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Where is Melania Trump? Her rare appearances before Election Day 2024

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Where is Melania Trump? Her rare appearances before Election Day 2024

Melania Trump’s campaign appearances are rare. She may have helped son Barron Trump prepare for college in New York.

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  • In the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, Melania Trump appeared at many of her husband’s campaign stops. Not so in 2024.

When she was first lady of the United States, Melania Trump was very much in the public eye.

With her husband seeking re-election, Mrs. Donald Trump has mostly kept a low profile.

On Sunday, October 27, the former first lady made a rare appearance at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden — and the crowd went wild. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters, introduced Melania Trump as the ‘first lady of the US’. She then walked outside and swayed to the music of ‘Paradise City’ by Guns N Roses.

The former model and longtime wife of reality star Donald Trump had not made an official campaign appearance since last summer’s Republican National Convention (see below for a list).

Since January, Melania Trump has been mourning the death of her mother, Amalija Knavs. And she supposedly prepared Barron Trump, her only son with Donald Trump, for college after graduating from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. 18-year-old Barron Trump chose New York University.

Photos: Funeral for Melania Trump’s mother took place at the same church where Donald and Melania got married

But while Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, travels the country for rallies and speeches, Melania Trump has been conspicuously absent. It conflicts with the 2016 and 2020 elections, when she made several public appearances with her husband.

When the attempted assassination of Donald Trump took place in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, the former first lady released a statement the next day to express her thoughts and concerns: “As I watched that violent bullet hit my husband, Donald I realized that my life, and Barron’s, were on the brink of devastating change,” she wrote in a statement. “A monster that my husband saw as an inhuman political machine tried to capture Donald’s passion – his laughter, ingenuity, love of music and inspiration,” Melania Trump wrote. “The core facets of my husband’s life – his human side – were buried beneath the political machine. Donald, the generous and caring man with whom I have been through both the best and the worst of times.”

Less than a week after the assassination attempt, Melania Trump made a surprise appearance at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. She did not give a speech this time as she did at the 2020 RNC in Washington, DC, but chose to sit in the Trump family box and later appear on stage with Donald Trump as he formally accepted the Republican nomination.

Barron Trump was the only immediate Trump family member not to attend the 2024 RNC.

Barron Trump reportedly did not attend the October 27 Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, even though it is less than three miles from New York University. However, last weekend was NYU Alumni and Family Weekend. It is not known whether Donald and Melania Trump attended their only son’s college event.

Here’s a look at notable 2024 campaign events that Melania Trump attended on behalf of her husband, Donald Trump.

Class of 2028? Barron Trump went to a university in New York, not UPenn or Georgetown, breaking family tradition

Melania Trump attended the Trumpettes Gala at Mar-a-Lago in Florida

On February 10, 2024, Melania Trump and former President Donald Trump attended a Trumpettes Gala at Mar-a-Lago, the family’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. She accompanied him when he spoke to the Trumpettes fan club in February, and then for a dinner the former president hosted for Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán.

On a 2024 primary election day, Donald and Melania Trump cast their votes in Palm Beach, Florida

On March 19, 2024, primary election day of the Florida presidential election, Donald and Melania Trump cast their votes at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach, Florida. “Stay tuned,” the former first lady said with a smile when asked about a return to presidential campaign politics.

According to the Palm Beach Post, the appearance at the polling station is a rarity: Melania Trump has largely stayed out of the spotlight while her husband campaigned for president for the third time, and she also did not attend his “Super Tuesday” election victory party. on the night her husband won more than a dozen primaries to move within reach of a third straight Republican presidential nomination.

Melania Trump attends Trump ‘awards night’ as Jack Nicklaus presents him ‘Most Improved Player’

On March 24, 2024, Donald and Melania Trump attended the 2024 Senior Club Championship awards ceremony in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the former president added two more wins to his long self-proclaimed list and said on his social media site that he had not won. only the club championship but also the senior club championship at his golf course in West Palm Beach. According to The Hill and Tom D’Angelo’s column in Golfweek, a USA TODAY publication, Trump’s statement, which came during the Trump International awards ceremony, was mocked online by President Biden: “Congratulations, Donald. Quite an achievement,” Biden wrote. During the awards ceremony that Melania Trump attended, Jack Nicklaus presented Donald Trump with the 2024 Trump International Golf Club Most Improved Player award.

Melania Trump attends a fundraiser at the home of billionaire investor John Paulson

On April 6, 2024, Donald and Melania Trump arrived at the home of billionaire investor John Paulson in Palm Beach, Florida. The Palm Beach Post reported that the Trump campaign was expected to raise $33 million from the meeting of hedge fund gurus. According to an invitation obtained by USA TODAY, the small group of billionaires there included Palm Beach County sugar magnate Jose “Pepe” Fanjul; Palm Beach resident and former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross; Howard Lutnick, head of the Cantor Fitzgerald investment firm; mega-GOP donors Rebekah and Robert Mercer; Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts; investment banker Warren Stephens; and real estate magnate Steve Witkoff.

According to the April 2024 Palm Beach Post story, the entry fee on the invitation was $250,000 with a maximum contribution of $814,600.

Melania Trump hosts fundraisers for Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBTQ+-friendly conservative group

Despite the group’s complicated history with her husband, Melania Trump hosted a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans at Mar-a-Lago on April 20, 2024. Less than three months later, the former first lady hosted another fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans on July 8, 2024 in New York. Donald Trump addressed the conservative gay rights organization at its December 2022 gala, also held at his Palm Beach club.

The Log Cabin Republicans describe themselves as “the nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to the representation of LGBTQ+ conservatives and allies.” In 2016, they declined to endorse the former president, but in the 2020 election, Log Cabin Republicans endorsed him, reversing their previous position, according to USA TODAY. The group’s executive director, Jerri Ann Henry, resigned shortly afterwards.

However, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate has drawn criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates for often ridiculing transgender athletes in his rally speeches. The Palm Beach Post reported that Donald Trump said at an event in West Palm Beach in the fall of 2023 that the former first lady didn’t like him performing a particular “routine” — one in which he mocks a transgender weightlifter — and said she told him. was not presidential.

Log House Republicans and Trump: Who is the LGBTQ+ friendly conservative group?

Melania Trump makes a rare appearance at the 2024 Republican National Convention

On July 18, 2024, the final night of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Melania Trump made a rare appearance, wearing a red suit and waving to the crowd.

In 2020, the first family – Melania Trump, Barron Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump – attended the RNC in unity to support former President Donald Trump. The 2024 RNC had most of the Trump family in attendance, except for one: Barron Trump.

Although she didn’t give a speech like she did at the 2016 and 2020 RNCs, Melania Trump was in the Trump family box for the 2024 RNC. She also surprised her husband on stage in a virally awkward moment after Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination.

Melania Trump attended the controversial Trump rally at Madison Square Garden ahead of Election Day 2024

Donald Trump hosted a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday, October 27. Melania Trump made a surprise appearance there. Coincidentally, less than a few miles away, Barron Trump’s university, NYU, hosted its Alumni and Families Weekend.

The Trump rally was controversial due to Donald Trump’s derogatory statements against Democrats, and an opening comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.” Trump’s campaign distanced the candidate from the racist comment, saying it does not reflect his views.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk, one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters, introduced Melania Trump as the “first lady of the United States.” She walked into the music of Guns N Roses’ “Paradise City” and later posted a clip of the viral moment to X, Musk’s social media platform and formerly known as Twitter.

Contributing: Kate Kealey, USA TODAY Network; Kinsey Crowley and Margie Cullen, USA TODAY; Tom D’Angelo, Palm Beach Post

Antonio Fins is the politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her further Tweet or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.

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