Groomed
to perfection yet rarely heard in public, Melania Trump is an enigma — a
first lady whose opinions, marriage and goals remain a mystery to
millions of Americans.
She is without question a unique first lady: a
former model; the first foreign-born wife of a US president in nearly
200 years; and the first for whom English is a second language.
A
year after channelling Jacqueline Kennedy in powder blue Ralph Lauren at
her husband’s inauguration, Melania Trump has yet to embrace a cause,
as did Michelle Obama with her anti-obesity campaign or Laura Bush and
her literacy programme.
For months, she stayed in New York, refusing
to move to the White House until her young son Barron — of whom she is
said to be fiercely protective — finished the school year.
She is infrequently seen in Washington and costing law enforcement tens of thousands of dollars a day in protection.
“She
is still an enigma after a year,” says Katherine Jellison, a professor
of history at Ohio University who has researched US first ladies.
“I don’t think the American people feel that they know the real woman yet.”
Her
campaign-era pledge to fight against cyber-bullying has never come to
light and saw her mercilessly criticised given her husband Donald’s own
reputation as something of a Twitter bully.
As the 47-year-old wife
of a 71-year-old man known for past lewd remarks about women, and who
divorced his two previous wives in a blaze of tabloid publicity, she is
dogged by speculation that they lead largely separate lives.
An
explosive account about life in the White House alleged that she cried
on election night and that even in Trump Tower, the couple spent “days
at a time without contact.”
“People are still trying to figure out
the relationship between the president and the first lady, and I think
those kind of questions feed into the air of mystery,” said Jellison.
Unlike
the Harvard-educated Obama, Trump makes few public speeches — perhaps
not surprising after her address at the Republican National Convention
in 2016 exploded into a plagiarism row, and given that she has been
lampooned for her strong Slovenian accent.
A devoted mother, her most
direct communication is a carefully curated social media profile:
photographs of herself impeccably groomed, often interacting with young
children, or messages of comfort in times of national tragedy.
That
could not be more different from the articulate, ever-present Obama, the
Afghanistan-visiting Bush or the politically engaged, if unpopular,
Hillary Clinton.
“To find a first lady as enigmatic as Melania Trump, we have to go back to the late ‘40s and early ‘50s,” said Jellison.
In particular, she cites Bess Truman, wife of Harry and first lady from 1945 to 1953.
But
last week, Trump added three new people to her East Wing staff,
including a director of policy who worked formerly in the National
Security Council’s Middle East Directorate and at Facebook.
“I am confident they will enhance my work on behalf of children everywhere, while helping me further expand my role,” she said.
Her
office says she intends to announce a signature initiative “in the
coming months,” with a focus on “the overall well-being of children.”
“Mrs
Trump continues to be focused on her roles as mother, wife and first
lady...while remaining an independent woman who stays true to herself,”
said a spokeswoman.
She has accompanied her husband on tours to the
Middle East and Asia, where she was photographed in dazzling clothes,
many of them European, after several US designers refused to dress her
in opposition to her husband’s politics.
Her style may not be
considered accessible but it has won admiration, despite back-biting
over her decision to wear stilettos when heading to storm-ravaged Texas.
She changed into sneakers before disembarking.
A
Gallup poll in December said she was viewed favourably by 54 % of
Americans, up 17 points from January — she is significantly more popular
than her husband.
“She is doing an amazing job,” enthuses Paolo
Zampolli, a long-time friend who says he celebrated the New Year with
the Trumps in Florida.
“The world did not make it easy for her,” he said, insisting she is happy. “She wants to do a great job and she will.”
Trump grew up in then communist-run Yugoslavia and is said to be fiercely private.
Even in New York, she eschewed much of the high-profile charity endeavors and socialising beloved of other billionaire wives.
No other first lady has not first been through the training of being an elected politician’s wife at a lower level.
“The
fact that she has not made huge mistakes in this arena is a huge
accomplishment,” says Jeanne Zaino, a political science professor at
Iona College.
“Like Princess Diana, she may find her voice she may surprise people.”
Melania Trump