close
close

Latest Post

Dancing With The Stars fans are devastated after Ilona Maher burst into tears over a mistake “Sun Stars have intense sideline exchange amid WNBA playoff loss to Lynx”.

play

WASHINGTON — You can use her full name if you want, but it's been many years since Melania Trump needed it.

The former first lady may not have the creative or political accomplishments of a Beyoncé, Rihanna, Bono or Hillary, but here she is, a month before Election Day, with a slim memoir that bears the one-word title of a would-be icon : “Melania” (256 pages, Skyhorse).

Packed with photos of the former model, the book is a clear look into Melania's life, from her Cold War childhood in Yugoslavia – where her father was a wealthy businessman who drove a Citroën Maserati SM, one of the coolest cars ever built – to Melania from her arrival in New York at the age of 26 to her life with a certain real estate mogul-turned-president.

There's a lot that “Melania” doesn't say about the Trump White House. Don't worry: Many former Trump staffers and appointees have come forward to fill these gaps. No one should pay the asking price of $40 for keen political insight.

More: Donald Trump comments on Melania Trump's abortion: “You have to write what you believe”

What you get instead is a portrait of a woman who was close to a great power – and who perhaps will be again – and her strong devotion to her son, her parents and her husband.

Here are seven takeaways from “Melania.”

Melania is an election denier

Although “Melania” is less bombastic in her claims than Donald Trump, she leaves no doubt that Melania still holds to the false belief that the 2020 election was stolen.

Melania writes that in the lead-up to November 2020, “…the media, Big Tech, and the Deep State were all determined to prevent Donald's election by any means possible.” She “feared that the election would be unfair.”

The former first lady describes how “suspicious voting activity was reported across the country” on Election Day, ignoring the cold fact that some 30 judges – some appointed by her own husband – rejected Trump's election challenges on the matter.

And it doesn't mention the state and federal criminal charges the former president faces in Washington, D.C. and in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.

“Many Americans still have doubts today,” she writes. “I’m not the only one questioning the results.”

Melania is pro-choice

Melania Trump is not the first first lady to break with her husband on important issues. Laura Bush also supported abortion rights while her husband George W. Bush ran and governed as an anti-abortion candidate.

Polls show Donald Trump, who bragged that the constitutional right to abortion was repealed thanks to the three Supreme Court justices he appointed, is losing significantly to Kamala Harris among female voters.

Will Melania's big reveal, nearly four years after the Trumps left the White House, make a difference?

Melania describes the issue as a matter of personal freedom and writes: “A woman's fundamental right to individual freedom and to her own life gives her the power to terminate her pregnancy.”

More: The Florida abortion measure shows how Trump struggled with abortion policy after Roe

Live in the Situation Room

One of the first lady's primary responsibilities is maintaining and decorating the White House, and “Melania” details her work renovating the two-century-old presidential headquarters and residence.

But one day in October 2019, Melania describes being called away from her duties to join her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other security figures in the Situation Room to watch a live broadcast of an attack by the Delta Force in Syria.

The target: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed “caliph” of the murderous terrorist army Islamic State. “Look at this incredible action at work,” the president whispers.

Melania writes that she was impressed by the raid, but left before its climax: Al-Baghdadi, cornered by military dogs in an underground tunnel, detonated a suicide vest and killed himself.

Don't mess with Barron

You can still feel Melania's anger at Rosie O'Donnell, a former host of “The View” and her husband's longtime adversary, over a Twitter stunt that targeted then-10-year-old Barron Trump.

Two weeks after Donald Trump's 2016 election victory, O'Donnell tweeted a link to a video that suggested Barron was on the autism spectrum. The comedian claimed she was trying to remove stigma.

“I was horrified by this cruelty. It was clear to me that she had no interest in raising awareness of autism,” writes Melania. “I felt like she was attacking my son because she didn’t like my husband.”

“There is nothing shameful about autism (although O'Donnell's tweet suggested so), but Barron is not autistic,” she says. “…Bullying a ten-year-old boy is outrageous, but doing so under the flimsy pretext of 'getting attention' is truly disgusting.”

O'Donnell apologized and deleted her tweet days later.

Where's Stormy?

Melania does not mention the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump, from his alleged tryst with porn actress Stormy Daniels to a reported affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal to more serious assault allegations against several women, including author E. Jean Carroll .

The former president was found civilly liable earlier this year for attacking Carroll and then defaming her when he denied it. He was convicted in a New York court of dozens of felonies – a first for a former president – for manipulating business records to conceal hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Trump is appealing both rulings.

More: Did Donald Trump Rape E. Jean Carroll? Here's what a jury and judge said.

Unconscious and then horrified, on January 6th

Melania writes that she was slow to learn about the frantic attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. While she worked with a team to document and prepare the White House for its new occupants, she writes, “I did not view it as the day that Congress would certify the election results.”

Stephanie Grisham, a former adviser to Melania and Donald Trump, has described asking Melania to denounce the violence at the Capitol, even though the president still refused to do so. According to Grisham, who supported Democrat Kamala Harris for president, Melania answered, “No.”

“If I had been fully informed of the details, I would of course have immediately denounced the violence at the Capitol,” Melania wrote.

Melania writes that she only found out about the attack on the Capitol when the White House chief judicial officer told her about it. Her condemnation includes a swipe at Pence, who was targeted by rioters over his refusal to block the certification of Biden's victory.

“The violence we experienced was clearly unacceptable,” writes Melania. “While it was clear to me that many people felt that the election was mishandled and that the vice president should stop the confirmation process, we must never resort to violence.”

Blood on stage

The most intense moment in “Melania” was perhaps the most intense moment for the nation so far this year: the shooting of Donald Trump by a 20-year-old sniper at a July campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Melania doesn't elaborate on how close Trump came to being killed that day. It pays tribute to firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died in the spray, and shows how difficult it can be to escape trauma: “The relentless repetition of the rally footage on the news has only increased our fear.”

Buy “Melania” on Amazon

— Recommendations are independently selected by our editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *