Melania Trump It was not seen in White house For over a month. But while her husband was preparing for an important summit in Alaska with his counterpart from Russia in search of the end of the war in Ukraine, the first lady was practicing diplomacy.
“Dear Putin President,” she wrote in a direct appeal to the Russian President. “Every child shares the same silent dreams in their hearts, whether randomly born in the rustic field of a nation or in a magnificent urban center. They dream of love, possibilities and security against danger.”
This highlighted, according to those who know and observe the first ladythe discreet but influential role she has played in the second term of Donald Trump As president, despite his physical absence from Washington.
The first lady is rarely seen in public. She did not follow her husband during last week’s summit in Anchorage, nor was she present at the White House days later, when he received the leader presidente Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders.
She has made public appearances in just 19 days so far in this term, compared to 40 in the same period as the previous term. Your team in the East Wing this time is a fraction of the first term team and its predecessors.
But the first lady maintains frequent communication with her husband, often in text messages or connections exchanged throughout the day, according to sources familiar with the subject.
And just like him, Melania consumes a constant dose of journalistic coverage. According to Donald Trump, the wife has shown a healthy dose of skepticism.
“I say to the first lady: ‘You know, I talked to Vladimir today-we had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Ah, is it? Another city has just been hit,’” the president reported during one.
“I think a lot of people underestimate how normal they are like a couple … He listens and seeks their advice,” said a source familiar with the dynamics that asked anonymity to speak freely. “She only gets involved when she really will devote herself to something – and she really cares about the children.”
Letter for Putin
In his letter to Putin, the first lady made an indirect reference to “telling the Russian leader that he has the power to“ restore his melodious laughs alone. ”
She did not specifically mention Ukraine, but thousands of Ukrainian children would have been kidnapped by Russia since the beginning of the war.
While the president’s recent comments about his wife’s strong reactions by watching the TV war caused criticism from the Russian state media, they also generated appreciative memes of “Agent Melania Trimpenko” in Ukraine.
And after your letter to Putin ,.
Melania Trump did not declare any public position on Ukraine or Gazabut his reactions – as described by the president – have offered a kind of verification of reality about the wars he has promised, but so far failed to close.
“She thinks terrible,” he said, that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, denied that they show hunger.
According to the president, “she sees the same images you see, we all see. And I think everyone, unless it’s insensitive – or worse than that, crazy – there’s nothing that can be said to be terrible when you see the children.”
“Mr.ᵃ Trump has been consistent with its focus on children’s safety and their future,” said Anita McBride, former First Lady’s chief of staff, Laura Bush, and director of the early Lights of America University’s first ladies.
Melania Trump also addressed her letter to Putin from her unique experience: she was born in what was then Communist Yugoslavia em 1970.
“It brings another level of credibility because it has grown in a Europe under the control of Russian aggression before its country achieves freedom successfully,” McBride added.
And its engagement is not unprecedented: McBride noted that Nancy Reagan spoke directly to the president of Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to seek peace and wrote to his wife on the eve of an important meeting.
Jackie Kennedy wrote to the Soviet Union Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev, expressing hope for peace after the death of her husband. And Laura Bush went to reporters in the White House press room, rebuking the regime in Myanmar after a deadly cyclone.
“The first ladies have a unique moral authority… I applaud Mr.ᵃ,” said McBride. “Trump for using his platform in this way on important issues – especially at this critical moment in world history,” he continued.
Children’s issues also motivated her limited involvement in domestic policy – up to a $ 25 million investment for young people in adopted homes that, according to the White House, she secured in the president’s budget.
This interest also shaped where she chose to embrace the public role of first lady. Last month, for example, she comforted young girls affected by catastrophic floods in Texas Hill Country, where she received a friendship bracelet and prayed with campers.
“She genuinely cares about tragedies and issues involving children. I believe in her authenticity when she participates,” said Kate Bennett, former journalist at CNN who covered the first lady and author of “Free, Melania.”
Still, her use of her huge platform is selective – marking a distance from most of her predecessors.
“People expect or anticipate that there will be a participation from the first lady of the United States, no matter who is in office, no matter which political party,” explains Bennett. “It is clearly evident that for Melania Trump, at least for now, this has been a role to choose and select.”
A fundamental part of this choice, this time, has been a relative absence of Washington.
She divides her time between New York and Palm Beach, with intervals of weeks between trips to the country’s capital. His last known appearance in the White House was on July 11 ,.
During her husband’s first term, she did not announce a full -time residence at the White House until June 2017. This year, with NYU (New York University), the apparitions have been much less regular.
She was with her husband in more than a dozen public events, accompanied him in two visits after damage caused by extreme climate and held three solo events.
But it is seen in public less than half of the days compared to the same period as the president’s first term, when he attended several meetings in the Oval Hall and press conferences with world leaders, and travel to seven countries.
And it has ignored the symbolic moments traditionally frequented by its predecessors, such as the inauguration of a flag mast and the planting of magnolias on the white house land.
Her husband even supervised the renewal of a reimagined and paved rose garden, and the west ward unilaterally announced P that will directly affect the space of the first lady’s office office.
“I don’t think it’s something interpersonal,” said the familiar source CNNadding, “it is simply – she is not interested” in the formalities of the paper.
Melania has been trying significantly to protect her own reputation in recent weeks, threatening legal action against those who have tried to connect her to a retraction and excuses of Daily Beast.
First Lady Team Reduced
In Washington, she employs a minimum team compared to the first term of approximately 11 employees.
Until July 1, the first lady had five full-time employees, according to a report sent to Congresswhose salaries totaled $ 634,200 per year.
A key position, the White House Social Secretary, who plans and coordinates all official and personal social events of the White House, remains vague.
A similar report sent on July 1, 2024 showed more than 20 employees working in the first lady’s office Jill Biden, with salaries totaling almost $ 2.5 million per year. Michelle Obama had 12 full -time employees in July 2016.
In a rare interview with Fox News Before her husband’s return to office, Melania Trump said she did not want to “hurry” to hire and wanted to make sure her employees are “serving me”, not her own agenda-perhaps reflecting some apprehension after key employees resigned after the US capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
This hesitation may derive from a series of public betrayals by former employees, including Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a long-standing former friend and senior counselor who secretly recorded first lady’s ribbons and wrote a memories book about his relationship.
Former chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, who resigned on January 6, witnessed to the House panel investigating the attack and later endorsed Kamala Harris at the 2024 National Democratic Convention.
But without a substantial team, Melania has not yet set any new political target or expansion of her “Be Best” campaign from the first term. She did not participate in any national or international soil trip
She did not announce plans for any official state visits to the White House.
Still, his recent comments – though indirect – over two apparently unresolved conflicts offered evidence of their influence.
“When she speaks, people really listen-and if this is because it’s so infrequent, I’m not sure, but she definitely has a platform. She should enjoy her better,” the source said with the subject.
