Melania Trump - America's "mysterious" but influential first lady

Melania Trump.

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Vigorous and reserved Melania Trump seemed reluctant to fulfill her full role as "First Lady".

On November 3, the former Slovenian model and the first foreign-born wife of an American president in nearly two centuries could stay for another four years in the White House.

Melania comes to support her husband every time he needs it, but the truth about what goes on in the minds of Donald Trump's third wife, who acquired US citizenship in 2006, has always been the subject of speculation.

Many questions arise: Does she share her husband's ideas? Is she happy in her marriage and her role as first lady?

Banners were raised and the hashtag "Free Melania" (Free Melania) was launched several years ago during demonstrations or on social media.

But Melania Trump, 50, with great insight, seems unimpressed.

CNN journalist Kate Bennett says in a book published last year that the US first lady is "more powerful and influential in her husband" than observers believe, and has painted an image of a strong and independent woman.

The American Dream

Melania Nafez was born in Slovenia and left her country for Milan and then Paris in the hope of continuing her modeling career.

Her career took her to the United States in 1996, where she met Donald Trump two years later, and she married him in 2005. They have a son named Barron, who is now 14.

Her American adventure led her to the most famous presidential residence in the world, and allowed her to live a luxurious life of celebrities moving between the luxurious Trump Tower overlooking Central Park in New York and her husband's other homes in Florida.

At first, Melania Trump was not enthusiastic about the idea of ​​Trump taking the presidency, and the former real estate mogul told the Washington Post, "She said: We have a very beautiful life, why do you want to do it?"

She eventually became the first wife of an American president born outside the United States in nearly two decades.

"Quilted message"

Often those who followed her were forced to explain a word, gesture, or even the way she was dressed.

As it happened in 2018, during a visit to migrant children at the border with Mexico when she wore a jacket with the following message: "I really don't care, you?"

Was she targeting that audience or her husband with her message?

Her spokeswoman confirmed, "There is no hidden letter" but Melania Trump later said the opposite.

In an interview with ABC, she said, "I put on the jacket for the left-wing media criticizing me, and I want to show them that I don't care. This will not stop me from doing what I think is right."

But every time you speak out, the echoes are not always what you intended.

Her speech to the 2016 Republican convention was mocked, and the reason is that it contained excerpts taken entirely from a speech previously delivered by former first lady Michelle Obama.

Her campaign against harassment, "Be Best", was widely criticized, as many ridiculed her choice of this topic, while her husband is known to rain down his opponents with inappropriate descriptions a lot.

"Found"

Two years ago she said that the most difficult thing she faces in her new role is "opportunists who use my first or family name for their own interests, from comedians to journalists or book authors."

"This does not hurt my feelings," she said, "but the problem is that they are writing the story and it is not true."

During her husband's re-election campaign, Melania Trump, who was infected like her husband with the emerging coronavirus, did not appear on many occasions.

But it held its first electoral rally just a week before the November 3 elections, and it will also appear at the end of the week.

"I don't always agree with the way he expresses things," the first lady said Tuesday, amid laughter, "but" Donald is a fighter, he loves this country and fights for you every day. "

On Thursday, in a rare event, Melania appeared alongside her husband in Florida.

"To cast a vote for President Trump is to vote for a better America," she said.

"Every time he needs it for a strong gesture of support, it's there," says Catherine Gilleson, a professor of history at Ohio University.

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