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"Happy birthday, by the way." The congratulations of Karen Pence, the wife of the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, to Melania Trump on her fiftieth birthday could not have been more strange.

First strangeness: Pence congratulated Melania on Wednesday, when her birthday is tomorrow, Sunday. Second strangeness: The congratulatory message came after her husband's boss - that is, Donald Trump - had ordered the Pences to help him and Melania plant individual trees in the South Lawn of the White House to commemorate Earth's Day. It was a display of presidential authority, summed up in the phrase "We have a lot of land left!", With which Trump gave the Pence's impression that it was their turn to shoulder their shoulders in the task of saving the planet. Mike helped Donald; Karen, to Melania. And then, after a couple of symbolic strokes, the congratulations came.

And there were some things that didn't change at all. Most importantly, Melania's attitude. Impeccably dressed, stiff as only she is capable, immutable as the Sphinx, the first lady replied to Pence with a terse "thank you" and was the one who most kept her distance throughout the act. Because, except for her, none of those present - including the Secretary of Agriculture, Sony Perdue, or the Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhart - kept the minimum separation distance for the US recommended coronavirus of six feet, that is, about one meter and 80 centimeters. In fact, there were even slaps on the back, something the White House strongly discourages. The queen of personal separation was Melania. Probably not so much because of the coronavirus as because of his own personality.

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The first lady has never been characterized by her proximity or her interest in living under the spotlight. Neither now nor in the past, when she worked as a model in New York. With the coronavirus crisis, the wife of the President of the United States has moved, rather than in the background, to be around the horizon line. If you go a little further, it disappears. Which he probably wouldn't mind. In her third year in office, and entering her fifties, Melania Knauss - as a single woman - still prefers to spend time with her sister and parents. The fact that Covid-19 has completely paralyzed social life in Washington has probably even served a person whose greatest concern in life is caring for his 14-year-old son, Barron, who suffers from a spectrum spectrum disease. autism that has not been made public .

Melania reaches 50 years, in addition, with a new status. During the first two years of Donald Trump's presidency he was cannon fodder for all kinds of speculation both about his personality and his relationship with her husband. But now its influence is unquestionable. Perhaps the president does not listen to her as much as his daughter Ivanka (although his real name, since his conversion to Judaism, is Jael), and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who are his true right hands. But no one would consider Melania a vase woman.

His power in the White House has been consolidated. And, possibly, it is after Ivanka and Jared himself - with whom he maintains an enormous political and personal rivalry - the person with the most influence - many will say the only one with influence - on Donald Trump. Another thing, of course, is in which areas does it exert that influence. Ivanka and Jared's thirst for power is evident. But not Melania's. She doesn't seem to be interested in directing America's politics. But it does control those who do it. In particular, other women. A clear case is that of Karen Pence. When they travel together, Melania never shares her area of ​​the plane with the vice president's wife, who must go with the rest of the White House staff. The first lady showed that she was not cut in 2018, when she said that "I am the person who has been most bullied in the world." It is not only an exaggeration. It is that, in addition, her husband is the king of online bullying, able in a single morning to attack on Twitter "Hillary the Thief", "Joe the Sleepyhead", "The psychopath of Scarborough" or "The fool of Tillerson".

A hawk

Sometimes Melania's defense of her status has entered the field of State policy. The most obvious case occurred just under a year and a half ago. In an unprecedented decision, Melania's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, released a statement saying "the first lady is of the opinion that Mira Ricardel does not deserve the honor of working in the White House . " Ricardel was the deputy director of the National Security Council, the body that coordinates all of the United States' foreign and defense policy. A hawk in relations with Russia, he had enormous experience in foreign policy since the time of George W. Bush, and was the 'right hand' of his boss, John Bolton, who at that time also had a more than considerable ascendancy over Trump. Be that as it may, within 24 hours, Ricardel had been dismissed.

Melania had won. And he had made an unprecedented show of power. Her attack on Ricardel came after she questioned the First Lady's influence on Trump, and possibly because Melania suspected - like many people in Washington - that Bolton's number two considered her little less than a decorative object. With Ricardel's resignation, Melania made it clear that she is willing to wield much greater power than Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama ever had.

Perhaps because of that growing influence, Trump has begun to take his wife into public consideration. Two years ago, the president said he had not bought him anything for his birthday because he had not had time. Last year, the White House published on social networks, to celebrate the name day, a strange photo of the first lady, sitting on one of the sofas in the Oval Office, alone. Trump's gift was a greeting card. "I'm a very busy man," said the president, who also didn't give him a Christmas present. Maybe on Sunday things will change.

Different characters

One thing that doesn't seem to be among the Trumps is chemistry. In fact, the character of the President and his wife could not be more different. Trump is a guy who is not silent, who likes people and is the center of attention. Melania is discreet, listens more than speaks, and does not usually raise her voice. Since they moved to the White House - she, several months after him - they have never slept in the same room. He uses the President's bedroom, while she occupies the two-room room occupied by Barack Obama's mother-in-law. In addition, Melania has a gym where she does pilates and with a room to put on makeup and hair. His social life in Washington is as non-existent as when he lived in New York, and efforts by the White House to create a circle of friends have failed miserably. This has been due in part to the tremendous rejection that everything that comes from Trump arouses in the American capital, but, above all, by the decision of the first lady herself. Melania has shown no interest in relating either to the well-nourished court of 'socialites' of all the coats that populate the capital of the United States or to the wives of other high officials.

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