Melania Trump on Michael Jackson, Why ‘Donald Trump Is Not Hitler’
Melania Trump, wife of the presumptive Republican nominee, has been mostly absent on the campaign trail so far – causing many to regard her as aloof. Eager to learn more about the former model and glamorous Slovenian immigrant as the next First Lady of the United States, media outlets have clamored for face time.
Perhaps hoping to curb unwanted negative attention, Melania recently made herself more available for interviews, including a new cover story in luxury magazine DuJour. In the gentle profile, Melania is forthcoming about some details of her background – her first concert was at age 16 when she saw Elton John live in Zagreb, Croatia – and family life. For example, it turns out she drinks coffee but doesn’t like Starbucks, although their son Barron is a fan. “My son likes it, the what do you call it? The Frappuccino? He likes that.” Sweet.
One of the more fascinating anecdotes is the fact that, after marrying Trump, Melania says she got to meet celebrities, including the King of Pop. Turns out, they hit it off and had a silly time together.
“I met Michael Jackson,” she explains. “It was here in New York in the Pierre Hotel. He called us, so we went over and we had dinner. Just after dinner, we were chatting on the sofa and my husband went into another room to see some art somebody wanted to show him. And Michael said to me, ‘Hey, when Trump comes back, let’s start kissing so he will be jealous!’ ” It turns out, they didn’t kiss. “No, no, no,” she says. “But we were laughing so hard.”
Melania isn’t ignorant of her husband’s aggressive rhetoric, but when she’s told that Louis C.K. compared Trump to Hitler, she says she doesn’t know who the comedian is and defends Trump’s statements about banning Muslims from the United States.
“We know the truth. He’s not Hitler. He wants to help America. He wants to unite people. They think he doesn’t but he does. Even with the Muslims, it’s temporary. Maybe he needs to say it in a softer way. He doesn’t go after religions. He feels like we need to know who’s coming to this country. If not, we don’t have a country. That’s how he feels. We see how he is, and he wants to unite the country and bring people together and bring jobs back.”
But does Melania, in fact, act as some sort of conscience for Trump? One can hope. As she explains: “I give a lot of advice to my husband and tell him how it is and how I see it. I’m not backing off. I tell him the truth … After a speech, the kids are calling me — Ivanka, [his] sons — saying, ‘Call Dad and tell him this and that. He’s listening to you.’ They know I would talk to him and put him in the right direction. Sometimes he does, and sometimes he doesn’t.”