First lady Melania Trump.
If that prospect evokes no clear image, that’s no accident. Donald Trump’s wife has said little in the campaign about the type of first lady she’d like to be should her husband win the Republican nomination and the presidency. The distance, she’s said, is intentional so she can focus on the couple’s 9-year-old son, Barron.
But should he become the GOP candidate for the fall, the Slovenian-born model, mother and multilingual speaker would face big decisions about her family, her life and her potential position in American history. The presidential voting starts when Iowans caucus Feb. 1.
For now, Melania Trump is her husband’s top supporter at events, a striking brunette swathed in couture, frequently seen but seldom heard. Her first campaign turn came in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in November, as the candidate called his family on stage during a rally. Turning to Melania, his third wife, Trump asked if she’d like to say something.
She stepped to the microphone and cocked a manicured thumb over an elegant shoulder.
“Isn’t he the best?” Mrs. Trump, 45, asked the crowd in heavily accented English. “He will be the best president ever. We love you!” Like her husband, she is not given to understatement.
As his supporters roared, Donald Trump gave her a kiss and could be heard saying: “Thank you, honey. Very nice.”
It was the barest of glimpses into the life of a couple who celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary Friday. Their relationship began at least six years earlier, dating back to the 1998 party in Manhattan when the newly separated Trump asked then-model Melania Knauss, 24 years his junior, for her telephone number. She rebuffed him because he was with a date that night, she has said.
By the next year, they were a couple. Trump was seeking the Reform Party nomination in the 2000 presidential election. His girlfriend was asked how she viewed herself if ever she became first lady.
“I would be very traditional,” she told The New York Times. “Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy.”
Would she now stay as far above the political fray as the couple’s triplex overlooking Central Park? That’s largely up to the Trumps, but they’re in no hurry to decide.
Through a spokeswoman, Mrs. Trump declined an interview request from The Associated Press.
A sketch of what we know:
WHAT’S UNPRECEDENTED
In many ways, Melania Trump would be a first in American history: She’d be the only first lady who is the third wife of a president, and the first to be born and raised in a communist nation, according to Carl Anthony, historian at the National First Ladies’ Library. She almost certainly has shown more skin than any other U.S. first lady — that was her in 2006, very pregnant, in a gold bikini on the steps of her husband’s private jet in Vogue magazine.
WHAT’S NOT
By 2016, Melania Trump has gotten married, had a child and adopted a much more traditional posture as a candidate’s spouse. She wouldn’t be the first president’s wife to be born in another country — that would be Louisa Adams, born in England. Nor would she be the first first lady to have married a divorced man — hello, Nancy Reagan. And she’d be the third first lady to have worked as a professional model, after Pat Nixon and Betty Ford.
MELANIA’S ROLE
Experts on first ladies said Melania Trump is being smart by laying low now, especially if she is not comfortable talking about politics and policy. But eventually, they said, she’d be wise to build on what she knows. Melania Trump studied design and architecture at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia — so perhaps advocating for historical preservation would suit her. Maybe she’d expand her charity work. Even her model-perfect poise and ability to speak multiple languages could be an asset to her English-only husband during state dinners and other White House social events.
“It’s best when they draw from their experience, and marry that up with the overall focus of their husbands’ administration,” said Anita McBride , who was chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush.
Anthony said: “I think she is a great emotional support to him or a ballast for him.”
DELEGATING DUTIES
Donald Trump has signaled that his daughter, Ivanka, might be unusually prominent for a president’s daughter. He volunteers Ivanka’s name when asked whose advice he values. It was she, not Melania, who introduced her father when he announced his campaign. During breaks in Republican debates, it was Ivanka, one of Donald Trump’s five children, with whom he huddled.
NOT ARM CANDY
For all of her public discretion, Melania Trump has been consistently public about one thing: She’s more than an accessory. “I have my own mind,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in an interview published this month. “I am my own person, and I think my husband likes that about me.”
Note to Washington power snobs: Don’t expect Melania Trump to put up with condescension.
On a visit to the Trump triplex above Manhattan, one of the contestants on his show, “The Apprentice,” says to Melania: “You’re very, very lucky.”
“Thank you,” Melania, holding a glass of champagne, says with a glittering smile. “And he’s not lucky?”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
No question that Melania is a beauty. I do believe she is smart to lay low. Wait till she is in the White House to give any interviews. I look forward to her being first lady. It will be nice to have young Barron in the White House also. He is a cutie.
The United States is READY for change, I propose that we vote for Donald Trump to help us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!
How wonderful it will be to have class in the White House, America’s House, again. Donald Trump and his family will make America shine again.
It’s as if the USA has won the ultimate lottery, if we are lucky enough to have this lovely family in OUR White House!!
It’s TIME to Take OUT the Trash and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!!!
I couldn’t agree more! We need to bring back some dignity, and respect, to the Presidency, and the W.H!
Yes I agree Moo Moo always has to be in the limelight and making laws. First Ladies should be seen and NOT HEARD
amen to that
I want to see whoever is president go to bat for the senior citizens in this country, like give us our cola e/year, help straighten out the health care problem n America… I think Trump can do that..
Congress gives them selves a raise when ever they want do. Lets put a stop to that, they them pay into social security like we do, cut this huge retirement fund they got going Think its time to get a large broom and make a clean sweep in the Senate & Congress… they are not ther to help the public, they are there to help them selves.. like a big hog in the feeding pen. stop this expensive vacations that Obama gives him self….
Mr Trump hope u can read this …
Mr. Trump —— Consider blowing the dust off Mit Romney for a running mate —- I think he has some good mileage left.
Good luck from a Canadian observer. Don.
My neighbor is 94 yrs old and lives on a meager SS check of which she says they take out $200 a mo for her back taxes…leaving her practically nothing … if it wasn’t for her children ???? I try to take her shopping once in a while.. She is fortunate to be in good health else what would happen to her . she can’t get supplemental help as she is $2 over the limit……….
Our Country needs to give back and that is to Social Security. They have borrowed Billions over the years and not one payback. SS was set for the people who gave into it, if you and your spouse did not contribute how can this system pay you. I think people who come from other Countries you cannot get what you did not pay into. It is not one of the freebies. If you paid minimum thats what you get back. That would only bankrupted the funds.
The idea was not to have illegals come to our Country and have rights to this money. Its like a savings account you pay into all the years you worked or your spouse worked. It was a safety net for seniors or permanent disabled. Funded by the working people. The Country has even extended the retirement so the funds would be available. Most people average 900.00-13,000 a year, minus the cost of Medicare depending on how long you worked & how much you made during the best 35 years of working, thats if you live long enough to collect.
The government does what it wants. A lot of us questioned when Johnson started the ball rolling to “borrow” our money to balance budgets when Vietnam ran over budget.The practice continued until the government got so used to taking the money, they came to think of it as theirs. Which it is not. They mismanaged our funds. Any influx of foreigners. It was written into the original Social Security Law, that the government could use the money, issue IOU’s and pay the fund back with interest. NEVER HAPPENED THEY CONTINUE TO NOT PAY-BACK. The IOU’S mean nothing to them. We should have in place with a Constitutional Amendment that would prohibit the Federal Government from having access to the funds other than for the purpose it was intended.
Why are seniors always being threatened w/ their Social Security, but the Welfare system is not? If anything Welfare needs time limits to collect and get themselves out to work. Stop attacking Seniors!
Absolutely!
She’s right to lay low. One thing I wish, though, is that people weren’t as taken with antics and drama, and would realize that we actually need Dr. Carson in the White House! He’s no drama king, his wife isn’t a model (who ever said a First Lady needs to be?!), but is faithful, intelligent and very very talented. Dr. Carson bothers to research before he makes decisions. If he doesn’t know an answer he admits it and promises to find out–and DOES! He’s the only one who actually went to the refugee camps and discovered that the TRUE refugees don’t even want to come here, and that it will be almost impossible to vent them. When asked how he would defeat ISIS, he didn’t make up some cock and bull idea (none of the candidates know ANYthing about military!), instead he made the best comment I have heard–he’d get the military leaders together and ask THEM what they need to win. THIS is the type f person we need–honest, above reproach, not flashy, willing to learn, and caring about our constitution.
All I have to say is this beautiful country has gone to he’ll because of those we have put our trust in. Everyone lies just to hope to run our country and we the people have suffered greatly for it. I am just sick of it all. We give more to those who come into our country then we give to the U.S. citizens. I am all for Trump for this Country needs so badly a person with back bone. A leader who will be for us and our well being. And yes the seniors seem to suffer the most.