Jill Biden recounts ‘frosty’ encounter with Melania Trump during inauguration car ride
WASHINGTON, DC: Jill Biden and Melania Trump’s paths have crossed on several high-profile occasions, but warmth has remained elusive.
The dynamics between the two have long appeared strained, with missed courtesies, limited contact, and several awkward moments.
In her memoir, the former first lady revisited one particularly awkward chapter, recalling a tense car ride with Melania Trump during President Donald Trump's inauguration.
In the second-to-last chapter of ‘A View from the East Wing,’ Jill details the moments before the handover between her husband Joe and his successor following a campaign defined by acrimony and personal attacks.
Jill Biden reveals reason behind ‘frosty’ encounter with Melania
Jill recounted that the appeasement tone of the inauguration extended to her wardrobe, with her outfit deliberately chosen to help ease tensions during the transfer of power.
“The blue was an obvious political choice, but purple signified unity. I still believe in that,” she wrote, after deciding between two Ralph Lauren suits for the ceremony.
But hopes of easing tensions quickly began to unravel, as the two ladies stepped into a limousine for a ride to the ceremony at the US Capitol, accompanied by John Bessler, the husband of Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
“I don’t know how long this has been a tradition, but it certainly helps with the awkwardness,” she wrote, adding, Bessler “must have drawn the shortest of all possible straws” when he was asked to do it.
“The presidents’ car was likely frosty too, but at least they’d spent considerable time in each other’s company,” the author observed. “This would be one of the few interactions Melania and I had ever had.”
Jill suggested that the tension stemmed in part from Melania’s belief that Biden had a hand in an extensive search of Mar-a-Lago.
“Melania blamed Joe personally for the FBI searching through her private spaces at Mar-a-Lago,” Biden wrote. “I have compassion for her, having been subject to the same kind of search. I knew how distressing it was to have agents rummage through your underwear drawer.”
Bessler attempted to keep the conversation flowing by asking Melania about her son Barron Trump’s studies at New York University.
“‘NYU,’ Melania said, looking out the window,” Biden recalled. “Melania kept trying to switch the topic to the weather.”
Jill Biden recounts shock reactions to Trump’s White House makeover
Elsewhere in the book, she detailed her surprise at the dramatic transformation Trump had made to the White House upon his return.
“During the demolition of the East Wing… I received pictures of the destruction step by step from people in DC,” Biden wrote.
“I could barely look. The social offices, gutted. The military office, flattened. What had been my office, gone. A major landmark and historic treasure was being treated like a fixer-upper on HGTV’s Property Brother.”
Jill said it wasn't the removal of the blue-and-white striped drapes, velvet sofa, or memorabilia-filled bookshelves that upset her, but what she viewed as the symbolic erasure of history and institutional memory.
“I kept thinking of everyone across the country that took pride in that building. I felt a sense of loss and grief with every blow from the wrecking ball. The innards of the East Wing were spread out for everyone to see, like a rare and precious animal that had been hunted down and killed,” she added.
