According to a new report from CNN, former First Lady Melania Trump is “bitter” over the popularity of her successor, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Unlike the Trumps, who relentlessly antagonized their political opponents with petty and inane rhetoric, the Bidens are generally liked by a majority of Americans. As of this Friday, an average of about 54 percent of Americans said that they approved of President Joe Biden’s job performance, while about 37 percent said that they disapproved, according to the FiveThirtyEight tally — which is about the literal opposite of numbers that ex-President Donald Trump had while in office.
As CNN summarizes, for Melania, “there have been moments of bitterness and regret, say several people with knowledge of Trump’s conversations of late, most notably since Joe Biden’s inauguration and with respect to the activities of her successor, Jill Biden.” By the end of her time at the White House, Melania was widely unpopular, and she didn’t exactly help her own case. After the rioting at the Capitol on January 6 that led to the eventual death of a police officer and left many other law enforcement personnel with serious injuries, Melania didn’t even comment publicly about the chaos for five days. She issued a statement on January 11. Now, Melania’s “most fervent ire has come from watching Jill Biden kick off her East Wing tenure on nearly the antithesis of the path Trump took,” CNN says.
Interestingly, CNN adds that Melania “has been “bitter and chilly” at times toward her husband, upset that her image became collateral damage” in his antics, which included, of course, his months-long effort to overturn the documented presidential election outcome, an effort that culminated in the rioting at the Capitol.
According to Melania’s former personal ally Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, “Donald was more upset about Melania not getting magazine covers than Melania was,” because the former First Lady was intentionally private, but now, Melania is apparently “blaming others” for her lack of publicity while in the White House, CNN says. Melania “has recently been noting to acquaintances that she thinks she could have participated in more media opportunities and policy events had her staff been more accommodating to her needs,” the outlet adds, but she had plenty of personal direction over her public image while First Lady. She opted for efforts like running an ostensibly anti-bullying program from the same presidential administration where her husband petulantly cyber-bullied his political opponents on a regular basis.
