{"id":61292,"date":"2018-03-24T05:57:30","date_gmt":"2018-03-24T05:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=61292"},"modified":"2018-03-24T05:57:30","modified_gmt":"2018-03-24T05:57:30","slug":"how-are-donald-and-melania-doing-why-america-cares-about-the-presidential-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/how-are-donald-and-melania-doing-why-america-cares-about-the-presidential-marriage.html","title":{"rendered":"How are Donald and Melania doing? Why America cares about the presidential marriage."},"content":{"rendered":"

How are Donald and Melania doing? Why America cares about the presidential marriage.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

On Monday, onlookers divined outsize meaning from a small gesture by President Trump toward his wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

As he walked with Melania Trump across the White House lawn to the awaiting Marine One helicopter, he placed his arm around her waist \u2014 then held her closer as she stumbled slightly, the heel of her designer boot apparently caught in the grass.<\/span><\/p>\n

The British tabloid the Mirror homed in on the Trumps\u2019 interaction in a story headlined \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s reaction to Melania\u2019s stumble \u2018may reveal true feelings,\u2019\u200a\u201d and the Twittering class shared their thoughts on his save.<\/span><\/p>\n

In another context it would have been an unremarkable moment between husband and wife, but Trump is currently being sued by a former Playboy model and a porn actress, both of whom claim he had affairs with them, and the latter of whom is set to tell her story in a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview on Sunday. Trump has denied the allegations.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, the public has turned the Trumps\u2019 marriage into Kabuki by way of YouTube, a union that others try to understand by interpreting pantomimes of their public appearances. They have both said little about their marriage in recent months, so small gestures such as a half-embrace are deciphered, one tweet at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asking \u201cHow is the Trump marriage\u201d isn\u2019t just a matter of idle gossip, said Katherine Jellison, an Ohio University history professor. Americans have always cared about the state of our presidents\u2019 unions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the concern that, for people in public life, their personal life matters and can affect their decision-making \u2014 so they want to know what that connection is, and they want to read the tea leaves,\u201d Jellison said. \u201cMany first families have had marriages that people suspected might not be the greatest, and so there\u2019s often been speculation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people knew that Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt lived largely separate lives, and criticism of Eleanor for not being an adequate housewife spilled into editorial cartoons mocking their marriage. The Kennedys, of course, were famously whispered about \u2014 although there was a tacit \u201cgentleman\u2019s agreement\u201d among male reporters covering the president that his affairs were off limits, Jellison said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1990s, the Clintons\u2019 marriage, which weathered his high-profile affair with a White House staffer, was the subject of tabloid headlines and multiple books.<\/span><\/p>\n

The collective curiosity about the inner workings of first couples is increasingly fed by a generally more \u201cinvasive\u201d media coverage, said Anita McBride, who served as an adviser to George W. Bush and chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fascinated by first families and the behind-the-scenes life of public figures,\u201d said McBride, who is an executive-in-residence at the School of Public Affairs at American University. \u201cWhat\u2019s different about it [is].\u2009.\u2009. greater media access and so many different platforms has led to more robust knowledge about a first family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Long gone are the days when Eleanor Roosevelt could select the photos of her family that she wanted released to the newspapers, McBride added. Melania Trump can carefully curate her Instagram feed, but she can\u2019t control tabloid headlines or hashtags about her, such as the #FreeMelania campaign that her husband\u2019s critics often fire up on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concern about the state of the marriage and the feelings of the first lady relate to concern about the president\u2019s state of mind, Jellison said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst ladies,\u201d McBride added, \u201care often validators of their husbands.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And in the Trump White House, where the president\u2019s mood is watched closely, friends predicted that Melania Trump would be a positive influence. She had been described as a rare soft voice among the shouting that surrounds her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe provides great balance\u201d to Trump, campaign adviser Roger Stone said in 2015, when the prospective first lady was being introduced to voters.<\/span><\/p>\n

That narrative has continued throughout Trump\u2019s tumultuous tenure. \u201cI do think Donald listens to his wife and respects her opinions on things tremendously,\u201d his friend and Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told Politico in June, when Melania Trump moved into the White House.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the nine months she\u2019s lived in the White House, she has revealed flashes of independence amid the news reports of her husband\u2019s alleged infidelities. On Tuesday, during a meeting she convened of tech and social media company executives to discuss cyberbullying, an issue she has said she wants to address, she seemed to be setting her own agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic,\u201d she said, in a rhetorical shoulder-brush to those who say her husband\u2019s harsh tweets complicate her message on the issue.\u201cI have been criticized for my commitment to tackling this issue, and I know that will continue. But it will not stop me from doing what I know is right. I am here with one goal: helping children and our next generation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McBride said that moment, amid all the scandalous headlines and criticism of her husband, was a defining one for a first lady who has sometimes been accused of playing a smaller role in public life than previous first ladies have.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just been business as usual \u2014 she\u2019s saying \u2018these are things I care about, and I\u2019m moving ahead no matter what.\u2019\u201d McBride said. \u201cShe\u2019s serious about her efforts. Is it a different model than what we\u2019ve seen? Sure, but each [first lady] defines the role for themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As images of her husband\u2019s alleged mistresses flick across cable-news screens, Melania Trump has continued to perform her role. Monday, she introduced the president at a gathering about the opioid crisis in New Hampshire. Tuesday, she welcomed the tech CEOs to the White House. Her office did not respond to a request for comment about her marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such public stoicism doesn\u2019t surprise Paolo Zampolli, the Manhattan businessman and longtime friend who introduced the Trumps. \u201cShe\u2019s very strong and very used to fake news \u2014 from day one she\u2019s been attacked,\u201d he said, adding that the presidential campaign prepared her for a spotlight that was more intense than any she\u2019s experienced before.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think she was aware she wasn\u2019t a private person anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t just going to be the gorgeous wife of this very powerful businessman wealthy man who has a TV show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/style\/are-melania-and-donald-trump-okay-and-no-you-cant-blame-us-for-asking\/2018\/03\/22\/8c74d672-2de4-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html?utm_term=.60b496a26e5f<\/span><\/p>\n

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