Featured Image Credit: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Politics, US News
Phoebe Tonks
Topics: Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Politics, US News
Donald Trump took a slight detour during his meandering State of the Union address to single out his wife Melania, amidst a speech that tackled everything from the economy to crime…to his wife’s budding potential as a movie star - and superior popularity.
Around an hour and a half into his annual address, Trump made a very tenuous leap to reference his wife’s achievements during the year, while also drawing attention to her recent Amazon documentary series.
Addressing the gathered crowd of politicians, Trump said: “Nobody cares more about protecting America’s youth than our first lady - she’s now a movie star, can you believe it? Who would’ve believed that?”
He then continued: “Over the past year she’s had an incredible impact, implementing AI legislation, advancing a landmark executive order on foster care and securing 30 million dollars to launch the Melania Trump foster youth to independence initiative. It’s tremendous.”
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He then went on to take a subtle and lighthearted jab at his wife, as he highlighted how her efforts had received considerably more support than his.
The president continued: “It’s a really tremendous thing that happened and she got a lot of bipartisan support. She gets much better bipartisan support than I do. I get none, she gets a lot. Some day you’re going to have to tell me how you did that!”
While Trump may have argued Melania achieved more support than he did, she is still far from popular with many voters, with a recent YouGov survey reporting that her approval rating was -16, lower than the previous First Lady, Jill Biden (-9) and a far cry from former first ladies such as Nancy Reagan (+25), Rosalynn Carter (+32), Lady Bird Johnson (+23), Barbara Bush (+21), Michelle Obama (+21), and Laura Bush (+19).
However, the best polling of all time belongs to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at +56, who was First Lady between 1961 and 1963 as the wife of President John F. Kennedy.
It isn’t the first time Trump has referenced his wife in recent weeks, with his relationship with Melania creeping into his speeches more and more often.
Just last week, the President cited an awkward encounter at the United Nations' headquarters in New York when an escalator ground to a halt just as he and his wife Melania stepped on it.
Trump and his administration didn't find the incident to be amusing at the time, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling on the matter to be 'investigated immediately’.
However, on reflection he apparently softened towards the incident, as Trump said: "I've had a good relationship [with the UN] other than when, at my last speech, they did turn off my teleprompter. I got up there, my teleprompter didn't work.
" [...] First I had an escalator that stopped. You know that it's going up. Boom. It's lucky that my movie star first lady in front of me because I put my hand on a certain part of her body and I was able to stop my fall.”
In his odd comments on the ordeal, Trump added that Melania was 'right in the proper location for me'.