Although she looked at the trial, says one source familiar with her level of interest, the former first lady left Washington differently than her husband.
According to several people who spoke to CNN about Trump’s life in the weeks since she left the country’s capital, her daily schedule has nothing to do with politics, Congress, hearings or stimulated social media accounts.
“She goes to the spa, eats lunch, goes (again) to the spa and eats with Donald on the patio,” someone familiar with Melania Trump’s schedule in Mar-a-Lago, her home in Palm Beach, Florida, said. “Rinse and repeat. Every day.”
Another person familiar with her daily routine confirms Trump’s affinity with the private club’s spa facilities, noting that it’s not uncommon for her to spend a few hours a day there by the benefits at her disposal. to enjoy, and often twice in a 24-hour period massages, nail care, facials or other items on the menu.
“She almost always has dinner,” said a third person who saw Trump outside the spa. She spends her evenings on the outdoor patio of Mar-a-Lago, where, according to the source, she prefers fish for an appetizer, and is regularly seated at the table by her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who live in a private living room. of the rooms at Mar-a-Lago for much of the year.
Although she is now a former first lady of the United States, her daily routine has not seen any significant change.
“It’s about the same as before (she was first lady) or even when she would come down during vacations,” the source familiar with Trump’s schedule said, adding that there is not much evidence surrounding the pre- and post-White House to demarcate. activities or work.
Melania Trump’s office did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
Moments of bitterness
Yet there have been moments of bitterness and regret, say several people with knowledge of Trump’s late talks, especially since Joe Biden’s inauguration and regarding the activities of her successor, Jill Biden.
At one point, early in her tenure, that was not the case – Melania Trump was the most popular member of the Trump family and the wider government. But it is possible that Donald Trump’s infectious style, while not necessarily something his wife approved of, had the lingering effect of the president’s popularity. After the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Melania Trump made no statement for five days in which he denounced the violence.
“She could see how it was going for her,” a former White House official who spoke to CNN said, noting that Trump feels she is in a losing-lose state, or she is now in the speak publicly or not. If she condemned the violence, her husband and his base would be angry and it would create a stir over her breakup with the president. And by keeping quiet, she gave support for what happened.
“Once (the uprising) took place, she knew there was nothing for her to say or do anything – therefore she did nothing,” the former White House official said.
Two staff members of the first lady resigned shortly after the deadly uprising in protest of the government’s apparent recognition.
According to a person familiar with her schedule, Trump planned to go to Biden’s inauguration and learned that she would not attend when his husband tweeted that he would not go.
Disappointed with the way she left Washington, she was sometimes ‘bitter and cold’ towards her husband, upset that her image had become a collateral damage in his quest to denounce the election and a peaceful transfer of power to obtain, two of the people familiar with her think of a late note.
But Trump’s fiercest anger comes from watching Jill Biden kick off her tenure in the East Wing on almost the opposite of the path Trump followed. Biden immediately moved into the White House, to begin with, and within two weeks of the inauguration had staff hired and worked out. Trump, meanwhile, stayed in New York for the first five months of the government, ostensibly to get son Barron to complete the school year; she never had more than 12 people in her White House staff, sometimes there were only seven. (Jill Biden already has nearly a dozen full-time staff members and is expected to add more.)
Although Melania Trump apparently left a welcome message for Biden in the Executive Residence, she still has not spoken to her while evading a tradition of first ladies.
Trump also took note of the publicity her successor received.
Biden A few weeks after she became first lady, Biden interviewed People magazine and put her husband, the new president, on the cover. In the magazine Parents, she discussed her empathy with families who do homeschooling with their children during the pandemic. The Bidens also appeared in a television message aired ahead of last Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Jill Biden has given at least seven events or speeches since his first wife on topics such as military families, cancer prevention, health care, community college training and teacher support. Before leaving Washington on January 20, Melania Trump had not been seen in public for three weeks and had not held a public event for six weeks – a schedule that was not entirely unusual for the former first lady, who decided to maintain a less robust calendar. , her staff said, to provide more focus on wife and mother.
Publicity
The attention Biden is getting has not gone unnoticed by Trump, say those who know her. Although she regrets the media focus on her successor, Trump turned down several similar offers from national publications during her time as first lady, according to two people who worked closely with her. When he was offered and asked for participation, it was Trump who did not want to do it.
In four years, she has never interviewed a national publication.
“Donald was more upset about Melania not getting magazine covers than Melania had,” said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who served as Trump’s senior adviser during her first few months as first lady before the relationship went south.
On Christmas Day, then-President Trump tweeted a conservative media news item pointing out the lack of magazine pages, citing “elitist snobs in the fashion press.” Trump called his wife “the greatest of all time.”
Laura Bush has been seen more than twice in her two terms as president’s wife and Michelle Obama more than twice.
Wolkoff told CNN that the country is not interested in reading about Trump, but that the extremely private first lady is not interested in allowing the public to get to know her.
“Melania deliberately did not do press as a defense mechanism,” says Wolkoff, who wrote about her experiences with Trump in her book, “Melania & Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady.” “She and I will always discuss this reasoning and therefore everything is choreographed or emailed, or ‘approved’ quotes or statements that I would write regularly.”
The lack of interest in sitting for an interview, out of privacy and concern about what can be asked and what needs an answer, was an important strategy, according to Trump. Now, according to several people familiar with her thinking, Trump is guessing the tactics.
But the former first lady does not blame herself afterwards, but blames others – former staff members, magazine editors and corporations and foundations who chose not to work with her because of the former president’s political rhetoric. Trump recently noted acquaintances that she thinks she could participate in more media events and policy events if her staff provided more for her needs.
“It seems unfair, but typical to blame everyone,” said someone familiar with Trump’s thinking during her White House years. “Everyone knows that Melania Trump does what she wants when she wants, and not one staff member in her team could have done anything to change that.”