Whoever bets that Melania leaves Trump is deluded and loses
Melania, like America, may be more in love with President Trump than her critics would hope
Bookmakers began betting on Election Day as gamblers bet on a question in many people's minds: Will Melania Trump dump her husband when she is no longer President?
But doesn't Melania Trump really look forward to getting rid of Donald Trump as much as tens of millions of Americans are? Or is it just another fantasy that Trump's critics are projecting about a first lady who has managed to shroud her true self in mystery?
Many who despise Donald Trump imagine that his wife does too. They point to some videos of her appearing to refuse to hold her husband's hand as proof of her. They also note that Melania spends a lot of time apart from her husband, and she is not as publicly affectionate with him as, say, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, or Jill Biden are with their husbands. Some have baselessly claimed that Melania has a look-alike replacing her when (they imagine) she refuses to make appearances alongside her her husband.
"Never, not with any previous first lady," has there been a rampant conspiracy theory like that against Melania, said Myra Gutin, a communications professor at Rider University in New Jersey and author of "The President's Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century. "
It's easy to see where that idea came from: After a brutal election, many anti-Trumpers are tired of the President calling other "losers" and wouldn't mind seeing him humiliated by his 24-year-old wife leaving him, especially when it is already down.
Melania Trump maintains a small inner circle, but two people close to her spoke to the Washington Post and said she showed no sign of leaving her husband, at least not soon. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they know that Melania would not want them to speak to the press. "He believes her private life is no one's business," said one.
The first lady has said multiple times over the past four years that she doesn't always agree with the President, but in the final days of the 2020 campaign she has emerged as one of her most ardent cheerleaders. In energetic and strongly partisan speeches, she criticized Biden, the Democrats and the media, while she urged people to vote for her husband, calling him the only true leader and "optimist" of the Presidential elections.
“I don't think Melania is leaving Donald. He is very willingly complicit in his plans and keeps his beliefs as his. Those two deserve each other, ”said Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former lawyer who is in solitary confinement while serving a federal sentence for tax fraud. and campaign funding violations.
Trumps are remarkably in sync despite their personality differences, said Winston Wolkoff, a former aide who wrote a book that was highly critical of the first lady. “She is part of the show. She has always been the quiet one. He was the strong one. She was the soft one. He was the tough guy. They play each other. She is part of the relationship and makes it work. "
Asked for comment that people were speculating on the possibility of the Trump separating, Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's chief of staff, offered a stern rebuke: “This question is pathetic and exactly why people no longer trust. mainstream media. No journalist would ask for it “.
The idea that Melania can't wait to leave Donald may be a natural extension of the same wishful thinking that has led people to assume that the President's reckless disregard for truth and presidential norms of conduct would lead to a huge repudiation at the polls. And although Trump lost his re-election, that karmic wave never materialized.
Perhaps Melania is similar to America: a large part of her admires Donald Trump, even if another part of her is upset by him.
Melania Trump's four years as first lady began with "Free Melania" memes and "Saturday Night Live" sketches that portrayed her as the princess trapped in Trump Tower, a reluctant political wife when all she wanted was to be a mother. of their teenage son, Barron and spending time at the Mar-a-Lago spa.
Saturday Night Live writer Julio Torres, the mastermind behind that and other Melania sketches, said she stopped wanting to write them after the first lady wore her infamous "DO I REALLY CARE, YOU?" written on the jacket during a visit to immigrant children detained on the US-Mexico border. A message that struck many because it contradicts the husband's ruthless approach to families on the border.
"There has been this change. It wasn't fun anymore, "Torres said in an interview. At first, Torres and his colleagues felt a little sorry for Melania Trump. "We were of the opinion: Oh, this poor lady. The American dream has gone bad “. “But then she started pointing out that she wasn't a prisoner. That she was making choices. She was an accomplice. She was no longer the princess in the castle. "
It's been a tough year for a first lady who values her privacy. Towards the end of the summer, Winston Wolkoff, her former assistant, released secret audio recordings in which Melania is heard expressing her views unattended.
On the tapes, Melania could be heard using strong language when she referred to her duties as decorating the White House ("Who cares about Christmas things and decorations?"), And she said she was happy to "make drive the liberals crazy ”. She also seemed heartless when she talked about children on the border who had been separated from their parents. Those children had a bed in detention, she could be heard, and the United States looked after them better than Mexico. The release of those tapes, along with other criticisms, contributed to a bunker mentality at the White House, with both Trumps feeling besieged. Some of those working in the White House attribute this solidarity to why they appeared closer in 2020 than in 2016.
First lady Melania Trump spoke for three minutes at the Republican National Convention on August 25. As her husband's attempted re-election got underway, she became more outspoken in her support of her administration and talking points.
In all, she gave four long speeches on a whirlwind tour of battlefield states, more than she did in her 2016 campaign activities.
In Huntersville, North Carolina, she referred to Biden as a "career politician" whose word could not be trusted: "North Carolina you deserve a president with proven results, not a career politician with empty words and broken promises, ”said Melania.
In a barn in West Bend, Wisconsin, she accused Biden of being a "socialist", and attacked the press as "propaganda" and railed against "fake impeachment". She's strong stuff, especially for a first lady who rarely gives interviews and has often reported having more measured political views than her husband.
On election day, with the President in the Washington area, the first lady went to her polling station in Palm Beach, Florida, without her husband, in a break with tradition, and cast her vote. .
Will Melania Trump walk away from her husband once her presidency is over? Some people bet on it, but sources close to the couple say the spouses are in sync.
In the aftermath of Biden's victory, President Trump desperately clung to the idea that the courts could somehow overturn the results. Melania has made a public appearance since election day, appearing with the president at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day (and raising her eyebrows walking not with her husband, but arm in arm with a marine and again, without wearing a mask) . She recently tweeted from her official @FLOTUS government account that "every legal, not illegal, vote should be counted." She has not yet contacted Jill Biden to congratulate, unlike Michelle Obama, who invited Melania Trump to the White House for tea four years ago, despite bad relations between the families.
"As far as I know, the President has not yet granted recognition of the election, so it seems fair," said Michael LaRosa, a spokesperson for Jill Biden, who is still putting together her transition team.
Grisham, Melania Trump's chief of staff, suggested that the election results are not yet final. He said the first lady believes that "we must protect our democracy with complete transparency, and this is the goal at the moment. "
Many expect Trump to be the first outgoing president to skip the inauguration since Andrew Johnson did it 150 years ago, which means that Melania Trump will likely not be there.
"I think Melania will be under pressure not to do typical things, like inviting Jill Biden to the White House for tea," said Kate Andersen Brower, author of "First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies."
"Unfortunately," said Brower, "we have fallen into such partisanship that Trump has made the kind of civilization we are accustomed to during a transition period impossible."
After the Trumps leave the White House, Melania is expected to spend more time in Palm Beach, Florida than in New York City, which exploded with cheers and dancing in the streets at the news of Biden's victory.
President Trump, who called New York a lawless "ghost town" during the election campaign, moved his official residence to Florida last year. Eventually, Melania Trump will settle near where Barron decides to attend high school, her friends have said. Some have suggested that she would like to go to a boarding school abroad.
Last week, Dave Mason, an oddsmaker at BetOnline.ag, a popular offshore betting company, said most players betting on marriage to Trump are betting on divorce. In fact, so many people are betting on divorce that the potential payout has dwindled. This week, a $ 10 bet on "Yes, she will divorce" before November 3, 2021, would pay $ 26 if that happens - down from $ 65 on election day.
"A lot of people want her to leave it as some kind of revenge, but I don't recognize Melania Trump in that kind of person," said Elizabeth J. Natalle, associate professor of communications at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who wrote books on Jacqueline Kennedy and Michelle Obama.
"She has repeatedly stated in her interviews of her that she is a grown girl," said Natalle. "She knows what she is doing."
