The 20-month game of “Where’s Melania?” ended on Thursday with the former first lady making a grand entrance to the 2024 Republican National Convention—in its final hours.
She took her seat in the VIP box, 45 minutes after the rest of the Trump clan but remained seated while the rest of the family rose to their feet for Kid Rock, appeared to not mingle with her step-children, and broke decades of tradition by declining to deliver a speech at the convention, something she had repeatedly been pressed to do. (Even her presence at the convention had not been confirmed in advance.)
When Melania joined Trump at the end of his record-setting 93-minute speech, she seemed to swerve as he tried to kiss her. The former first lady had also appeared to rebuff Trump’s advances after his speech at the 2020 convention, when she was first lady.
