One source who knows the first lady tells CNN Melania Trump what she often does: whatever she thinks.
As Trump’s friend and former executive says, “Who is he?”
“She does what she wants, when she wants to … she can be a paradox,” said another White House employee.
The campaign sought his presence. But with less than two weeks to go before the election and no planned events, it is unlikely that the first lady will be involved in any significant way. This is in stark contrast to almost all modern first-time women, many of whom played a key role in humanizing their husbands as female voters.
According to an official schedule released by the White House on Wednesday, Melania Trump is expected to accompany the president to Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday for the last presidential debate.
This would have been the first major, public campaign event for the first lady since June 2019. The rally will mark the first time the public has seen the first woman in Ohio since September 29, where she attended the first presidential debate.
A source who worked with the First Lady said that Melania Trump was never comfortable in public view and that campaigning was not something she would enjoy. Trump wants to stay home and present to his son Baron.
One source who is well aware that the first woman to recover from Covit-19, who was diagnosed earlier this month, says Trump’s voluntary failure is due to her ill health.
“When tested positive for the corona virus, I don’t know why she is being criticized for taking care of herself and her son,” says a White House official.
Frustration
Reluctance to engage in the Trump campaign or to fundraisers is sometimes a disgusting notion to swallow members of the Trump campaign, and according to two campaign sources, talking to a first-time female voter has historically been the most compelling and effective method.
“It’s definitely like ‘Does the Trump campaign want Melania Trump to look like that?’ “It simply came to our notice then. “She wanted, needed, and she just didn’t do them.”
At the beginning of this fall, when asked when the First Lady would appear in campaign appearances, campaign spokeswoman Hogan Kidley said: “The First Lady is an incredible asset to the country, the president and the campaign.
No events yet.
CNN has approached Kidley about the possible events of the First Lady.
The absence of the First Lady has been a point of contention among some in campaign circles, however, and the lack of participation does not particularly concern the president, says someone familiar with how she responded.
“When she doesn’t want to do something, he knows that he or someone else is not going to change her mind.”
The White House has cited requests to comment on the Trump 2020 campaign.
In 2016, the request for Melania Trump to participate in this path remained the same. At the time, she said her priority was to take care of her 10-year-old son. Trump was given a pass on why he didn’t make a lot of speeches or headline fundraisers.
The occasional wave or brief greeting at a Trump rally turned out to be satisfactory, turning into a campaign that struggles to help voters understand who their candidate is behind the scenes, something that a supporter can offer during the election cycle.
A senior official in the 2016 Trump campaign said, “We asked her many times to look ‘no’. 2020 doesn’t look any different.” Anyone can pick her up anytime. He is a rock star, “said one source, who is well versed in the campaign strategy.
Are you hitting the track?
On Tuesday, after Trump’s abrupt cancellation, a source familiar with the First Lady’s schedule said CNN had not been given a “rain date”. On Wednesday, Trump chief executive Stephanie Grisham told CNN that Trump had campaign dates on his calendar.
“He plans to travel with the president next week and campaign alone,” Grisham said.
As Grisham says, appearing next week means that the first lady is doing it for a week or less until election day.
This can be a tight window for performance.
“A lot of Americans have already voted, but as we have seen, the majority of this is a voting game,” says Kate Anderson Brower, “First Ladies: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies”. “So no, I don’t think it’s too late for her to get hurt if she goes out now. She can cheer up Trump voters who are not as impressed with him now as they were once.”
Brower points to the historically unprecedented nature of Trump’s invisibility in the campaign trail.
“The only modern example that comes to mind is Jackie Kennedy, who was pregnant during the campaign. She did not campaign much in the 1960s because she was pregnant in the past. Even when she did press photo shoots and interviews,” Brower said.
Trump did not do a separate press interview with an American publication during his tenure at the White House. His last notable television interview took place two years ago.
“Interviews are the equivalent of a campaign,” said a friend and former executive. “She’s curious about what she does, when or why she does it. It’s not because there is no public interest or demands, she does not want to get involved.”
When he finally attends a campaign event, he will follow the method he chose in 2016, where he will deliver his longest speech to date in Pervin, Pennsylvania, five days before and four months after the election.
Among his comments was the message about communication: “We need to find a better way to talk to each other,” he said.
CNN’s Jason Hoffman and Carolyn Kelly contributed to the report.
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