Melania Trump: the secrets of a non-submissive woman
She discovered that he had cheated on her but she didn't run to complain on TV. The president decided to separate the children from their migrant parents and lock them up, and she flew to the border to comfort them: story of a First Lady who can stand up to her husband
On June 21, 2018, in McAllen, a town on the border between Texas and Mexico, it was raining heavily. In those days Donald Trump had taken perhaps the most obscene measure of his mandate: to separate children from migrant parents and lock them in cages in detention centers. The vast majority of Americans were in shock. But in the Washington government no one breathed. Not the vice president, the pious Mike Pence; not four-star general John Kelly, chief of staff. Not a Republican minister or parliamentarian. All melted. Around 7 that morning, we journalists learn that Air Force One is arriving from the capital. The presidential fleet plane lands at 10.50 am, while McAllen is now flooded. On board is Melania Trump. Who? The former model who posed naked on her furs, the trophy wife, the climber-opportunist? Yes, indeed no: the woman we see coming down the ladder is the First Lady of the United States, the only figure in the administration capable of coming out at the most dramatic moment, with the country overwhelmed by international outrage: "I came to hear and to understand how I can help you; I want to make sure these children are reunited with their family as quickly as possible, "she tells the shocked officials of the Ursula Border Patrol Processing Center, the facility that monitors the flow of illegal immigrants.
Over an hour in the shelter for immigrant children
Melania shows up in trousers and a white shirt with four pockets, sneakers of the same color and a sporty green jacket, with an inscription on the back: "I don't care and you?", "I don't care and you?" And that cryptic question will be the only thing that will remain of the trip. Nobody paid any attention, for example, to the shrill, adolescent handwriting of the «Welcome! First Lady "on a drawing of the American flag that we noticed in the guardhouse of the" Upbring New Hope Children’s shelter ". Melania spent an hour and a quarter there, walking around the classrooms, talking to some of the 55 boys and girls between 12 and 17 who had crossed the border alone. On that occasion too, as always, she was accompanied by Kate Bennett, reporter from CNN, by far the most informed and acute interpreter of the "Mystery Melania". Bennett has just published Free, Melania which will be released in Italy on January 14th, with the title Melania Trump, the biography, (Piemme Edizioni, with a preface by Marianna Aprile).
«DOES NOT ASK DONALD PERMISSION. AND CAN
TELL HIM OPENLY THAT HE'S WRONG "
Popularity rating: the most popular of the Trump clan
According to the latest YouGov poll (March 2019), Melania Knauss, 49, born in Sevnica, Slovenia, wife of Donald Trump since January 22, 2005, is the most popular personality of the presidential clan. Her approval rate is 51%; that of The Donald and Ivanka at 47%. Brothers Donald jr and Eric are under 36%; Jared Kushner, the son-in-law, last with 27%. We meet Kate in Washington, just before Christmas. And to begin with, let's listen to her surprising explanation on the case of the famous jacket: “Melania had really put pressure on her husband to withdraw the decree on the separation of families. And she decided to leave for McAllen without consulting anyone and, above all, without asking Trump's permission. "I'm going there," she said and boarded the plane. The day before her Ivanka had spread the rumor that it was she who convinced her father to take a step back (June 20, 2018 ed). Melania took it very badly. She pointed out to the West Wing (the wing of the White House where the president works) that Ivanka was exaggerating. And that morning she showed up with the Zara coat, price 39 dollars. Now: to my knowledge she had never bought such a cheap item; moreover she had never worn Zara, a brand, instead, widely used by Ivanka. Melania does nothing by chance: I've thought about it for a long time and I think that "I don't care and you?" was a message addressed to the president's pupil. "
Tense relations with Donald's daughter
The Melania-Ivanka dynamic is still potentially explosive. An insignificant detail? Not so much, says Kate: "There are only two people in the entire United States who can openly tell Donald Trump that he is wrong, without running the risk of being hunted or ridiculed on Twitter and these are Melania and Ivanka." At first her daughter, 38, seemed to dominate the scene and many imagined that she had confined her stepmother in some basement of the White House. But over time the balance of power has rebalanced. Bennett says: «Ivanka is incredibly ambitious and very attentive to the promotion and projection of her image of her, of her brand over the long term. Melania is reserved and lives day by day. But she slowly took possession of the territory that belongs to the First Lady. We keep in mind that you can count on a small staff, which is not surrounded by experts and advisers. She did it alone. She studied. You have shown that you have autonomy. You have proven to be "Free", a free woman ».
Mystery Melania: "He was lucky"
And here we enter the darkest area of the "Mystery Melania": her relationship with the former New York tycoon. She met him in 1996, at Kit Kat, a Manhattan club, thanks to a mutual acquaintance, the Italian Paolo Zampolli. She married him on January 22, 2005, in Mar-a-Lago, in the "wedding of the century" as the title of several tabloids and magazines. She was 34 years old, he 58. Today one looks at them together and asks himself: why if she got him? In April 2004, Melania first appeared on The Apprentice, the show that made The Donald popular. Some competitors asked her if she did not consider herself "lucky" to be the manufacturer's girlfriend. The subtitle of the question was clear: "Did you manage to fit the rich man, huh?" The former model replied: "But why, he wasn't lucky?"
“SON BARRON COMES BEFORE
EVERYONE, EVERY NIGHT COMES BACK TO HIM "
From communist Slovenia to separate rooms
Kate Bennett observed their relationship at length: “Melania grew up in the absolute poverty of Communist Slovenia. About her From her childhood she retains some values, such as attachment to the family, in addition to the Catholic faith. At the same time, however, she is attracted to materialism, to luxury. Like many other women, they like beautiful houses, diamonds, etc. That said, there is a real connection between you and Trump. I know a lot of people don't even take this hypothesis into consideration. But that's the way it is. Maybe it won't be a connection in the traditional sense. Marriages are often strange and complicated ... Today they live in separate rooms, but because of a decision made long ago. We know that he likes to tweet in the morning, that he sleeps little; she is a woman in her late forties and she can afford to have a space of hers. But they are still close, even if it may not be a physical proximity. In the morning they read the newspapers in the same room. Indeed Melania reads much more than the president. She reads everything. Trump calls her several times a day, constantly asking for her advice. The rest is legend: Melania doesn't have her suitcases packed in the closet and she doesn't live in another house in Potomac, Maryland with her parents. It is true, however, that her son Barron comes first. Every time we travel with her, we know we have to prepare for a tour de force. She always wants to go home in the evening to be with him. '
Stormy Daniels and then the relationship with Karen McDougal
Yet in the past three years there have been many times when the breakup seemed inevitable. A few days before the November 2016 elections, a recording was published that dates back to 2005. The then builder from Queens boasts of "being a VIP" and therefore "being able to take unknown women for the f ..". Dozens of women emerge who accuse him of sexual abuse. On January 12, 2018, the Wall Street Journal publishes the revelations of "Stormy Daniels". She the porn actress she claims to have had sexual intercourse with "The Donald" in July 2005. At that time she was pregnant with Barron. On the evening of January 30, 2018, we correspondents gather in the stands of the House of Representative for the most anticipated institutional event of the year: the Speech on the State of the Union. It is the first date for Trump. But that evening, it seems incredible, the maximum attention is not focused on the president. The mobile phones shine continuously with the flashes of the agencies: Melania did not get on the Bestia, the giant armored SUV of the American leader; she is on her way to Capitol Hill by herself. When she finally appears in the box reserved for the president's family, the Hall welcomes her with a long, (almost) bipartisan applause.
"She is not one who locks herself in a small room to despair"
The First Lady, in a shining white suit, smiles several times. She greets. She thanks. She won't do anything else in the following weeks. Not even when the particular pecorecci of the relationship between her husband and her playmate Karen McDougal will come out, again in 2005, always in the months of her pregnancy. Kate Bennett's conclusions: "At that moment she showed all her autonomy: it was enough for her to refuse her husband's hand on the Air Force One ladder. Melania has always been aware that she has not married a square man, totally reliable. But she certainly never thought of closing herself in a little room to despair or, much less, of running on TV to justify, cover up her husband, as Hillary Clinton did, among others, with Bill. "
