Expert delves into Melania Trump’s plan to be tougher and more focused in second White House stint
WASHINGTON, DC: First Lady Melania Trump is expected to be "much more confident in the White House" during her husband President Donald Trump's second term, the Mirror reported on Saturday, January 25.
The 54-year-old's second stint has been dubbed "Melania 2.0" by author and first lady historian Kate Andersen Brower.
Efforts made by the former model to stand out have included launching her own cryptocurrency alongside her husband, as well as moving into the White House with a film crew to finish shooting a documentary on her life.
The making of Melania Trump's documentary
Melania Trump moved into the White House on January 20, Monday, after the presidential inauguration with a film crew in tow. A documentary on her, which started production in November, is in the final stages of filming, and the FLOTUS is said to be buoyed by a fresh wave of confidence in the project.
The film was announced days after her biography, 'Melania: A Memoir', was released in October 2024. It went on to become number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and one of the best-selling books of the year on Amazon.
Amazon Prime, owned by Trump supporter Jeff Bezos, has bought the rights to the documentary for $40 million and is set to stream it later this year.
Melania Trump may seek to monetize FLOTUS position
While the first lady position historically comes with no pay, Melania Trump might be seeking a way to change that, shared Kate Brower with the Daily Mail.
"You get no pay as first lady. There's nothing in the constitution that describes her role. Michelle Obama gave up her job and wasn't making money. It's been seen historically as tacky. In a way, by monetizing that position it diminishes it," she stated.
"But Melania has 'Trumpified' the role of first lady. There's a level of greed we haven't seen before," she explained. "It's not as if she doesn't understand the role, but I believe she's taken the view that she doesn't need to make everyone happy."
"There's a feeling that if anyone's going to make money from her name, it's going to be her… There's a feeling they (the Trumps) go after people that are making a penny by writing about them (like former aides Stephanie Winston Wolkoff and Stephanie Grisham) because all of that money should be theirs," Brower said.
Melania Trump may be more 'affectionate' toward Donald Trump
While Melania Trump is known to be as steely as her husband, she might be considering changing her icy demeanor toward him upon realizing the importance of shows of unity, claimed Kate Brower.
"I think we see them being more affectionate," she said. "We'll see her standing by him because of the trauma of the assassination attempts. That has really rocked her world, as it would for anyone, and it made her affirm her commitment to him."
"First time around we saw her swatting her husband's hand away. I predict more PDA from the White House, whether people like it or not," she added.
Back in 2017, Melania infamously slapped Donald's hand away when he tried to hold her at the airport during the first couple's visit to Israel.
However, she later explained in her memoir that it was not a show of marital ire, writing, "The red carpet simply could not accommodate the four (Trumps along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara) of us abreast. It was a minor innocent gesture, nothing more."
