Melania Trump: Donald Trump’s Wife Taking Important Behind-The-Scenes Role In His Presidential Bid


Melania Trump won’t be leading political rallies like Michelle Obama or organizing fundraising pushes like Bill Clinton, but the wife of Donald Trump is still playing an important role in his bid to win the Republican nomination.

Trump officially announced in June that he was planning to run for the White House, and since then has been one of the most media-friendly candidates in recent history. Trump has dominated television, garnering the most attention at Republican debates and even hosting Saturday Night Live.

His wife has not been so conspicuous. Melania Trump has been taking on a bigger role at the family’s home while her husband hits the campaign trail.

“It’s my choice not to be there [on the campaign trail],” Melania told Barbara Walters in an interview for 20/20. “I support my husband 100 percent, but… we have a 9-year-old son together, Barron, and I’m raising him.”

“This is the age he needs a parent at home,” she added.

Melania Trump said she is 100 percent behind her husband, and even encouraged him to run for president.

“I encouraged him because I know what he will do and what he can do for America,” she said. “He loves the American people and he wants to help them.”

But while she may remain unseen, Melania is playing a big role in Donald’s campaign and has helped to rein in his over-the-top performances a bit.

“She’s told me a couple of times during the debate, she was very happy with my performances, if you would want to call them a performance,” Donald Trump said. “But she said, ‘you could tone it down a little bit on occasion,’ which I understand.”

That freewheeling spirit and refusal to back down has gotten Donald Trump in trouble during his campaign. He has pledged to send Syrian immigrants back home if he were elected president, and recently made controversial remarks that he would consider a national registry for Muslims.

Trump’s support had been on the rise since the terrorist attack in Paris, the New York Times noted, but the controversial remarks on immigrants and Muslims led to widespread criticism for Trump.

Trump suggested that more freedoms could be restricted in the name of national security.

“We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule,” he said. “And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”

The New York Times report noted that Trump did walk back the remarks on the registry a bit, but still appeared to stand by the idea.

“By Friday, though, he appeared to pull back slightly from the idea. In a post on Twitter, Mr. Trump complained that it was a reporter, not he, who had first raised the idea of a database. And his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, insisted that Mr. Trump had been asked leading questions by the NBC reporter under ‘blaring music’ and that he had in mind a terrorist watch list, not a registry of Muslims.”

“Still, nowhere, even on Friday, did Mr. Trump, who has rarely acknowledged being at fault in a campaign predicated on his strength as a leader, clearly state that he was opposed to the idea of a registry of Muslims.”

But Melania Trump has defended her husband, saying he is often portrayed incorrectly by the media.

“He’s not [nasty],” Melania said. “He has a big heart and [a] very warm heart. You see who he is on the campaign trail all the time and on television, and I think — you know America needs a strong leader and a tough leader and [he] knows what he’s doing.”

While she has stayed behind the scenes role for now, if the polling trends continue Melania Trump could soon take on a much larger role — First Lady.

[AP Photo/Evan Agostini]

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