Melania stands out as only Trump family member who didn’t say happy birthday to her husband

14 June 2024

Former President Donald Trump got a loud chorus of birthday messages on Friday to commemorate his 78th birthday, including from family members, Republican members of Congress and some of his most vocal supporters. But his wife, Melania, has so far been silent on all of her social media channels.

The Daily Beast was first to report on the numerous birthday messages that Trump's family members and Republican supporters posted in honor of the 45th president beginning his 79th year of life. The publication noted that all of Trump's adult children, including Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump all posted birthday messages to their respective social media channels. Even Tiffany Trump, who is not as vocal and outspoken as her siblings, still managed to post an Instagram story showing a photo of her and her father dancing on their wedding, with the text "Happy birthday @realDonaldTrump! I love you dad!"

But as of 8:15 PM ET on Friday evening, Melania Trump's official Facebook, X/Twitter and Instagram channels are all noticeably devoid of any messages celebrating her husband's birthday. Her last posts are from Memorial Day, in which she posted a photo of the American flag with the text "Today, we pay tribute to the brave souls who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Their selfless acts of courage will forever be remembered and honored."

The former first lady has also noticeably not posted since her husband was convicted on 34 felony counts in his hush money cover-up trial. And of course, her absence at her husband's first criminal trial in Manhattan was noticed by the Washington press corps. Trump attorney Todd Blanche maintained that Melania was simply busy with their youngest son, Barron, who was finishing his senior year of high school in Florida.

"I don’t think that the lack of presence should be interpreted as a lack of love and support. It’s just lack of presence," Blanche said on a podcast.

However, the explanation that she was too busy to show physical, in-person support for her husband is less difficult to believe according to a former White House aide to Melania. In an April interview with CNN, Stephanie Grisham — who was Melania's chief of staff — said that she was likely watching the trial proceedings closely.

Of course, an alternate explanation for the former first lady's lack of posting about her husband's birthday could be because the two simply aren't "birthday people," according to Grisham. She made that comment in response to a video the ex-president posted to his Truth Social platform commemorating his wife's birthday on April 26.

"[Melania] and I talked before about how they actually weren't really birthday people, that that wasn't actually a big deal to either of them... and so that was a performance for voters. That was not to her. Same with this video," Grisham said at the time. "That is a performance to try and get voters."

The nature of the charges Trump was convicted on may be a significant source of tension in his marriage, given their salacious nature. The 45th president of the United States was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records ahead of the 2016 presidential election, in order to prevent voters from learning about his alleged extramarital affairs before they cast their ballots.

Adult film star and director Stormy Daniels testified that she was paid $130,000 for the rights to her story about a night with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel, in which she testified that the entrepreneur and reality TV star pressured her into having consensual sex with him in the spring of 2006. The night Trump was allegedly with Daniels (he maintains the two never slept together), Melania was back at their Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and was likely nursing Barron after giving birth to him just weeks prior.

Click here to read the Daily Beast's full report (subscription required).

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