The enigmatic Melania Trump, discreet but influential First Lady
For a long time, Melania Trump seemed reluctant to fully enjoy her role of "First Lady". Four years after arriving at the White House, the Slovenian ex-model remains parsimonious in her interventions, but she stepped up to her husband whenever he needed her.
The thinking behind Donald Trump's third wife, naturalized American in 2006, has always been the subject of speculation: does she share the ideas of her husband? Is she happy in her marriage and her role as First Lady? “Free Melania” signs or hashtags even popped up a few years ago during demonstrations or on social networks.
Mrs. Trump, 50, with a haughty bearing and icy gaze, doesn't seem to care.
The First Lady is "much more powerful and influential with her husband" than observers suspect, CNN reporter Kate Bennett said in a book last year, portraying a strong and independent woman.
American dream
Born Melania Knauss in Slovenia, she left her country for Milan and Paris in the hope of breaking through as a model. His career brought him to the United States in 1996; she met Mr. Trump two years later and married in 2005. Together they have a boy, Barron, now 14.
Her American adventure, which took her to the most famous presidential residence in the world, allowed her to lead the life of a jet-setter, between the gilding of the Trump Tower in New York, with breathtaking views of Central Park, and the imposing residences of her husband in Florida.
Melania Trump was initially not keen on the idea of a Trump presidency, the real estate mogul told the Washington Post, “She said, we have such a good life. Why do you want to do this? ".
She ultimately became the first wife of an American president to be born outside the United States in nearly two centuries.
"Hidden message"
Those who follow her have often been reduced to having to interpret a word, a gesture or ... a garment. As when in 2018, during a visit to migrant children on the border with Mexico, she wore a jacket with the following message: "I really don’t care, do u? (I don't care, do you?).
Was she targeting the audience? Her husband? Her spokesperson assured that "there was no hidden message", but Melania Trump later said otherwise.
"I put on the jacket (...) for the left-wing media criticizing me, and I want to show them that I don't care. (That) it won't stop me from doing what I think is right, ”she told ABC channel unmoved.
It must be said that almost every time she intervened in public, the backlash was not far off.
His speech at the Republican convention in 2016 was ridiculed, and for good reason: entire passages were taken from a speech by former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The campaign against harassment "Be Best" - a slogan with rough grammar - that she launched has also been the subject of jeers, many pointing to the irony that she has chosen this cause when her husband is known to water his opponents. inglorious adjectives.
" She's there "
Two years ago, she explained that the most difficult to manage, in her new role, was "the opportunists who use my first or last name to advance (their interests), from comedians to journalists or book authors. ".
"It doesn't hurt me," she argued, but "the problem is, they're making history and it's not right."
During the re-election campaign of her husband, Melania Trump, who like him was infected with the coronavirus, became rare.
But she held her first meeting, solo, a week before the November 3 election, and has yet to speak this weekend.
“I don’t always agree with the way he puts it,” the First Lady said on Tuesday to laughter from the crowd. But “Donald is a fighter. He loves this country and he fights for you every day, ”she added.
Thursday, a rare occurrence, Melania was alongside her husband in Florida. “A voice for President Trump is a voice for a better America,” she said, sunglasses on.
"Whenever he needs her for a big show of support, she's there," said Katherine Jellison, professor of history at Ohio University.
