Former President Donald Trump gave a victory speech Tuesday after New Hampshire’s GOP primary.
However, observers have noticed something missing: former First Lady Melania Trump. One insider told the paper earlier this month that Melania Trump would not be attending because she was visiting her native Slovenia for her mother’s burial.
Previously, Melania Trump caused worry by skipping the Trump family’s Christmas picture at the Mar-a-Lago estate.
The former first lady honored her late mother, Amalija Knavs, at a funeral service in Florida earlier this month. “Her love for her husband, Viktor, my father, Ines, my sister, and me was boundless,” she said in her eulogy.
Other insiders say that the former first lady is still focusing on raising 17-year-old Barron Trump, her son with the former president. She has expressed much less interest in being involved in the 2024 presidential election.
“Barron has always been the first priority in [Melania’s] life,” an unnamed source in Palm Beach told People magazine in March. “She has always put him first. She is a good mother.”
Former aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff said on a podcast this week that Melania would have “a lot more freedom” after her son’s 18th birthday.
Melania Trump has often skipped the former president’s political functions. She also missed her husband’s victory speech after this year’s Iowa caucus.
But she appeared with her husband to cast a ballot in the 2022’s midterm elections.
The former president spoke highly of her during the day of New Hampshire’s primary.
“She wants to make America great again, too,” the former president reportedly said in a Fox News interview Tuesday. “I rely on her for advice and all the others. I think she will be very active in the sense of being active.”
Donald Trump also acknowledged Melania’s absence in a speech after the Iowa caucus.
“Most importantly, I want to thank my incredible wife, the first lady, I’ll say former and maybe future,” he said. “But more importantly than Melania I want to thank her incredible, beautiful mother who passed away a few days ago.”
At his victory party Tuesday night, the former president slammed rival candidate Haley and gave a far more fiery speech than after his Iowa victory, when his message was one of Republican unity.
“Let’s not have someone take a victory when she had a very bad night,” he said, adding, “Just a little note to Nikki: She’s not going to win.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.