Melania Trump, the enigmatic first lady of the United States who could take on the role differently this time

A day after her husband Donald Trump’s big victory in the US, Melania Trump used social media to send a message to the nation.

“The majority of Americans have entrusted us with this important responsibility,” Mrs. Trump said.

“We will safeguard the heart of the Republic: freedom,” he promised, urging Americans to overcome ideological differences for the good of the country.

It was a short message, but suggested a change on how the former first lady will approach the role this second time around.

When Donald Trump won his first presidency in 2016, his wife initially did not move to the White House and stayed in New York with their young son.

She was sometimes reluctant to follow the traditions established by the first ladies who preceded her.

But experts say that this time, Trump will likely be more cautious in his approach to the largely undefined role of being the first lady of the United States.

Born Melanija Knavs, the 54-year-old Slovenian-American former model traded her glamorous life surrounded by the gilded walls of Manhattan’s Trump Tower for the confines of political life that comes with the Oval Office, during a presidency that was often plagued of controversies.

Described by some as an “enigma,” Trump has preferred to be less public than her predecessors and has given fewer speeches both in the White House and during the election campaign.

“She has been unique compared to others modern first ladies,” said Tammy Vigil, an associate professor of communications at Boston University and author of a book on Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.

“He does things the way he wants, not the way he has to, but he meets basic expectations.”

In recent years, she stepped away from the spotlight as her husband challenged several legal cases against her while campaigning for a second term.

Her absence inspired several newspaper articles this summer that asked, “Where is Melania?”

Trump has made appearances on key occasions, such as when her husband announced in late 2022 that he would run again.

He also attended the Republican National Convention in July wearing a bright red Christian Dior suit, but did not give a speech, another break with tradition.

When he speaks, his words seem carefully chosen and offer clues about their opinions.

At her husband’s Madison Square Garden rally just weeks before the election, she made brief but concise comments, in line with the Trump campaign’s law-and-order message, describing New York City as a “ great metropolis” in decline due to rampant crime.

She also spoke after the first assassination attempt against her husband, calling for unity and calling the attacker a “monster.”

In a rare interview on Fox, he later accused his political opponents and the media of “feed a toxic atmosphere” that led to the attack.

Mrs. Trump declared her pro-abortion stance in her recent memoir, putting her at odds with pro-life activists within the Republican Party.

The comments sparked speculation about the Trumps’ relationship, as her husband was campaigning for the repeal of Roe v Wade at the time.

Trump has written about her modeling career, her admiration for her husband and her past political disagreements, but has chosen to keep details of those disputes private.

But has publicly supported her husband on controversial issues like his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

“I’m not the only person who questions the results,” he wrote in his book.

Regarding the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, she wrote that she was “unaware” of what was happening because she was concerned about her obligations.

His former press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, wrote in her own memoir that Trump refused to issue a statement condemning the violence, prompting Mrs. Grisham to resign.

Some commentators have questioned whether she enjoyed the role of first lady.

One of his biographers, former CNN reporter Kate Bennett, maintains that he did so despite his initial reluctance.

“She liked all the trappings that come with being first lady and living in the White House,” Bennett told People magazine in 2021. “I think she really enjoyed it.”

In her memoir, Mrs. Trump wrote that she has a “strong sense of duty to use the platform as First Lady for good.”

And he said in a 1999 interview that if Trump ever ran for president, he would use former first ladies Jacqueline Kennedy and Betty Ford as role models, calling them “very traditional.”

Kennedy was a fashion icon who dedicated herself to the preservation of the White House, while Ford was known as a pioneer who advocated for abortion rights and women’s rights.

After moving to Washington, Trump began to assume functions of first ladysuch as organizing state lunches and dinners for visiting world leaders.

She also focused on the aesthetics of the White House, ordering extensive renovations and overseeing ambitious Christmas decorations (and was once secretly recorded complaining about the latter task).

Her clothing was the subject of fascination and controversy in the media, particularly after she was seen wearing a jacket with the phrase “I don’t really care, do you?” during a trip to a migrant child detention center in 2018.

He said the jacket was a message for “left-wing people and media” who criticized her.

Trump came under fire again after her former friend and senior adviser secretly recorded her.

In the recording, Trump expressed her frustration over the criticism she received over her husband’s policy of separating immigrant children from their families.

She later revealed that she had been blindsided by politics and had told Trump privately that she did not support it.

The president left politics in June 2018 after a storm of controversy.

Professor Vigil says one of the biggest challenges Trump faced in her husband’s first term was his political inexperience, as well as that of his equally inexperienced and sometimes disloyal staff.

But Trump quietly kept busy, Vigil adds, advocating for issues like the well-being of children through her Be Best campaign against online bullying.

Also advocated for children affected by the opioid crisis and has since created a foundation that raises funds for the education of children in foster care.

Many expect that work to continue once he returns to Washington, although it is unclear whether he will live there full time.

Vigil says the first lady’s role has evolved over the years and that Trump “will make decisions about how active she wants to be in public.”

“And I think he’ll do it much more intentionally.”

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