Since her husband's inauguration last January, first lady Melania Trump has kept a relatively low profile in the White House — which she moved into in June — compared to her recent predecessors.
But her apparent mysteriousness and penchant from staying away from the spotlight has been often conflated with assuming that she hates being first lady. The latest example is a Vanity Fair article saying "she didn't want this come hell or high water." But according to President Trump, that assumption isn't true, since his wife "truly loves" her role.
In a tweet posted Tuesday morning, POTUS seemed to issue a rebuke to the article. (He didn't go as far, however, as calling out Vanity Fair directly or saying the story is "fake news," like he often does when outlets write pieces critical of him or his administration.)
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"Melania, our great and very hard working First Lady, who truly loves what she is doing, always thought that 'if you run, you will win,'" the president wrote on Twitter. "She would tell everyone that, 'no doubt, he will win.' I also felt I would win (or I would not have run) - and Country is doing great!"
Melania, our great and very hard working First Lady, who truly loves what she is doing, always thought that “if you run, you will win.” She would tell everyone that, “no doubt, he will win.” I also felt I would win (or I would not have run) - and Country is doing great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2017
Over at Melania's team, her communications director Stephanie Grisham said Monday the story was "riddled" with "false assertions."
The article alleges that Melania encouraged her husband to run for office, forcing him to finally make up his mind after toying with the idea during several election cycles, even though she didn't really want to be thrusted into the public spotlight.
"This isn’t something she wanted and it isn’t something he ever thought he’d win," an unnamed source close to the Trumps told Vanity Fair. "She didn’t want this come hell or high water. I don’t think she thought it was going to happen."
Melania's track record as first lady varies greatly from her Republican and Democratic predecessors. More than ten months into Trump administration, multiple key positions in her East Wing offices are still vacant, she's only given a handful of speeches, and even though she choose combatting cyberbullying as a topic she will champion (which of course, it's ironic given the president's tweets), she still has yet to present a comprehensive proposal explaining how will she tackle that issue.
Whether she loves of hates being first lady, one thing remains true: Melania is taking things really slow. Make of that what you may.
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