One of the biggest questions surrounding Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is “Where’s Melania?” That’s partly because Melania was conspicuously absent from all of Trump’s court-related appearances this year and partly because one of his 2024 rivals distributed “missing” posters for the former First Lady at a recent college football game in Iowa as a prank.
In a September Meet the Press interview, Trump tried to tamp down speculation about his wife’s whereabouts by assuring host Kristen Welker that she’d be back on the political scene “soon.”
“When it’s appropriate. But pretty soon,” Trump clarified. “She’s a private person. A great person. Very confident person. And she loves our country very much. At the appropriate time, she’ll be out there.”
Just as Trump promised, Melania is now back — but her recent public appearances have been more awkward than “appropriate.” She resurfaced last week at Rosalynn Carter’s memorial, sparking debate over whether it’s okay to wear gray to a funeral. (Was Melania’s black-and-white speckled coat acceptable funeral attire? I say yes. Should the former fashion model have known it wouldn’t photograph well? Maybe.)
Melania’s next public appearance may be even more uncomfortable. On Tuesday we learned, per CNN, that she’ll speak at an immigrant naturalization ceremony hosted by the National Archives on December 15, along with U.S. archivist Colleen Shogan.
In general, a former First Lady, who is herself a naturalized citizen, making remarks as 25 people are sworn in as U.S. citizens doesn’t sound remotely controversial. But this is a weird move for Melania, as the National Archives sparked a significant part of Donald Trump’s ongoing legal drama. Starting in March 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration repeatedly demanded that Trump return presidential documents he’d removed when he left the White House. This eventually led to National Archives officials asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Trump’s handling of presidential records violated federal law, the “raid” of Mar-a-Lago, Trump getting hit with 40 felony charges, and everyone finding out that the hoarder-in-chief kept boxes of papers in his bathroom.
Even if Melania’s remarks are totally anodyne, the sight of her at a National Archives–hosted event will be weird. But perhaps awkwardness can’t be avoided when you’re married to a guy who’s feuding with all the living ex-presidents and even the “nation’s record keeper.”
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