Welcome to the Trump family circus: Donald is head clown and Melania is a modern-day Houdini. The former first lady is well known for her disappearing acts: she routinely vanishes from the public eye for extended periods, sparking speculation about whether she has finally left her husband and stoking conspiracy theories about her whereabouts. Now, however, Melania is making headlines because she hasn’t vanished. After being accused of illegally hoarding top secret documents in (among other places) a Mar-a-Lago loo, which he denies, Trump is in the most trouble he has ever been in, and Melania is reportedly “supporting him 100%”.
According to a recent New York Post report, an anonymous source close to the Trumps is keen to reassure everyone that Melania will “stand by her man” in his hour of need. Another unnamed source insinuated that, while getting hit with a 37-count federal indictment for mishandling top-secret classified documents – which Trump also denies – might constitute a crisis in some households, it was just another day in Trump world. “They are used to dealing with this stuff,” the insider said. Yet another unnamed source said: “Melania knows what she signed up for. She is in a wait-and-see position. [Donald will] either be in prison or be president. Or both.”
Actions, of course, speak louder than words from anonymous sources in the New York Post. And Melania’s actions have been muted. She may not have booked a one-way ticket to Slovenia (that we know of), but she has also not been glued to her husband’s side, sobbing into a hanky and proclaiming his innocence. Indeed, the pair are rarely in the same state. When Trump broke the news of his own indictment last week, he was at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey: he posted about his legal troubles online, then had an alfresco supper followed by an impromptu DJ set. According to the New York Times, he used his iPad to play Pavarotti for diners at the club. Melania missed out on this; she was busy strutting around New York City with her shades on. But perhaps she is jaded: the post-indictment DJ set seems to be a tradition. Trump reportedly hit the decks at Mar-a-Lago in April, only hours after becoming the first former president in American history to be indicted (on that occasion, it was for falsifying business records, which he also denies). He reportedly marked that occasion with bops including James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World and the Village People’s Macho Man.
Melania might not be a constant at Trump’s side, but she is still a lot closer to the ex-president than Ivanka, his eldest daughter. When Trump was president, Ivanka was his righthand woman. Now that Trump is looking at the possibility of spending the rest of his life in jail, however, Ivanka is on the beach in Miami, keeping her head in the sand. There was even a rumour, amplified by Twitter accounts with enormous followings, that the former first daughter now wants to be known as Ivanka Kushner to distance herself from all things Trump. That would be juicy if it were true, but it is not true. The rumour started after Business Insider published a paywalled article headlined “Call her Ivanka Kushner”. The very first line of that article? “She hasn’t changed her name but …” But she has been smart enough to stay far away from the toxic Trump brand ever since her dad lost the 2020 presidential election.
Melania may not have the luxury of keeping Trump’s recent troubles at arm’s length. There is a bit in the indictment where Trump’s aide, Walt Nauta, has a conversation with an unnamed member of the Trump family. ABC reckons that person is Melania. According to the indictment, the Trump family member texted Nauta to say that Trump couldn’t bring his boxes with him on the plane to Bedminster because there was already too much luggage on the aircraft. Being a Trump sure comes with a hell of a lot of baggage.
• Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
