More Popular Than Her Husband: Melania Trump’s 100 Days as First Lady

The Trump family continues to live in the Trump Tower penthouse in New York. Melania has said that the reason for this is that Barron must finish his school year in his current alma mater. They do plan on relocating to Washington in the summer.

Her absence in the White House has been repeatedly criticized mostly because it costs almost $1 million per week to ensure the security of the president's wife and son.

Although she isn’t residing at the White House, the first lady has not avoided her duties and has been a gracious host to foreign guests.

In the past 100 days she has hosted the King of Jordan Abdullah II and his wife Rania in Washington. She conducted a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture for Peng Liyuan, the wife of President Xi Jinping.

​She also took the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Morikami Museum in Florida. Melania mingled and talked with the spouses of the presidents of Israel and Argentina, Sarah Netanyahu and Julian Avada respectively.

Moreover, she actively participated in the organization of the traditional ball of governors of the states and held a reception on Easter on the lawn of the White House. For the latter, she even received praise from the leading American media.

​Melania also demonstrated herself as an indispensable assistant to Donald once, reminding him of the rules of the etiquette during the performance of the national anthem.

​For now Melania has only five assistants working for her, whereas Michelle Obama had 24. Although it is too early to assume she will hire more people as Trump’s tenure continues.

She said that she would leave politics to her husband and will work on tackling the issue of harassment on the internet. However, so far she hasn’t taken any active steps toward that.

​Instead, she has turned her attention to protecting women's rights. At least, all of her public appearances have been devoted to this topic.

“Together, we must declare that the era of allowing the brutality against women and children is over while affirming that the time for empowering women around the world is now,” the first lady said at the State Department at an event honoring “International Women of Courage.”

Despite all that mainstream media has been quick to judge her and criticize her because of her past as a model. In particular, such statements were made by a journalist of The New York Times, Jacob Bernstein.

Similarly, the newspaper Daily Mail in August 2016 published a story suggesting that Melania at one time in her life provided escort services to rich clients.

Both Bernstein and the newspaper subsequently apologized for the slander. The newspaper even had to pay a significant compensation, which, according to some reports, amounted to $3 million.

However, according to recent surveys, Melania's popularity is growing rapidly. Thus, by the end of March, 52 percent of Americans approved of Melania. Before the inauguration she held at 39 percent approval rating.

​In this regard, Melania Trump has even surpassed her husband, whose rating, according to Gallup, is at 35 percent. Against this background, the president even joked saying that he should turn to his wife for advice in this matter.

Back in her hometown, the Slovenian town of Sevnitsa, real business is being made in her honor.  Shopkeepers are naming salami and wine in her name. In restaurants there are cheeses, cakes and pancakes named after the first lady.

In this regard Melania had already asked her lawyers to prevent the appearance of her name in such advertising.

US actress turned activist, Pamela Anderson recently sent Melania a fur coat made in Russia from eco fur. According to the Hollywood star, the fur coat was sewn specially for Melania in the hope that by forsaking clothes made from real fur, she will set an example for other American women.