Melania Trump not a ‘reluctant’ first lady, spokeswoman insists after approval ratings plunge

Melania Trump‘s spokeswoman has insisted the former model is not a “reluctant” first lady and that the media “consistently ignores her work” in response to Ms Trump’s low approval rating in a recent CNN poll.

Stephanie Grisham wrote an opinion piece for CNN about Ms Trump after a contributor from the network said that she ”doesn’t understand what it means to be first lady”.

In the piece, Ms Grisham said that the media were going to take her CNN piece as an “assault on the press” and continue to push the narrative that Melania Trump was a reluctant first lady.

The argument that Ms Trump does not want and is not good at her current job is well established - as anyone familiar with the #FreeMelania hashtag can attest to.

But Ms Grisham argued that all the “first-lady-like things” that Ms Trump has been doing are vastly underreported, including: reading Christmas stories to sick children, flying out to an aircraft carrier to visit members of the military for the holidays, hosting a successful state dinner and dozens of holiday events at the White House, and representing the administration at a state funeral to which her husband was not invited.

“CNN has a dedicated reporter who covers Ms Trump,” Ms Grisham wrote. “But the media consistently ignores the first lady’s work on behalf of the people of this country, and children in particular, in favour of more trivial matters.”

“Each event in her comprehensive ‘Be Best’ initiative is focused on helping children with the many issues they face today,” Ms Grisham continued. “Yet, somehow, she is still characterised as a ‘reluctant’ first lady.”

Ms Grisham wrote that CNN contributor Kate Andersen Brower’s take that Ms Trump does not understand what it means to be first lady was a “condescending opinion, apparently written in response to a single answer Ms Trump gave in a Fox News interview Wednesday”.

“The simple fact is that Ms Trump deserves honest reporting and media coverage that focuses on the substance of her message: the importance of helping children grow up to be happy, healthy and socially responsible adults,” she added.

Last month, Ms Grisham wrote the statement about the Trump administration’s now-ousted deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel, who was involved in a disagreement over the size of the first lady’s entourage on the Africa trip in October.

She wrote: ”It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honour of serving in this White House.”

A day later, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Ms Ricardel’s departure – and Ms Grisham’s “enforcer” nickname was solidified.

The first lady’s approval rating is at its lowest point since just before Mr Trump took office.

In an interview with ABC News in October, the first lady called herself “one of the most bullied people in the world“. She also has said that women accusing men of sexual assault needed to show “really hard evidence”.

During a June visit to the US-Mexico border, where children were being separated from their migrant parents by the Trump administration, the first lady wore a jacket that read “I really don’t care, do u?”

She said the jacket’s message was intended “for the left-wing media” and other critics. Many say it painted her as coldly aloof to the plight of Mexican and Central American immigrants. In a statement, Ms Grisham later said that “there was no hidden message”.

Washington Post