I would guess that there have been approximately one million scandals, debacles, treasonous acts, criminal acts and shenanigans since Donald Trump took office. Even I can’t remember them all. But I remember this one: Melania refused to move into the White House for months just after her husband was “elected.” She stayed in New York so as to not disrupt Barron’s school year. Well, a new book – The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump – suggests that while Melania really was thinking of Barron, she was also thinking of herself. She used herself as a negotiating tactic to get a better prenup during that time:
When Melania Trump stayed behind in New York after her husband’s presidential inauguration, she said it was because she didn’t want to interrupt their then-10-year-old son Barron’s school year. News stories at the time concentrated on an apparent frostiness between the first couple and the exorbitant taxpayer costs to protect Melania and Barron away from Washington. Those stories are true, but Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan reveals in a new book that the first lady was also using her delayed arrival to the White House as leverage for renegotiating her prenuptial agreement with President Trump.
The campaign had been full of harsh news about Trump’s alleged sexual indiscretions and infidelities, from the “grab them by the p—y” Access Hollywood tape to an affair with Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal; Melania learned new details from the media coverage, Jordan writes. The incoming first lady needed time to cool off, and “to amend her financial arrangement with Trump — what Melania referred to as ‘taking care of Barron,’ ” Jordan writes in “The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump.”
Melania’s original prenup had not been incredibly generous, Jordan reports. But she has been married to Trump longer than both his ex-wives and had bargaining power: Her perceived calming effect on him was so great that Trump’s pals and at least one of Trump’s adult children exhorted her to come to the White House as soon as possible.
Do you believe this? I’m not entirely sure. I mean, I don’t doubt that Melania renegotiated her prenup, and if they say it happened after that man was fake-elected, so be it. But I think she had a million other reasons to stay in New York during those months. One, I always heard that she was banging some dude at Tiffany’s. Two, she hates her husband and she’ll look for any excuse to avoid him. Three, she’s lazy. Four, she only really cares about Barron and no one else. Still, it’s a funny story – Melania stomping her foot and saying “NO, not until you give me a new prenup!”
(Besides, I still wonder if part of the “deal” they worked out involved a Faux Melania look-alike for all of the events Melania didn’t want to do. I also believe Melania doesn’t live in the White House, I think she has an apartment or a home in the DC/Maryland area.)
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red & Backgrid.
Anyone have photos of the stand-in?
Melania is a terrible person. But I say, get the money. It’s the only thing he cares about.
We have posted about it I will find it and get back to you one moment.
-edit- scroll down to the tweet on this post. The top photo is probably her, the tweet photo is definitely not.
This is *so* bizarre.
I’m not a conspiracy theory person, but I FIRMLY believe there’s a fake Melania.
Oh yeah…I missed this the first time around. It still makes me giggle when I see her slapping his hands away when he goes in for the hand grab.
Wow! Thanks. You’re right, Fake Melania is shorter, and needs a better wig. And more contouring. Bigly, bigly contouring. She’s got the frown down tho.
Look how close they are standing in the pic with the crosses, too. Not typical of the real Mel.
PS love this site!
If you listen to the Wind of Change podcast, there’s some interesting stuff in there about the CIA’s ability to make disguises of people. I don’t doubt the Melania double after learning about that.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist either, but I really do think there’s been a stand-in a few times. The nose and jaw shape is just slightly different, plus her height is off too. It’s so weird!
I honestly wonder if he notices a difference.
She had him over a barrel she never wanted to be first lady. She didn’t sign up for that. She wanted a rich lifestyle and a kid. She’s just a non-entity and hopefully this nightmare will be over in November.
As soon as he was elected she had him by the mushroom – he needed her more than she needed him at that point. Given everything that was in the public domain he needed her to stay and be his first lady.
Using taxpayer dollars to fund secret security for her stay up there… It was a tactic to get a better prenup arrangement??!
You got to be kidding me, that price tag was over 100k a day
For me, this is the clincher. The secret service agent is shorter and her hair is dyed to match exactly.
https://twitter.com/ResistMeena/status/1104364836685860867/photo/1
IMO when he is no longer president she’s going to divorce him. I bet money on it. Also I believe the guy she has been banging longterm might be Barrons tutor.
Have no sympathy for this wretch. Wearing the “I don,t care do you?” jacket while she was going to see detained immigrant children. There is no shame with these people, no empathy for others; if Trump gets reelected I will be very afraid.
When the ‘grab them by the p*ussy’ tape happened I remember thinking, this must be IT, NOW they will surely get rid of him? I mean, things can’t get worse than this?!
Oh boy they did.
I absolutely believe that the deal was renegotiated and the only reason she went to Washington and is still making appearances with him is because she’s being paid big money to stay married to him. She hates him though. She’s miserable with him. And I don’t feel one ounce of sympathy for her.
100% agree with everything you said.
Regarding a renegotiated agreement – Inauguration fund monies have been questioned, haven’t they? Wonder what all has been paid from that massive slush fund.
And she is clearly unhappy with him. No amount of money would be worth it.
Agree, Christin — as my grandmother used to say, “If you marry for money, you’ll earn every penny.”
I also believe that Melania realized she had great leverage over Trump once he was elected, and took the chance to use it to get a better monetary deal for herself and Barron. Trump had a LOT to lose if she divorced him at that point.
She’s living in the style to which she has grown accustomed, and is having to pay for that by being married to Trump. Sounds like a lousy deal to me, but to each his or her own.
She’s also a birther. She’s as soulless and despicable as her husband.
Yep, those divorce papers will hit the the second he’s out of office (and please, for the love of all that is holy, let that be in November.)
Agree on all counts. Neither of them thought he’d win (by losing by 3 million votes) and I imagine she knew he needed her to stick around.
I hope they’re both miserable 24/7.
The rumors around the NYC private school scene were that she was absolutely renegotiating the pre-nup and she was absolutely willing to stay in NYC, regardless of the cost. There was no question about that. They didn’t think he would win, she didn’t think she’d have to move, and she was pissed.
I think the Secret Service accidentally admitted she doesn’t live in the White House with their initial reports about the bunker fiasco. In all of their initial statements, they only mentioned rushing the president to the bunker. They didn’t start adding “and his family” until people started pointing out that they only mentioned the president, and by then it just sounded like backtracking.
Which of Trump’s children do you think was encouraging Melania to move to DC? I feel like I remember reports of her clashing with Ivanka in the first few months, and Ivanka was the one working there. It seems like if it was anybody, it would have been Hope Hicks.
I have heard more than once from DC pundits that she lives with her parents. McLean Virginia has been mentioned. It was pretty obvious she wasn’t there when bunker bitch lost it. Even for the bible stunt she managed to not be around.
I’ve seen Potomac Maryland too.
I keep hearing Potomac, Maryland too…it is close to Barron’s school. And that kid and her parents are all that she cares about…aside from money.
They also didn’t include her in the list of people “close to the President” who were getting Covid tests at first.
I believe it. She’s a much more savvy dealmaker than he is. She dealt her way out of economic hardship to a life of him-and-her private jets despite no marketable skills. He dealt his way into six bankruptcies.
Oh she had marketable skills. That’s how they met 😉
Architecture skills, right? 😉
@Christin Of course!
You must be referring to the architectural handiwork of her fake boobs.
I can’t imagine thinking Donald Trump’s ugly disgusting ass is your only chance for a leg up. If that pig was snuffling around me, I’d be like “Is this the only way?! Never mind, I’ll have split ends and raggedy nails and never wear designer gear.” or better yet “I’ll hustle and get my own.”
There has never been a time when Donald Trump was not a disgusting piece of $#!+.
I’m actually interested in this book because I just have no idea how she could strike this bargain. He would make my skin crawl if he laid even a finger on me, and his narcissistic personality would confuse and enrage me. No money is worth having to endure his company! I know she’s a terrible person, but he is just so gross! I wonder what is going on in her head to deal with such a person and call herself his wife. She might only have a snake fighting a mongoose between her ears, but I’m really curious!
She sold herself the the Orange Turd for the following: Citizenship for her and her parents, money, money and more money, and Barron.
It’s called a post-nup when it’s done after the wedding.
I have zero sympathy for this woman because she knew who she married. She is probably just as awful as he is if she’s stayed together this long and had a child with this monster. The entire family is, except for the young son, are born grifters.
I agree on the 0 sympathy part, but also can understand why she increased her rates to put up with him in DC under a microscope. That is pure business.
I’d believe it, yeah. But then, I don’t know what could come out about any of these people that I WOULDN’T be prepared to believe.
No, actually, you know, one thing I don’t believe about her? That she’s any kind of innocent victim, or held against her will and is secretly miserable and plotting against Trump. I’ve never understood the kind of talking about her that she’s longing to get away, and just needs help to get out or “she hates him more than anyone REALLY” or whatever. Well, ok, no, I do believe she probably is miserable. And maybe she would love to get away, probably anyone who has to spend more than 2 minutes with that odious man is looking frantically for the nearest exit. BUT. Sometimes people talk about her like she only married him 5 minutes before he became president and he needed a wife, or something, and she had NO IDEA who he was or what she was in for. And THAT I don’t believe. She’s been married to him for 15 years, with him for about 20 or so years! That’s a really long time. She knows exactly who Trump is. She knew a long time ago. She chose him. And she chose to stay with him. Maybe she didn’t want to be First Lady, but she definitely wanted to be Melania Trump, and she’s chosen to stay Melania Trump for many years now.
Yeah, true but she barely saw him before he decided he was running for president. They lived separate lives. She didn’t sign on to be First Lady. I’m not feeling sorry for her. She chose to marry him but I doubt she spent any more than a month or two living with him. Now his first & second wife..yeah I can see that they loved him. Melania, no.
Oh, I certainly don’t think theirs was any kind of love match, I 100% agree with you there! But on the barely saw him/lived separate lives thing… it isn’t that I disagree with that necessarily, but, I mean, they had been married over a decade by the time he became President, and they were a thing for like 5 years or so before they married, right? (I mean, I doubt he was faithful or anything, but I’ve read that’s how long they were dating or whatever.) Even if you don’t spend a lot of time together for any of those years… they would have spent SOME time together, and over that many years, that’s a long time. It’s more than enough time, in my opinion.
Every time I see her, I get sick bc man oh man for her fashion sense ALONE she’d be a force. If her husband and family were like 40% less deplorable, the girls and gays would LOVE her.
Gotta disagree with you. Most of the time she wears ugly colors and styles and sizes that are too matronly for her age.
HER FASHION SENSE??🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
She buys expensive stuff but the clothes wear her. Always too tight and like Ivanka needs a bra fitting
She wears colors well. She picks really well structured clothes that compliment her shape. Her shoe game is impeccable. She RARELY misses.
I said what I said. The girls and gays would gag for Melania.
Agreed
40 percent less deplorable would still be 60 percent too much. If she, perhaps, coughed up some incriminating information and her husband got jailed, then maybe we’d see. In the meantime, she’s an aging sugar baby who is living off of my tax dollars and doing sh*t.
I generally like her style too.
She is an empty shell, there is nothing there. Just a vapid excuse of a “First Lady.”
Minx, I think she is calculated and ruthless like Trump. And I believe she had some shady info on him and used it to the best of advantage.
This. She knows where the bodies are buried and used the leverage to negotiate a sweet post-nup. And, she’s familiar with all of his negotiating tactics so would know how to best them.
She absolutely renegotiated the prenup. It probably said she would live at Trump properties, have at most one kid, get a certain monthly allowance and have X time off. It didn’t say anything about first lady-ing or having to pretend she likes the creep. And she wasn’t going to start doing that until she got some further compensation.
Totally and she will walk when he is kicked out of office – no way she is going to stick around any more than she has to. She will take the money and run but then again does he have any? If she’s smart she will make sure that the money is already there in a trust for both her and Baron. Otherwise he will stiff them both – look at how he financially stiffed Tiffany and his first 2 wives.
I’m not completely sure about this but I heard a few years ago that her prenup also included that if she were to have a child that she was required to get back to her pre-baby shape within a certain amount of time. The orange menace would put that in a prenup while he gobbled hamburgers.
Hey, increased job duties should come along with a raise!
Sorry, but no, I don’t feel any empathy for this despicable woman. An immigrant herself, she didn’t stand up for other immigrants, completely ignored the plight of migrant children locked in cages when she went for her visit in Texas, stole ideas from other First Ladies, and parroted the birther lies about Obama on television. In fact, I hope she gets no money from Trump as he’s going to need whatever millions he has left for his lawyers when SDNY goes after his criminal azz. She can either join her hubby in a nice padded jail cell or (my preference) get kicked out of the U.S. with no money. According to her original bio, she’s got a “degree in design and architecture at an unspecified university in Slovenia” — so, she has something she can fall back on for a job (sarcasm).
It is actually very easy to check if somebody has an university degree in Slovenia. You just have to check the library data base, as your finishing thesis should be in there. And I can tell you, she doesn’t have any degree from any Slovenian university.
And we don’t want her back also.
No, she does *not* have a degree from any Slovenian University.
“And we don’t want her back also.”
Word!
And she managed to help her parents immigrate.
Right as the administration was railing against other immigrants, and especially “chain migration”, which is GOP speak for family base immigration – and exactly what Melania and her parents did.
These people deserve each other. And a spot in hell.
I agree w/everything Kaiser has written. everything…
And this stunt cost taxpayers millions.
As for this “calming effect,” she’s not living with him now. Fed up with these stories of how this one of that one has a calming effect on him.
Of course she did, who’s surprised. And it’s obvious that it was renegotiated last year to get her to hold his hand during their beyond cynical photo ops. We all remember the hand swatting. If you don’t, just google.
Her parents were given citizenship in August 2018. I would assume this was part of some deal. Baron was also probably negotiated too, in the early stages of this scam they’re operating, which I think started before their marriage.
The marriage definitely laundered his image. “The Apprentice” series started in January 2004 and they were married one year later. Why then? She had been one of his escorts since 1996. They were never exclusive. But we know by now that Mark Burnett’s goal was to use the television series to clean up Trump’s image and make him look like the successful businessman he wasn’t. The lavish wedding affair drew many wealthy and well-connected New Yorkers (like the Clintons)–lending his personal life legitimacy. Just a few years earlier (2000), Burnett had actually reached out to none other than Putin to try and get permission to film a reality show on the Russian space station. That didn’t go over, but you might argue that Putin decided to back another show, starring Trump. So maybe we’re watching a really long reality show that needs to be cancelled asap.
Burnett’s connection to Putin go way back…
Oh I absolute believe that Melanie, Melanie’s parents and Barron live in a home by the Potomac. That was part of the deal to get her out of New York. That and her parents getting US citizenship so they would not be deported with Casino has a temper tantrum.
She comes across like a Stepford robot. I wonder if she is heavily medicated when she’s around him, not that I would blame her for doing so. She’s all about that $$$. Not worth it, IMHO.
I have had many coworkers and friends and acquaintances from various former Soviet nations and all of them are very emotionally flat in expression and shockingly stoic. One very lovely wife, mother and friend I know comes across as very Stepford Wife-like in demeanor and with some of the things she says about being a wife and mother. You have to have known her for years to get to know there’s a good sense of humor and depth under the oddly android-like mannerisms. I’m going to guess that there’s a lot to life under that form of communism and its aftermath that required people to suppress a lot of expression people from other cultures take for granted.
Noel Casler has said publicly that she is addicted to opiods (roxicodone) & that Ivanka refers to her as “the junkie wife.”
Calming presence? Not only do I believe that Fembot McCatFace does not live with Donald, I also believe she doesn’t even speak to him.
Be Best. Broken Britain. Struggle Survey. When these women who transact themselves into loveless lives of privilege don’t care enough about the taxpayers they’re supposed to be giving something back to, it shows in empty slogans. And lordy the Botox. At least Kate’s got more than one slogan to her name.
Melania was not elected to any public office and First Ladies don’t get a salary – so she is not actually beholden to taxpayers.
I really don’t care. Do you?
You have won the Be Best award.
Love what you both said!! But sad that those are the only two memorable lines of Melania.
Her reluctance for him to run for president was because her immigration was pretty sketchy and might not hold up to deep scrutiny.
I am glad she stays away, being First Lady is an honor and she visibly hates being in the role. That is a slap in the face to this country. She deserves every bit of scorn heaped on her.
BTW, worst dressed rich woman ever, Ivanka has much better taste.
By impression, based on no evidence, is that they have both always understood their relationship to be transactional. So, yes, this seems completely plausible to me. After watching the Epstein documentary, it hit home that Melania was aware that her husband was accused of raping (and hitting) a 13 year old, in addition to all of the other infidelity. I can imagine that if her prenup was unfavorable, she weighed the options and seized the occasion to secure her son’s inheritance and negotiate citizenship for her parents.
It seems impossible that that wouldn’t be conspicuous. The secret service would be obvious. Right? Her living area is completely removed from his in the White House. They had separate bedrooms in NYC.
I’m all for the conspiracy theory, but how would it be possible to hide that she doesn’t live in the White House, and has a home somewhere else in DC/Maryland? Wouldn’t someone have figured it out by now and splashed it all over the internet?
I believe this is called “The Art of the Deal”:)
Melania, honey, I hope for your sake that you demanded cash in advance and locked that shit up TIGHT against future lawsuits. And that you didn’t settle for stock in this con man’s hotels.