'Spine-tingling' interviews show Melania 'even more of a grifter than her husband': writer

Melania Trump's press tour to promote her new memoir has revealed she may be an even bigger grifter than her husband, according to a new column.

The former first lady has been giving interviews on Fox News and rolling out a social media campaign, with perfunctory assistance from Donald Trump, to hype her self-titled book, and Guardian columnist Emma Brockes was repulsed by their efforts.

"It’s wrong, I know, to ascribe regular human responses to either of the Trumps, but watching activity around the book this week, it was hard not to wonder whether the pair’s pantomime uxoriousness caused either one of them the tiniest pang of regret for faking a loving relationship," Brockes wrote.

Reviewers have skewered the book's focus on Melania Trump's business ventures, including plugs for her skin care products that include their pricing, and during interviews she has been referring Fox News viewers to her website to check out the jewelry, Christmas ornaments and other items she's hawking.

"It was, however, Melania’s interview on yet another Fox show with host Ainsley Earhardt that offered the most revealing insight into just how hard this publicity tour has been on her," Brockes wrote. "Dutifully, Melania worked through her talking points about how her husband is 'passionate to make America great again.' She complained about the 'misinformation' around her and urged viewers to buy the book so they 'can learn some things that were never discussed,' and she referred to the press release she issued shortly before the Republican national convention this year as the time 'I wrote a beautiful letter to America.'"

But the former first lady "appeared to suffer a serious malfunction" when Earhardt asked her about the July 13 apparent attempt on her husband's life, Brocke wrote.

"Questioned about how she responded to being informed that her husband had apparently been shot, Melania said: 'I ran to the TV, and I rewind it, and … something I guess look over me so I didn’t really see ‘live, live’ but maybe a few minutes later. But when I saw it, it was only, nobody really knew yet. Because when you see him on the floor and you don’t know what really happened.'"

Earhardt paused for a long moment as she waited for Melania Trump to elaborate, and when she didn't, the "Fox & Friends" host then awkwardly pivoted to questions about her religious faith that the former first lady didn't show an interest in answering.

"The effect of watching these interviews, meanwhile, was quietly chilling," Brocke then wrote. "Asked by a Fox interviewer what she wished Trump’s detractors knew about him, she said, bald-faced, smiling slightly, bold as brass in the prosecution of her naked self-interest, 'that he is really a family man, he loves his family.'"

"It was a spine-tingling moment that brings you to an interesting conclusion," Brocke added. "If you watch enough Melania content you start to believe that she is, perhaps, even more of a grifter than her husband."