Melania in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, in 2020. — ©️2023 The New York Times Company
SINCE leaving the White House, Melania Trump’s world has gotten smaller.
Just how she likes it.
Cloistered behind the gates of her three homes, she sticks to a small circle — her son, her elderly parents and a handful of old friends.
She visits her hairdressers, consults with Hervé Pierre, her longtime stylist, and sometimes meets her husband for Friday night dinner at their clubs. But her most ardent pursuit is a personal campaign: helping her son, Barron, 17, with his college search.
What she has not done, despite invitations from her husband, is appear on the campaign trail. Nor has she been at his side for any of his court appearances.
A file photo of the Trumps at Joint Base Andrews before boarding Air Force One for the last time on Jan 20, 2021. — ©️2023 The New York Times Company
These are the days of Melania Trump, former first lady, current campaign spouse and wife to one of the most divisive figures in American public life.
Unlike her predecessors, there are no plans for a speaking tour, a book or a major expansion of her charitable efforts, most of which, people close to the Trumps say, are not fully visible to the public.
In her post-presidential life, she wants what she could not get in the White House: a sense of privacy.
Those efforts to retreat from public life have been complicated by her husband, who has turned her once again into a candidate’s spouse. As Donald Trump faces his criminal charges, she has remained steadfastly silent about his increasing legal peril.
While she supports his presidential bid, Melania Trump has not appeared on the trail since Trump announced his campaign in November and did not utter a public word about his effort until May, when she endorsed him in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“He has my support, and we look forward to restoring hope for the future and leading America with love and strength,” she said.
Her absence is a striking difference from the start of the first Trump campaign, when Melania Trump, wearing a white strapless dress, descended the golden escalator in front of her husband at his campaign kickoff at Trump Tower.
Melania Trump remains in touch and friendly with a small group of people from her time in the White House, including the designer Rachel Roy and Hilary Geary Ross, the prominent Palm Beach networker and wife of Wilbur Ross, Trump’s former commerce secretary.
She remains especially close with her parents, who have an apartment at Trump Tower in Manhattan and have been spotted at Trump events at Mar-a-Lago, the Trumps’ private club and residence.
“From her point of view and her friends’ point of view, she’s been through a lot and she’s come out a strong independent woman,” said R. Couri Hay, a publicist, who was an acquaintance of Melania Trump’s in New York.
“She’s learnt how to close the door and close the shutters and remain private. We don’t see a lot, we don’t hear a lot.”
Melania Trump declined an interview request.
This account is based on a dozen interviews with associates, campaign aides and friends, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the private details of her life.
People close to the family say Melania Trump’s lack of public support should not be confused with disapproval or indifference. She remains defensive of her husband, sharing his belief that their family has been unfairly attacked.
Deeply distrustful of the mainstream media, she is an avid reader of the Daily Mail online, tracking Trump’s coverage in the conservative British tabloid.
Melania Trump is particularly sceptical of the case by E. Jean Carroll, who won US$5mil (RM22.7mil) in damages in a trial accusing Trump of sexual abuse in the 1990s and defamation after he left the White House, according to two people familiar with her remarks.
When Melania Trump saw coverage of her husband’s deposition in the case, she was livid at his legal team for failing to do more to raise objections. She has also privately questioned why Carroll could not recall the precise date of the alleged assault.
Still, Melania Trump believes that despite the legal peril, Trump could return to the White House next year. In private, she has expressed curiosity about Casey DeSantis, the wife of Trump’s chief rival, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida.
Casey DeSantis is a close adviser to her husband and a regular presence at his events, and she has begun to campaign for him on her own.
In one of her rare interviews, Melania Trump mused to Fox News about having a second chance at being first lady, saying she would “prioritise the well-being and development of children” if she reprised the role.
But she has not yet prioritised campaigning. Although she has expressed willingness to do events for her husband next year, she has so far refused his requests to join him on the stump.
“I don’t think it’s going to be anything like what we’ve seen with Casey DeSantis,” said Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump aide who quit on Jan 6. “She’s not going to be throwing on jeans and walking in parades.”
Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Trump adviser who is also close with Melania Trump, said the former first lady was “all in” on her husband’s candidacy and remained his “most trusted and most transparent adviser”.
Both Trumps, she said, have privately discussed “priorities” for a second term.
“I know few people as comfortable in their skin as Melania Trump,” said Conway, who is not working for the campaign.
“She knows who she is and keeps her priorities in check. Melania keeps them guessing, and they keep guessing wrong.” — The New York Times
