Trump reassures everyone that Melania 'truly loves' being first lady


President Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning that his wife, first lady Melania Trump, "truly loves what she is doing," and claimed that she told him before the election, "if you run, you will win." Trump's tweet seems to be in response to a recently published Vanity Fair article which reported that Melania did not want to be first lady at all, nor did she believe that Trump could win the 2016 presidential election.
On Monday, the office of the first lady told CNN in a statement that the Vanity Fair story was "riddled with unnamed sources and false assertions" and insisted the first lady remains "honored by her role." While some of the story's more juicy quotes ("She didn't want this come hell or high water. I don't think she thought it was going to happen.") are indeed from anonymous sources, other quotes from named sources, including political strategist Roger Stone, paint a portrait of a wife who is supportive of her husband's goals, if reluctantly. "She said, 'It's not my thing. It's Donald's thing.' And I think she understood he was going to be unhappy if he didn't run," Stone reportedly told Vanity Fair.
Despite Trump's claim to have never doubted his ability to win the presidency, New York Times White House reporter Maggie Haberman notes that Trump reportedly considered dropping out of the election if his numbers fell too low.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
Garsington Opera opens its summer festival with two 'very different productions'
The Week Recommends A 'fabulous' new staging of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Donizetti's fake-love-potion comedy L'elisir d'amore
-
The Rehearsal series two: Nathan Fielder's docu-comedy is 'laugh-out-loud funny'
The Week Recommends Television's 'great illusionist' has turned his attention to commercial airline safety
-
The Ballad of Wallis Island: bittersweet British comedy is a 'delight'
The Week Recommends A reclusive millionaire lures his favourite folk duo to an island for an 'awkward reunion'
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs