Melania surprises Trump on stage after speech in rare show of affection
Melania and Ivanka made a rare appearance to support former President Donald Trump’s bid for re-election last night.
The former first lady and Trump’s eldest daughter have largely steered clear of the campaign trail this year, despite each playing larger roles in the lead-up to the 2016 and 2020 votes.
Melania’s presence helps the Republican Party show widespread unity, a theme that has emerged prominently since the failed assassination of Trump last weekend.
During a 14-minute account of the shooting, Trump – with his ear still heavily bandaged – told the Republican National Convention he was only there ‘by the grace of Almighty God’.
When he told the Milwaukee crowd that he was ‘not supposed to be here’, the delegates chanted back, ‘Yes you are!’
The former president struck an unusually conciliatory tone during the speech’s opening moments, when he formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination.
‘I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,’ he said, in a marked shift in tenor for the typically bellicose former president.
But he swiftly pivoted to well-worn attacks on the Biden administration, which he said was ‘destroying’ the country.
He claimed without evidence that his criminal indictments were part of a Democratic conspiracy, predicted that President Joe Biden would usher in ‘World War Three’ and described what he called an ‘invasion’ of migrants over the southern border.
Trump’s family, minus Melania, entered the arena after Trump signed paperwork formally accepting the GOP nomination.
They went to the family box and stood throughout a boisterous speech by the wrestler Hulk Hogan.
Trump blew Hogan a kiss as he wrapped up his speech endorsing the former president.
Melania entered later, smiling and waving to the crowd as she walked alone into the arena and up a flight of stairs to take her seat next to vice presidential nominee JD Vance.
She wore a red skirt suit as Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 played.
‘On this journey, I am deeply honored to be joined by my amazing wife, Melania,’ Trump said to extended applause. ‘And Melania, thank you very much.’
He said she ‘did something really beautiful’ when she wrote her statement pleading for unity after the shooting.
A day after the attack, Melania issued a statement calling on Americans to ‘ascend above hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence’.
Melania Trump later joined Trump on stage, startling him as she walked up behind him after his 93-minute speech, then whispered in his ear.
The rest of the Trump family joined and balloons fell from the ceiling, an iconic tradition of political conventions.
Some of Trump’s younger grandchildren, big smiles on their faces, batted balloons with their hands and feet.
As the family lingered on stage for 20 minutes, Melania Trump stood by Trump’s side being quietly affectionate, touching her husband’s arm at times and sometimes chatting with Vance and his wife, Usha Vance.
Trump’s two oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr, and Eric Trump, both spoke to delegates this week, as did their partners, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lara Trump, respectively.
Daughter Tiffany Trump and her husband, Michael Boulos, were at the convention but did not speak.
The president’s youngest child, 18-year-old Barron Trump, did not appear at the convention. He declined an invitation to be a Florida delegate.
Melania Trump has skipped key moments of her husband’s campaign, including rallies and primary-night victory parties.
She did not join him in court as he faced trial over hush money payments to a porn star or for his remarks responding to the guilty verdict.
Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, held senior roles on Donald Trump’s White House staff but did not attend Trump’s 2022 announcement that he planned another presidential campaign.
‘While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,’ Ivanka Trump said in a statement at the time.
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