Remember that jacket former First Lady Melania Trump wore when visiting the children at the border? Well, that “I Really Don’t Care” slogan wasn’t just a fashion statement; it might be her catchphrase for any and every political disaster of her husband’s adminstration.
Case in point: Claims from a new book authored by former Trump aide and the First Lady’s Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham details how little Melania could be bothered about the violent insurrection happening just a couple of miles from the White House on Jan. 6th. Mrs. Trump apparently spent the day directing a photoshoot of the new rug she had installed at the White House while her husband inspired an angry mob to storm Capitol Hill and threaten our democratic process. According to Politico, Grisham sent the First Lady a text as the riots broke out, asking if she’d like to address the situation publicly.
“Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?” Grisham reportedly asked Mrs. Trump.
Her response? One word. ‘No.’
It took Trump five days to issue a statement on the attacks and, when she did, she opted for fairly soft language when condemning the insurrectionists and spent more time addressing the attacks aimed at her character. According to Politico, Grisham takes the time to break down why Mrs. Trump seemed so apathetic to what was happening on Capitol Hill. Grisham says she was “shocked” to learn that Melania, like her husband, actually believed the 2020 Presidential Election to be “stolen,” saying the First Lady told her “something bad happened” when discussing issues of voter fraud. This seems to be in line with comments made by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former close friend of Melania’s who wrote in an op-ed for The Daily Beast that she was “complicit in the destruction of America.”
This will, undoubtedly, be a blow for Melania sympathizers who might wish to believe the former First Lady was merely an unwilling participant in her husband’s tyrannical reign.