Melania won’t be heading back to the White House if Trump wins report suggests
The Former First Lady Melania Trump isn’t likely to return to the White House with her husband Donald Trump if he is reelected in 2024 according to a new report from Axios.
Melania was a reclusive figure while her husband was in office. She was so reclusive in fact that Raw Story pointed out many wondered if she even lived at the White House.
Americans will probably see even less of the former First Lady if Trump’s reelection bid is successful based on an Axios survey that questioned Melania experts on her future.
Axios found that Melania will more than likely split most of her time between West Palm Beach, where she’s spent her last 4 years following Trump’s presidency, and New York.
The experts surveyed by Axois reported Melania would only make her way to the White House for ceremonial occasions like state dinners and other special events.
Associate Editor at The Washington Post and author of a book on Melania, Mary Jordan noted Melania is special among First Ladies since “Melania does what Melania wants.”
Sightings of Melania have been quite scarce since she and Donald left the White House in 2021. For example, she wasn’t in court throughout her husband’s New York hush money trial.
"She's distancing herself even more from her husband and from the Washington social-political scene," remarked the author of many books on Melania Kate Andersen Brower.
"I mean, she clearly hated being in Washington,” Brower added. This opinion was also hinted at by The Washington Post in a 2018 article reporting the pair’s weird schedules.
Melania and Donald allegedly were often apart in their free time and reporters revealed that Melania often was not with Trump during holidays and parties when at Mar-a-Lago.
“They spend very little to no time together,” one long-term friend of the couple told The Washington Post in 2018. The reason for this was her alleged focus on being a mom.
“She’s focused on being a wife, and she’s focused on her role as first lady. And that’s it. The rest is just noise,” said Melania’s spokesperson Stephanie Grisham at the time.
What Melania will be focused on during a possible second term as First Lady now that her son Barron is 18 is not known. But experts don’t think her focus will be on her political duties.
Melania expert Mary Jordan noted that Melania views her position as the First Lady as one that is “unelected, not paid.” But what will happen if Trump wins in November remains to be seen.
The survey from Axios comes at a time when Trump is ramping up his 2024 campaign and could use a boost from Melania, something Trump’s campaign has been promising.
In March 2024, the former president told reporters to “stay tuned” when asked about his wife missing a number of key events in his reflection campaign account to U.S. News.