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Former first lady Melania Trump will reportedly make a rare public appearance by attending next week’s Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, according to CNN.
The former president’s wife has largely been absent from the 2024 campaign trail and did not attend Donald Trump’s high-profile hush money trial in New York alongside other Trump family members earlier this year.
It remains to be determined whether the first lady will speak at the event or serve any other formal role in Milwaukee, according to the CNN report.
One of the couple’s last major public outings was in May, during a Palm Beach, Florida, high school graduation ceremony for the couple’s youngest son, Barron.
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who also did not attend the hush money trial, has said she will attend the RNC in a personal capacity to support her father, despite announcing in 2022 that she would not formally take part in Trump’s comeback presidential campaign.
The family show of support comes as Trump appears to head into the convention with a stronger political hand than his rival Joe Biden.
Most national polls show him beating Biden in the general election, and the Democratic party is currently engaged in a bitter public debate over whether another candidate should replace Biden ahead of November, following his disastrous debate performance and questions about his mental fitness for office.
He may have the polls and his family on his side, but Trump did pick up one major dark mark on Thursday when the New York Times editorial board put forth a scathing piece declaring him “dangerous” and “unfit to lead” the country.”
“He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people,” the article on Thursday argued. “Instead of a cogent vision for the country’s future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him.”
