Vanity Fair readers were led to believe this week that First Lady Melania Trump never wanted her current title. In a new piece, reporter Sarah Ellison claims that Mrs. Trump was not at all excited about her husband's ambition.
Trump advisor Roger Stone told Ellison that Melania acquiesced to her husband's wish to run for president because she didn't want to hear him whining about how he should and could have.
It is unlikely that Melania Trump used this exact language. But another source has backed up Stone’s account: that it was in part Melania’s impatience with her husband’s dithering that helped push Trump to declare his candidacy. “She knew it was in his blood,” Stone said. “He always wanted to run. She is the one who pushed him to run just by saying run or do not run. I don’t think she was ever too crazy about it.” She knew her husband wanted to run for president. And she knew that, if he didn’t, he was likely to be knocking around their gilded triplex in Trump Tower, muttering about how he should have done so. “She said, ‘It’s not my thing. It’s Donald’s thing,’ ” according to Stone. “And I think she understood he was going to be unhappy if he didn’t run.” (Vanity Fair)
Ellison goes on to suggest that Mrs. Trump's fiercely private schedule proves she doesn't want the First Lady spotlight. After all, she didn't move in to the White House for several months after Trump's inauguration. At the time, Mrs. Trump explained that she wanted to remain in New York City with their son Barron until he finished the school year.
Yet, even in the White House, her East Wing offices are "sparsely inhabited," Ellison intones in her speculative report. "Much of her life remains in the shadows."
Recommended
There may never have been a First Lady less prepared for or suited to the role. “This isn’t something she wanted and it isn’t something he ever thought he’d win,” one longtime friend of the Trumps’ told me. “She didn’t want this come hell or high water. I don’t think she thought it was going to happen.”
Mrs. Trump pushed back at Ellison's reporting, her spokeswoman telling CNN that Vanity Fair has published a misleading article that is devoid of facts.
. @FLOTUS spokeswoman responds to me re @VanityFair @Sarahlellison piece reporting “come hell or high water” Melania Trump didn’t want to become First Lady: pic.twitter.com/9PUR310QF5
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) November 27, 2017
Is a "fake news" tweet from @realDonaldTrump inevitable?
Update: He did
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
Join the conversation as a VIP Member