The real Melania Trump

The mainstream media’s characterization of Melania Trump is that she is a spineless and brainless appendage to her husband. But like the media’s portrayal of Donald Trump as a racist, a fool and a danger to humanity, the caricatures are wrong.

Melania Trump speaks six languages — English, French, Italian, German, Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian — and has tremendous influence on the president and his staff. As revealed in my book “The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game,” she sits in on key meetings, summarizes the points others make and has always given sage advice on strategy, according to insiders.

In fact, contrary to a report in Vogue that she did not want to be first lady, Mr. Trump has credited her with urging him to declare his candidacy rather than vacillate about whether to run for president. Otherwise, she said, the polls would not reflect his support because people would not believe that he was serious about running. And she said to him, “If you run, you’re going to win.”

After he and Melania descended the escalator at Trump Tower to announce on June 16, 2015, that he would make America great again, his campaign took off. A week later, a Suffolk University poll had him in second place in New Hampshire among the large 2016 Republican primary field.

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