasy, handicapped by her immigration status and her strong Eastern European accent. Her first public speech, in the summer of 2016, turned out to be a bad plagiarism of a speech by Michelle Obama. Potiche, Melania? Some of Donald Trump's advisers believed her and relegated her to the sidelines until they needed her to support the suspected sexual assault candidate. Face hard, determined, Melania confronted the cameras and showed her claws in defense of her husband. And on victory night, she obediently joined the lineup of man-made and splendid creatures that make up the Trump stable - endless legs, alluring curves, immaculate smile - willingly helping to promote a rather retrograde image of women.
Like all first ladies, here she is charged with an impossible mission. Everything and its opposite are expected of her: that she represents her country without having any status, that she takes public office without being in politics, that she be a good wife, a good mother, a good advisor but not eminence grise ... In short, let her stand in both light and shade. Among the 47 First Ladies who came before her, some have shone (Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama), others have withered away. Who remembers Letitia Tyler, recluse on the first floor of the presidential residence, who died there in 1842, a Bible in her hand? Or Jane Pierce, nicknamed "the shadow of the White House" (1853-1857), who wandered the hallways dressed in black? Even the dreaded Nancy Reagan confessed that she often cried in her golden prison.
So for Melania, the legacy is heavy. She dragged her feet, postponing her arrival in Washington for six months to care for her son, Barron, in New York. Mother lioness but wife, acting. What is the first lady doing? At the White House, the subject is taboo. She pines, some whisper. She activates, correct others. In the East Wing, its staff consists of only nine people, half the size of Michelle Obama's. Officially, she is said to be passionate about the arts and philanthropy. We see her above all orchestrating her appearances like a fashion show: blue-white-red outfit for dinner at the Eiffel Tower, long tunic in the Middle East, aviator jacket at the scene of Cyclone Harvey (but perched on stilettos that made a mini-scandal), or, to celebrate Hispanic heritage, a scarlet flamenco skirt topped with an ultra-tight top that set America on fire.
Does she really hate her role as First Lady? To fuel the fairy tale, the press found a rival for her: Ivanka, the president's eldest daughter, who, admittedly, often replaces her. The good girl and the bad mother-in-law, or the other way around? Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for Melania, repeats it: her priorities are "to be a mother, a wife, and to serve the American people." Is. The pretty mother does not lose the sense of business. In February 2017, she demanded $ 150 million in damages from media that suggested she had been involved in call girl activities in the past. His lawyers pleaded the damage, not moral, but… commercial for the Melania Trump brand (clothing, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics). A very "Trumpian" conception of the presidential mandate, seen as an opportunity to run the cash machine.
Malaise when she declares that she is dedicated to the fight against harassment on the Internet
A year after the election, the First Lady, 47, is therefore cultivating the mystery. With small steps, she visits schools, distributes toys, plants turnips in the vegetable garden. Whenever she can, she hides her gaze behind dark glasses like a fugitive star. Yet when she gives short deciphered speeches about teleprompter, she amazes: "When women are despised, the whole world is despised with them," she said in March. Ask yourself if you would have the moral courage, the enormous inner strength to fight against overwhelming adversity. " Is she talking about her? Is it a coded message? Does she forget what her husband has said? Even unease when, at the UN, she declares that she is dedicated to the fight against bullying on the Internet: "We must, by our example, teach our children to take care of the world they will inherit. We have to remember that they are watching and listening. " She is aware of the insults the president pours out on social media every day. Is it called upon to give a more decent image of the White House? Is this her way of opposing her husband? Or are the Trumps laughing at the world? A little all of this at the same time, no doubt.
And here is the other mystery: her dissonant couple, which is not a model of romanticism. We note the coldness, the lack of naturalness that seem to reign between Melania and Donald. More than once, she has been surprised with a defeated, annoyed expression, furtively pushing her husband away with a pat on the hand. But the Trumps got the lesson, they now make sure to stay close to each other in public, and the conscientious Melania adds one of her beautiful glossy smiles. And it works: 48% of Americans like it (up from 24% a year ago).
Ultimately, the evanescent asserts itself as the most stable pole of an unstable couple, the most normal part of an extraordinary presidency. His presence brings Donald Trump back to a more traditional and real world. This is perhaps the goal of this half-submissive, half-restive First Lady: to tame the beast, at least in public, to soften the angles of this chaotic presidency. Often throughout history, the personality of the first ladies has proven to be an indicator of the state of the country. Melania Trump's ambiguous attitude probably tells us about the United States of today, a nation that is also uneasy, confused and deeply divided.
