First lady Melania Trump has not been seen publicly in 24 days.
Her last appearance was on Jan. 24, when she traveled with President Donald Trump to North Carolina and California to tour the devastation of Hurricane Helene and the historic wildfires.
While Trump and his actual first lady, Elon Musk, have been moving at breakneck speed with executive orders, press conferences, and gutting of the federal government, Melania has been notably absent.
Naturally, the speculation runs wild: Is their marriage on the rocks? Is she avoiding the spotlight because she knows Trump has gone off the rails? Have they been quietly separated for years? Or, like much of the country, is she simply over this presidency?
While her office recently released a press release about new public White House tours, Melania has not hosted any public events since Trump was sworn in.
During his first term, Melania and Trump reportedly slept in separate bedrooms. When she’s not being paid tens of millions of dollars for a documentary deal with Jeff Bezos, she’s reported to be living between New York and Florida—but not in the White House.
And her online presence hasn’t exactly helped dispel the mystery.
On Friday, she made a bizarre Valentine’s Day post on X, featuring a meme of Melania winking as hearts fly out of her eye and the caption “LOVE, LOVE, LOVE,” to advertise her latest NFT crypto scheme, $MELANIA.
“Melania memes are digital collectibles intended to function as an expression of support for and engagement with the values embodied by the symbol MELANIA,” her website says.
They “are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type,” it continues, adding that the memes are “not political and [have] nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office or governmental agency.”
Melania was noticeably absent from Trump’s Feb. 9 appearance at the Super Bowl, which he attended with his daughter Ivanka. She was also absent from his Sunday visit to the Daytona 500, which numerous Cabinet members and other family members also attended.
She was not seen on the campaign trail much either.
Instead of joining Trump, she used social media to promote her projects, including her memoir “Melania,” and conspiracies about Trump’s assassination attempt. She also vaguely voiced her support for women’s right to abortion, and she notably turned down the customary tea invite from then-first lady Jill Biden.
And we can’t forget that awkward kiss between Trump and Melania at the Inauguration, where she let her strategically placed hat keep her husband at a safe distance.
Whether Melania’s absence is a calculated move, an act of defiance, or simply a case of extreme disinterest in her husband’s destruction of U.S. democracy, it’s clear she’s choosing to distance herself from the chaos of Trump’s second term—at least for now.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
