Melania Trump breaks the norm for US first ladies again

TPO - When Donald Trump was the current US president, Melania Trump rarely attended events reserved for first ladies. Now, as Trump accelerates his race to return to the White House, she is telling her own story, breaking the norm for the US first lady.

The wife of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump was thrust into the spotlight early on when her inaugural speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention was accused of plagiarism. She has since rejected the traditional notion that participation in the activities of the wife of the US president is mandatory. In a rare appearance alongside Mr. Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, Mrs. Melania showed affection for her husband and waved to delegates. But she said nothing.

Mr. Donald Trump and Mrs. Melania Trump on November 5, 2016. Photo: AP.

A series of videos that have caught the eye Now, Melania is speaking out. In the weeks leading up to the November 5 presidential election, Melania released a series of videos ahead of the publication of her memoir, addressing topics of her choosing — nude photos, motherhood, the media. The timing is also important. At least until Election Day, Melania remains a potential first lady. After that, her popularity will depend in part on American voters deciding whether to choose her husband or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. “She’s using the time she has left before the election. Her popularity will be gone if she’s not a potential first lady. If Harris wins, I think people will want to forget,” said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to Melania Trump who supports Harris. And so Melania’s memoir comes just weeks after two assassination attempts on her husband, whom she described in a statement on July 14 as “a generous and caring man with whom I have shared the best and worst of times.”

Mr. Donald Trump and Mrs. Melania Trump on July 18, 2024. Photo: AP.

Like her husband, Melania, 54, signaled early on that she would break with norms without apology. “I have my own mind,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2016. “I am my own person, and I think my husband likes that about me.” Like any memoirist, Melania is certainly concerned about what others think of her. She begins her story with a complaint. “I am a private person who has been subjected to constant scrutiny and distortion,” Melania says in a trailer for the memoir on her website. “I feel a responsibility to set the record straight. I believe it is important to share my views,” Melania says, referring to her views as “the truth.” Other complaints follow, accompanied by dramatic music. In one video, she asks why “the media would choose to scrutinize my celebration of the human form in a fashion shoot,” while classical works of art like Michelangelo’s “David” flash across the screen to dramatic music . This is a reference to nude photos of her from the 1990s (when she was known as Melania Knauss) that were made public during the 2016 campaign, in part related to the work visa she held.

Mr. Donald Trump and Mrs. Melania Trump on July 18, 2024. Photo: AP.

In another video, she addresses the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 in search of classified documents that the government says Trump illegally kept after his presidency and obstructed efforts to recover them. Trump has pleaded not guilty and a judge dismissed the case, but prosecutors are appealing. She said the FBI searched her personal belongings and said the incident was an unspecific “warning” to the American people. “I never imagined that my privacy would be invaded by the government here in the United States,” she said over somber music.

Mr. Donald Trump and Mrs. Melania Trump with their son Barron on November 9, 2016. Photo: AP.

Another video rebuts criticism of the 2020 Rose Garden event, when the then-First Lady remodeled the iconic Kennedy-era event space near the Oval Office. Historians remain upset by the alterations, which they see as disrespectful to the White House. In this video, by contrast, she says of the Rose Garden: “I feel a deep responsibility to respect tradition and preserve its magnificence for future generations.”

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