{"id":2386747,"date":"2025-01-06T05:54:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/melania-trump-prepares-for-white-house-return-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-06T05:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:57:01","slug":"melania-trump-prepares-for-white-house-return-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/melania-trump-prepares-for-white-house-return-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Melania Trump prepares for White House return &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmelania-trump-prepares-for-white-house-return-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2386747&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Melania Trump is preparing for a less conventional role as\u200d First Lady during Donald Trump&#8217;s anticipated second term.Following his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-do-the-pentagon-leaks-reveal-bidens-agenda-to-weaken-america-israel-and-beyond\/\" title=\"Opinion: Pentagon Leaks Expose Biden&#039;s Plan to Weaken US, Israel, and More?\">recent electoral victory<\/a>, reports suggest \u200dshe\u2063 may primarily reside in New York City to support \u2063their son, Barron, who is attending university there.Although \u200dher plans remain unofficial, Melania has started to appear more frequently alongside her husband during\u200c his \u2062transitional period, including \u2063participating in interviews and \u200chosting events.<\/p>\n<p>Political analysts predict that Melania will have\u200d a less\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">active\u2062 public role \u200dcompared<\/a> to\u200c her predecessor, Jill\u200d Biden, \u2062who continued to work professionally\u200c while serving as First Lady. Historian Andrew \u2064Och, though, believes she may \u200capproach her role differently, \u2063having previously pursued her own interests rather than conforming to traditional expectations. <\/p>\n<p>Her time in the White House has been marked by controversy, including criticism of her\u2064 attire during a visit to a\u200d migrant children\u2019s shelter \u2064and ongoing scrutiny surrounding her relationship with Donald Trump,\u2064 which fueled social media commentary during his presidency. Some historians \u2064point out that it is not uncommon \u200dfor\u200c First Ladies to\u2062 prefer a\u200d private life, drawing\u200b parallels with\u200c past First Ladies,\u200c including Bess Truman, who disliked \u2063the\u200c political spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>Melania Trump&#8217;s upcoming term as First Lady is set to reflect her unique personal style\u2062 and approach, remaining a figure \u2064of intrigue in \u200cAmerican political culture.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Political enigma Melania Trump prepares for White House return<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1919602\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/melania-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Melania Trump<\/a> is set to be an even less conventional first lady during President-elect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Donald Trump<\/a>&lsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">second term<\/a> than she was in his first.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Days after the once and future president beat Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Kamala Harris<\/a> in November, reports emerged that Melania Trump would break from recent political tradition and spend the majority of her time as the next first lady in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/new-york-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">New York City<\/a>, where their son <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/barron-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Barron<\/a> is a freshman at New York University.<\/p>\n<p>Melania Trump has not publicly confirmed her plans, but after being selective with her campaign trail appearances last year, she has been seen more during her husband&rsquo;s transition, granting her first postelection interview and hosting the former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/japan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Japanese<\/a> prime minister&rsquo;s wife at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mar-a-lago\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Mar-a-Lago <\/a>in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Despite her uptick in appearances, journalist and author of <em>First Women<\/em> Kate Andersen&nbsp;Brower predicted Melania Trump would play a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-no-mask-mandate\/\" title=\"No Spike in Florida Coronavirus Cases Despite No Mask Mandate\">smaller part<\/a> in her husband&rsquo;s administration than her immediate predecessor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jill-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Jill Biden<\/a>, who broke with tradition by becoming the first first lady to continue working professionally, in her case, as a part-time community college English and writing instructor.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If past is prologue, then we&rsquo;ll have a first lady who is less active than Dr. Biden,&rdquo; Brower told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> of Melania Trump. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s important, however, that we look at first ladies as individuals and respect that each woman, from Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the first truly activist first lady, to Laura Bush and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/michelle-obama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Michelle Obama<\/a>, who prioritized their roles as mothers in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/section\/news\/white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">White House<\/a>, figure it out on their own.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Brower underscored that there is &ldquo;no job description, no pay, and endless expectations&rdquo; for first ladies. Melania Trump first caused controversy during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-cant-deny-responsibility-for-our-so-so-divided-nation\/\" title=\"Biden Can\u2019t Deny Responsibility For Our \u2018So, So Divided\u2019 Nation\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mike-kelly-same-people-criticizing-trump-peddled-russia-collusion-hoax\/\" title=\"Mike Kelly: Same People Criticizing Trump Peddled Russia Collusion Hoax\">president-elect<\/a>&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s first administration when she and Barron, who was 11 years old at the time, did not move to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Washington, D.C.<\/a>, until after the end of the 2016-2017 school year and negotiations over a new prenuptial agreement between her and her husband.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;A lot depends on what stage of their lives they&rsquo;re in,&rdquo; Brower said of first ladies. &ldquo;I thought that Barron being in college would mean greater flexibility for Melania, but it also strikes me that she&rsquo;s someone who doesn&rsquo;t like Washington and who is used to determining her own schedule.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Historian Andrew Och disagreed, arguing Melania Trump has suggested in her initial interviews that she is excited at the prospect of being first lady again, especially because of her pro-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/children\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">children<\/a> policies, including her &ldquo;Be Best&rdquo; program, adding that first ladies have been politically important in the past because they tend to be more popular than their husbands and can help them improve their public images.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Melania Trump, when she was first lady, kind of did her own thing,&rdquo; Och told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;She doesn&rsquo;t care whether the public likes her or not. She&rsquo;d just go out and do her own thing to a certain degree, and she did more than most people thought she would.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Melania Trump was a political enigma during her husband&rsquo;s first administration, during which some of his critics projected their sympathies onto her. There were, for example, &ldquo;Free Melania&rdquo; memes that were prompted by her facial expressions during Trump&rsquo;s first inauguration and persisted because of the alleged extramarital affair with pornography star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/stormy-daniels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Stormy Daniels<\/a>. But she has also been criticized, specifically regarding her decision to wear a $39 Zara jacket with the words &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t care&rdquo; screen printed on the back during a 2018 trip to a migrant children&rsquo;s shelter in Texas. The second foreign-born first lady, a former fashion model who never graced the cover of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/vogue\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Vogue<\/em><\/a>  during her husband&rsquo;s first term, Melania Trump has remained adamant that the jacket was a message to the news media and not about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">immigrants<\/a>. She has also supported her husband&rsquo;s claims to have been cheated out of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The public interest starts with social media,&rdquo; Och said. &ldquo;Michelle Obama and Melania Trump are the two social media first ladies. They emerged when social media really caught fire. The last first lady that [was liked], no matter what you thought about her husband, and there were very, very strong opinions in both directions [about] George W. Bush, but everyone loves Laura.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Regardless of Melania Trump&rsquo;s approach, David Pietrusza, another presidential historian, contended it is not uncommon for first ladies not to have public-facing roles in their husbands&rsquo; administrations.<\/p>\n<p>One of the best examples is Harry Truman&rsquo;s wife, Bess Truman, who &ldquo;simply despised Washington,&rdquo; according to Pietrusza.<\/p>\n<p>Bess Truman &ldquo;was hardly a public figure in any real sense,&rdquo; Pietrusza told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;Bess&rsquo;s hatred manifested itself, as historian David McCullough noted, in &lsquo;an expression that looked as if her feet hurt.&#8217;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Pietrusza also named a number of former first ladies who experienced health problems or personal tragedies, such as Franklin Pierce&rsquo;s wife, Jane Pierce, who became &ldquo;severely withdrawn&rdquo; after their last surviving son died in a train accident two months before his inauguration.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;William McKinley&rsquo;s wife, Ida Saxton McKinley, suffered from seizures, and this hampered her public life significantly,&rdquo; Pietrusza said. &ldquo;William Howard Taft&rsquo;s ambitious wife, Helen Taft, suffered a stroke and similarly became incapacitated.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;While Woodrow Wilson&rsquo;s second wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, wielded great power, particularly after her husband&rsquo;s stroke, his first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, became seriously ill from Bright&rsquo;s disease and died in 1914,&rdquo; the historian added. &ldquo;Warren Harding&rsquo;s wife, Florence Kling DeWolfe Harding, similarly suffered from Bright&rsquo;s disease and spent a good deal of her White House tenure in poor health and bedridden, though she ultimately survived her husband.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>With a couple of weeks until the inauguration, Melania Trump described herself in her first postelection interview as being &ldquo;very, very busy&rdquo; with her office and transition team, in addition to &ldquo;organizing the residence and packing,&rdquo; but she said the process has been less &ldquo;challenging&rdquo; than it was in 2016, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/barack-obama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Barack Obama<\/a> and Michelle Obama did not provide her with &ldquo;much access&rdquo; to the White House.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I know what you need to establish, you know what kind of people you need to hire that, to be in your office, so that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m doing now,&rdquo; she told Fox News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m interviewing people for my office. I&rsquo;m establishing everything that it needs, so we could start on Day One, everybody is in, and we start working.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The transition team also depended on Melania Trump to announce that she and the president-elect had dinner with the widow of assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/shinzo-abe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Shinzo Abe<\/a>, Akie Abe, last month. The president-elect and the late Abe had a close relationship during his first administration.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It was a privilege to host Mrs. Akie Abe at Mar-a-Lago once again,&rdquo; Melania Trump wrote on X in a post that was shared by the transition. &ldquo;We fondly remembered her late husband, former Prime Minister Abe, and honored his remarkable legacy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It was a privilege to host Mrs. Akie Abe at Mar-a-Lago once again. We fondly remembered her late husband, former Prime Minister Abe, and honored his remarkable legacy. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lEtMPTsuDt\">pic.twitter.com\/lEtMPTsuDt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MELANIATRUMP\/status\/1868489837256532404?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The president-elect, too, appears to be aware of his wife&rsquo;s popularity, praising her and the rest of his team in an interview during his visit to the New York Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I have a great partner right over here, our&nbsp;first&nbsp;lady. People love our&nbsp;first&nbsp;lady, and we&rsquo;re going to do something very special,&rdquo; he told CNBC. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1919602\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1919602\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melania Trump plans to be an unconventional first lady again<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2652,"featured_media":2386748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/melania-trump-scaled-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32423,4133,5894,32076,47967],"class_list":["post-2386747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-melania-trump","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-washington-examiner","tag-white-house-return"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/melania-trump-scaled-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2652"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2386747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2386751,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386747\/revisions\/2386751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2386748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2386747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2386747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2386747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}