"Melania Trump is much closer to Donald than you might imagine"
MAINTENANCE. Who is hiding behind this silent first lady? Journalist and White House specialist Laurence Haïm tries to unravel the mystery.
Melania Trump the vase? The trophy wife? Donald Trump's wife is as mute as her husband is extravagant. She lets nothing appear, but her political role is more important than you might think. This is what Laurence Haïm reveals, who sees in her the muse of a “conservative feminism”. Unlike the America of #MeToo, this current is the bedrock of the female vote loyal to Donald Trump. A reserve of voices which could be as decisive in 2020 as it was in 2016. Because, even positive for the Covid, Melania remains faithful to Donald. Laurence Haïm, a French journalist posted in the United States since 1992 and specialist at the White House, is devoting a documentary to him, broadcast Monday, October 12 on Arte.tv. Maintenance.
Le Point: You are tackling one of the most secretive and least talkative personalities in the world. Do you still hope to be able to interview him in person?
Laurence Haïm: Yes, I never give up, I'm built like that. The interview request email has been done for a year and a half. Three times a week, I press the "send" button. Barack Obama, I had it like that. In France, you pass for a difficult girl, but, in the United States, it happens like that.
This almost mute first lady, do you think it's her personality or is it a strategy of the White House?
It's his com. They decided to make him someone who only speaks through his clothes, that always perfect face. For a year and a half, I tried to understand the political construction of this former model. And I realized she was a lot smarter than the diners in Washington talk about. In pro-Trump America, she is adored, as can be seen in my report.
But the image of a poor child who escaped war and communism does not hold. You went to Slovenia to his hometown, it doesn't really fit with the story being told.
She lived very well, in a small suburban house. A happy childhood with a loving father, who had – and still has – a lot of influence on her. Slovenia was very little affected by the war in Yugoslavia, it lasted ten days in 1992. We are therefore far from the dramatic story that Donald Trump makes when he talks about it. What is strange – I discovered this during the report – is that she has never returned there since she has been in the White House. People in Slovenia told me “we want to see it”. But she left the country, it's over in her head.
Today, we wonder what the nature of his relationship with Donald Trump is.
I stick to the facts. They are not divorced, he takes her, despite the Covid crisis, to several ceremonies. She still supports him as much, even since his hospitalization. That's what I remember. Rumors, there are so many… Moreover, the secret recordings which have just been revealed show a first lady much closer to Donald Trump than we imagine.
She notably defended her husband, before the election in 2016, when women accused him of behaving badly with them.
It is a fundamental moment, politically. Less than 15 days before the presidential election, when Trump is facing a woman, Hillary Clinton, she grants this interview to CNN to talk about the charges. She sends the message “I stay behind my husband, no matter what”. It's a turning point. It enabled him not to lose the female electorate. And, in 2016, it is notably the women's vote that will elect Donald Trump.
Everywhere, we see today what I call "mini-Melania".
What role does it play in this 2020 campaign?
Today, we are really in what the Americans call “unknown territory”. How could we have imagined what is happening today, Trump's hospitalization, his illness too? What is certain is that she will support him until the end.
You show her side as a submissive woman, a "trophy woman", contrary to the free and independent woman.
She's not stupid, I'm sure. It's not the doll you bring to the restaurant to show off. Like many models who have captured the attention of a powerful man, she is very intelligent. Look at Carla Bruni, she's brilliant too. Melania is the opposite of MeToo America. We never talk about it, but half the country is radically opposed to the MeToo phenomenon.
Does she embody what you call “conservative feminism”?
Be beautiful, intelligent, against abortion and for religion… This America exists. It is based on the “3 Fs”: faith, family, freedom (faith, family, freedom). Even physically, these women are built on the same model: straight hair with extensions, high heels. Everywhere, we see today what I call "mini-Melania", they all look alike. A generation of very conservative young candidates arrives and sticks to the Melania model.
The reverse of Jill Biden, Joe Biden's wife.
Absolutely. Jill Biden is the America that works, the courageous, feminist America. She met her husband when he was a widower, he had just lost his wife in a dramatic car accident. She was a teacher in this small town in middle America… Storytelling works well on the Democratic side too. She has already indicated that she will continue to work if her husband is elected president. If she returns to the White House (Joe was Barack Obama's vice-president, editor's note), she will be extremely important in the Biden administration.
What will history remember about Melania Trump?
She will be remembered as the most mysterious and silent first lady in United States history. Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama…all had their own style. Melania Trump, we can just look at her.
