Although Donald Trump promised the First Lady would be campaigning “quite a bit,” she could not make it to an event held at her home.
Throughout 2023, Melania Trump was engaged in a real-life version of Where’s Waldo? While she popped up at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral and a National Archives ceremony, when it came to Donald Trump’s political events and court proceedings, she was nowhere to be found — even after his political foes distributed “missing” flyers and flew a banner from a plane asking about her whereabouts.
In recent weeks, however, it seemed as if the former First Lady was poised to reemerge. On February 11 she attended a fundraising gala hosted by one of her her husband’s fan clubs, the Trumpettes, at Mar-a-Lago. Then at a Fox News town hall on February 22, Trump told Laura Ingraham that while his wife is a “private person” and people actually “love the fact that she’s not out there so much,” we’d soon be seeing more of her at public events.
“She’s gonna be out a lot. Not because she likes doing it, but because she likes the results. She wants to see this country really succeed,” Trump said. “She’s gonna be out quite a bit, and she loves this country and she wants it great.”
So there were quite a few reasons to expect to see Melania at Trump’s Super Tuesday victory party. First, it was a big night for him; he essentially cinched the GOP presidential nomination, easily winning all but one of Tuesday’s primaries and caucuses and prompting Nikki Haley to drop out of the race. Second, multiple Trump family members were there, including Trump’s oldest son, Donald Jr., and his fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle; his son Eric and his wife, Lara; and his daughter Tiffany. Third, the event was held at Melania’s home, Mar-a-Lago.
Yet Melania wasn’t there — a fact that Donald made all the more conspicuous when he gave the assembled Trumps a shout-out.
“I want to thank my family for being here,” he said. “It’s a great family. I have a great family.”
“They’ve had it very easy since I decided to run for politics,” he joked. “They say, ‘Thanks a lot, Dad, we appreciate it.’ But they’re strong and they’re very capable people and they love the country.”
Trump shouts out his kids but Melania is again conspicuous by her absence pic.twitter.com/sO9SrTvf8I
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2024
So it seems Melania is eager to show her support for the Trump campaign as long as she does not have to get dressed, walk downstairs, and sit in her own ballroom. Maybe she can take a cue from Kate Middleton and attend the next Trump event by throwing on some big sunglasses and driving by in a car.
