Former first lady Melania Trump, former president Donald Trump’s wife, has been largely absent from the 2024 campaign, and it remains unclear how she will publicly support her husband’s reelection effort, even as the election year continues.
Citing sources close to the Trump campaign, CNN reported that Melania will have a role in the Trump campaign, but the details are unknown. There is no indication of a ramped-up role in the near future, and she could make the decision to campaign at her own accord.
“She is very selective and methodical in what she wants to do and how she presents herself,” a source close to Trump said. “She is very decisive with these things and knows they have a lot of intended and unintended consequences.”
So far, the former first lady has made two official public appearances for her husband’s reelection campaign: at Trump’s campaign kickoff in November 2022 and last week, while voting in the Florida presidential primary.
Meanwhile, Trump has said that he sees beauty in the mystery surrounding his wife’s whereabouts on the trail, stating that she is “introspective” and “confident”.
He believes that she doesn’t “need to be interviewed by you to get ripped apart for no reason.”
Melania has been seen occasionally on social media accounts, accompanying her husband at private events such as a golf event at Mar-a-Largo, and at dinner after her husband’s meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Melania is mourning the recent death of her mother and supporting her father after the loss while also focusing on her son Barron, who turned 18 this month and will be preparing for college in the fall.
“Melania has said, ‘I don’t need to stand by Donald like Jill Biden; it is like she’s holding Joe Biden up,'” Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s former chief of staff, told CNN. “She is very much not going to do the Hillary Clinton ‘stand by your man’ thing.”
Melania’s absence has been made quite obvious by her husband who keeps promising her return to the campaign trail soon.
“She loves our country very much,” Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC in September. “At the appropriate time, she’ll be out there.”
