Melania Trump breaks her long silence and enters the campaign in her own way

Her husband is on the presidential campaign trail, she is on a promotional campaign trail. Melania Trump will publish her memoir on October 8, less than a month before the presidential election, in which Donald Trump is a candidate. To promote this upcoming book, the former First Ladywhose every move has been commented on for years, has posted a series of videos on her social media. “As a reserved person who has often been publicly scrutinized and whose actions have been caricatured, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts,” she says in one of her clips, in black and white.

In other videos, the former first lady of the United States of Slovenian origin evokes a host of recent events, on which she had not, or barely, spoken out, from the assassination attempt against her husband in July, to the anti-racist demonstrations of 2020, in Washington. The former model also did not fail to talk about the publication of nude photos of her, by American tabloids, in 2016 – of which she says she is “proud” – and the FBI raid on the Trump couple’s home in Florida, in August 2022.

“Mistress of his life”

But why is Melania Trump, known for being so discreet and mysterious, finally breaking her silence? According to Katherine Jellison, a professor at Ohio University and specialist in presidential couples, these clips are primarily intended to promote her book, the signed version of which (with photos) is sold for $250. “But I also think she is trying to cultivate an image of a strong woman, in control of her life and her destiny,” she analyses to AFP. According to this researcher, it is for this same reason that Melania Trump has so far “played no role in the 2024 campaign,” beyond a few fundraising evenings and her participation in her husband’s inauguration ceremony by the Republican Party in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The fifty-year-old, born in Slovenia, has in fact snubbed each of her husband’s campaign rallies so far. She also did not go to court in New York in the spring, where Donald Trump was convicted in a criminal case for a case of concealed accounting payments to a porn star. So many unusual absences for Americans, familiar with political couples who overplay their complicity, like the duo formed by Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.

Fox News Interview

Melania’s apparent estrangement from Donald Trump has fueled speculation for years about the nature of their relationship. “I really think she loves her husband,” the Republican candidate said in a mid-September interview. “This probably surprises a lot of people. But she loves her husband,” the former president told Fox News.

The same channel, which is very popular with conservatives, will host Melania Trump on Thursday morning for her first interview in over two years. The opportunity to talk about her book, according to Fox News, but also to discuss “Trump’s campaign strategy in the six weeks remaining before the election.”