It’s still not going super great for Donald.
A new report from People (the magazine) indicates an interest by the former First Lady, Melania Trump, in staying out of the political events hosted by Donald as he pursues another term as president. “Melania doesn’t have plans to get involved,” the magazine summarized of what it understood to be the case. “Melania is not now or hasn’t recently taken part in her husband’s political events,” a source, who went unidentified in the public reporting, informed the magazine. “It is not comfortable for her… Melania can be aloof and not particularly friendly because she simply wants to be left alone.”
A statement from Melania’s own team was largely inconclusive, saying: “People should read stories about Mrs. Trump and her feelings with caution, especially those citing sources that are anyone but Mrs. Trump.” Those remarks explain nothing about the actual substance of the story, but whatever.
Elsewhere, Donald’s daughter Ivanka is also distancing herself from his latest campaign for office, although her past work in her father’s orbit even includes a years-long stint as a White House adviser. Jared Kushner, her husband, also isn’t getting involved to the extent he previously participated, although he was present for the speech late last year that Donald gave at his southern Florida resort Mar-a-Lago to confirm his expected campaign. These details are relevant in that Trump returning to the White House (heaven forbid) may not mean Jared and Ivanka would head back to D.C. with him. Neither that daughter nor his son-in-law had much political experience, no matter their sudden roles helping guide national policy affecting hundreds of millions of Americans. Responding to COVID-19 and dealing with foreign policy were among the areas where Jared somehow ended up with leading roles.
Donald still leads in many polls in the GOP primary, but in surveys measuring his potential rematch with Biden in November of next year, the two remain pretty close, much like they found themselves in the lead-up to the 2020 election. None of the Republican primary challengers who’ve actually announced a campaign have generally come anywhere close to Trump in polling.
