First Lady Melania Trump has penned a letter to America to say farewell. It is the first time she’s made any statements since the riot on Capitol Hill last week. She calls for an end to the violence and for Americans to “heal in a civil manner.”
Melania began with a mention of the coronavirus pandemic and the effects it has on our country. She calls what she has seen of those who rise up and take care of each other “inspiring”. Then she goes to the people who have suffered due to the riot on Capitol Hill last week. She names those who died and says she prays for their families. Melania addresses the fact that she condemns the violence seen last week. I’ll get to why I think she used these words in a minute.
With nearly every experience I have had, I found myself carrying many individual’s stories home with me in my heart.
Most recently, my heart goes out to: Air Force Veteran, Ashli Babbit, Benjamin Philips, Kevin Greeson, Rosanne Boyland, and Capitol Police Officers, Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood. I pray for their families comfort and strength during this difficult time.
I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week. I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda. This time is solely about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used for personal gain.
Our Nation must heal in a civil manner. Make no mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never acceptable.
Other than a new year’s greeting, her Twitter account has been silent since the end of 2020. She has been silent and out of sight, except to go to and from air transportation, since then, too. I’d have liked for her to speak sooner but now it looks like she may have been pushed to do this letter because her former friend and White House aide spoke out that Melania is complicit over the violence during the riot last week. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a longtime friend of Melania’s who worked on the president’s inauguration (her company made several million dollars for it) left the White House as an investigation into the financial records of the inauguration heated up. She published an ugly tell-all on Melania. During her (unpaid) time in the White House, she said she “gave up everything” for Melania. Now it appears she is still seeking revenge over her ouster. She wrote a piece for the Daily Beast published on Friday and accused Melania of having played a role while remaining complicit with her silence.
Everyone around them has stoked and massaged their egos and wittingly agreed to the falsehoods and poisonous lies, veiled as truths, that built this house of mirrors. I take responsibility for being Melania’s enabler, and her using me became the basis of our friendship. I can’t believe how blind I was to the depth of her deception and lack of common decency.
I wish I could say I was shocked by President Trump’s actions, but sadly I can not, or say I don’t comprehend Melania’s silence and inactions, but pathetically, they are both expected. Melania knows how to “Be Best” at standing up and reading from a teleprompter and not from the heart. She and her husband lack character, and have no moral compass. Although my intentions to support the first lady in the rollout of her initiatives were always pure, I’m disheartened and ashamed to have worked with Melania.
The piece goes on and it just gets uglier. The charge of being “complicit” isn’t original. This is a favorite word used by liberal critics of Melania over the last four years. They do it to Ivanka, too.
As far as I can tell, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff isn’t quite “disheartened and ashamed” enough to have returned the money her company received from the inauguration. Instead, she praises the former first lady, Michelle Obama. It looks like Melania’s farewell letter included a takedown of “salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations” because she was addressing the attack by Wolkoff.
After another couple of pleas to end the violence and for Americans to come together, she thanked Americans for giving her the honor of her lifetime.
It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your First Lady. I want to thank the millions of Americans who supported my husband and me over the past 4 years and shown the incredible impact of the American spirit. I am grateful to you all for letting me serve you on platforms which are dear to me.
Most importantly, I ask for healing, grace, understanding, and peace for our great Nation.
I’ve written many times about Melania and her work during her time in the White House. She’s been an example of a first lady who supported her husband and quietly worked on behalf of children and others without a voice in politics. She never tried to be co-president, as Hillary did, (Buy one, get one free!), and she didn’t try to impose her moral preening on the nation as Michelle Obama did. Obama’s micro-managing of school lunch programs was a complete, wasteful failure and we’ve all repeatedly seen the irony in her pious “When they go low, we go high” quote about Republicans. Melania Trump was not only a beautiful first lady, she was a refreshing change of pace, too.
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) January 11, 2021