FIRST LADY’S DEMURENESS NOT UNPRECEDENTED
Trump had been delayed in hiring a policy director because she was working to “ensure that the person is a good fit for the entire team.”
Trump, 47, is far from the first person in the role to take time adjusting to the unwritten rules and expectations. Her predecessor, Michelle Obama, was less than enthused about life in the East Wing. Such spousal melancholy dates back to the country’s infancy: Louisa Adams, the London-born wife of President John Quincy Adams, spent much of her time in the White House in the 1820s depressed and binge-eating chocolates, according to historical accounts.
Things have not gotten that bad for Trump. At the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games, the Slovenian-born first lady cheered for stars and stripes in an arena filled with maple leaf flags.
The celebration, complete with dancing children and giant puppets, had a lighter air than her speech to the U.N. on Wednesday, in which she warned about the dangers to children posed by cyberbullying and drugs.
“We must turn our focus right now to the message and content they are exposed to on a daily basis through social media,” Trump said to a luncheon group, “the bullying, the experience online and in person and the growing global epidemic of drug addiction and drug overdose.”
With her East Wing lacking policy muscle, Trump has joined West Wing-led initiatives, including plans to combat the opioid crisis. She continues to receive briefings from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on hurricane relief, Grisham said.
While Trump has flouted some norms by, for instance, wearing stiletto heels while traveling to a hurricane disaster zone, she has brought some conventionality to a White House that often eschews it. In August, Trump condemned the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, even as her husband made equivocal statements about the racists who were involved.
As Trump picks up speed, she has brought a friend and adviser closer to the formal operations of the East Wing. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former director of events at Vogue who worked on the inaugural committee, is now consulting for the first lady’s office.
Wolkoff, who had previously advised Trump on everything from event planning to wardrobe choices, helped prepare Trump’s U.N. speech, “along with others,” according to Grisham.
“While there certainly is an adjustment period, that is to be expected,” Grisham said of Trump. “She is staying true to herself and knows exactly what she wants to achieve as first lady.”
“She is not one to seek out attention or photo ops,” Grisham added. “She is focused on being a mom, wife, and serving the American people.”
Anita Mcbride, who served as Laura Bush’s chief of staff, said it would take time before Trump might be ready to introduce a plan to the public. Mcbride said it took Obama over a year to roll out “Let’s Move!” her signature program to prevent childhood obesity. Bush, she said, took about that much time organizing the first National Book Festival.
“This is the period of time where you do see a number of first ladies in recent history really begin to roll out their interests,” Mcbride said. “There is some regularity to the timing of what she is doing.”
Mcbride, who attended a dinner that the first lady hosted for the White House Historical Association at the White House this month, said Trump was embracing some of the more traditional expectations that accompany living in the White House, and had grown to appreciate the potential power of her platform over time.
Still, Mcbride said, given the president’s penchant for taunting tweets, the first lady is likely to face an uphill climb on combating cyberbullying.
“I do think she will need to be prepared for not being taken seriously in this because of some of the language and rhetoric that comes from her husband,” Mcbride said. “You’re not going to win everybody over.”
Whether her initiatives at home have a lasting effect, Trump, who speaks multiple languages, is proving to be an asset on the world stage. She has accompanied her husband on his trips abroad, serving as a buffer in awkward encounters with world leaders, and notably eliciting a smile from a sullen-looking Pope Francis.
Patti Solis Doyle, a Democratic strategist who was an aide to Hillary Clinton when she was first lady, sees Trump’s travels as helpful to her husband’s image.
“I think,” she said, “that Melania’s husband needs a little goodwill around the world.”