Intriguing Melania Trump prefers to die with her secrets

After weeks of waiting and carefully carried out promotion, the secret ex-first lady finally publishes her memoirs, Melaniathis Tuesday. 184 pages and a lot of smoke and mirrors, but only a few concrete answers to the mystery that surrounds it.

August 27, 1996, JFK Airport in New York. Melania Knauss, a tall brunette with feline eyes and mile-long legs, only carries two suitcases, her passport and a portfolio with her.

Melania Knauss, at the very end of the 90s.Image: Newsday RM

The start of the rest of his life. The young 26-year-old model leaves behind her continent and her beloved family, to greedily bite into the Big Apple and the promise of living her American dream.

A few pages and ten years later, the woman who has since become Melania Trump officially takes the oath to obtain American citizenship. Quite a symbol.

Melania lifts the veil

It is with this anecdote that the former first lady begins her story. A compilation of highlights and memories, stacked like pearls on a Tiffany&Co necklace, without necessarily being in chronological order. From her childhood behind the Iron Curtain to the beginnings of her affair with a famous New York billionaire, including the launch of the first presidential campaign in 2015, at the top of the golden stairs of Trump Tower.

After years of trying to understand who is hidden behind the frozen and indecipherable features of this first lady fiercely discreet, his autobiography promised to unravel part of the mystery. We will indeed learn more details about her past, notably her early years in communist Slovenia in the 1970s – a period far from being as “dark” as supposed, between skiing holidays in the Alps, the private nanny, his dad’s car collection and summers on the Italian coast.

From the controversial jacket to the slap on the wrist

It’s also an inside look at the years of the Trump presidency. Without offering many details on the reality of being the wife of the head of state, Melania returns with a certain humor to meetings with high dignitaries, King Charles III (with whom she still maintains a correspondence, she affirms) to Pope Francis.

We will also discover that she witnessed the death of the head of IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, live from the “Situation Room” of the White House, and that her aversion to raw fish almost caused a diplomatic conflict during an official visit to Japan in 2019.

Melania also explains her decision to wear this legendary jacket, “I don’t care, do you?”, during a visit to the border in 2018.Getty Images North America

She also provides her version of some famous controversies, including the famous khaki jacket “I really don’t care, do you?” put on to go visit children on the border with Mexico, in 2018. A middle finger raised at the media. “I was determined not to let false media narratives affect my mission,” she recalls.

Or even when she “torn” her hand from Trump’s in 2017, during a trip to Tel Aviv, causing a stir in the press. “A misunderstanding,” corrects the person concerned. “Protocol required the president and prime minister to walk side by side, with their wives trailing behind. However, unforeseen circumstances led to a slight deviation from the norm. Bibi ended up holding his wife’s hand and my husband walked alongside them – three abreast.”

On the political level, the former first lady does not reveal opinions different from those of the 45th president, beyond her support for the right to abortion, which made the headlines last week. “A woman’s fundamental right to individual liberty, to her own life, gives her the authority to terminate her pregnancy”states the author in her memoirs. A position that contrasts with the political legacy of his man, who appointed three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn this constitutional right.

There is, however, no doubt that she 100% shares her husband’s fantasy about the stolen 2020 election, although less bombastic in the way she expresses it. Melania gently rides the conspiracy wave by evoking “suspicious voting activities reported across the country”.

Lots of details, few answers

Beyond these amusing or intriguing anecdotes, Melania only scratches the surface. More generous when it comes to describing the buffet of his wedding and the “delicate shrimp salad” than his feelings upon the revelation of the video during which his other half claims to grab women “by the pussy”, in 2016.

Most of the scenes described are worthy of an episode of Top Model. Like Trump’s marriage proposal on April 26, 2004, his birthday. A few minutes before going to the MET Gala, her boyfriend “surprises” her with a flashy emerald and diamond ring. “I love you,” the promoter, 24 years his senior, would have whispered in a soft voice. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

If anything emerges from these cooing pages, it is above all Melania Trump’s unconditional love for her son, Barron, and her acute and permanent awareness of appearances. An image of herself that the former top model works on, pampers and perfects with talent and mania. The word “sophistication” recurs every two paragraphs, separated by an elegant M monogram.

Melania has been available since October 8 from Skyhorse editions.

If readers are hoping to decipher one of the most secretive first ladies in modern history, they may be disappointed. With this clever manifesto all to her glory and that of her man, published less than a month before the presidential election of November 5, Melania will not let anyone cross the golden front door of her private domain. Not now and not ever.