The two most important women in President Trump’s life are not particularly close, according to a new book on first lady Melania Trump.
Free, Melania sheds light on the first lady’s relationship with Trump’s 38-year-old daughter Ivanka, who works in the White House as a senior adviser to her father.
“To be fair, both Ivanka and Melania have tried very hard to like each other and achieve more than mere toleration,” author Kate Bennett wrote.
The book contends the Trump women are “cordial, not close” and, while Melania was still living in New York after the president, his daughter, and her family moved to Washington, “the dynamic between stepmother and stepdaughter was growing more distant.”
“Behind the scenes, Melania had made it clear from New York that Ivanka was not to have an office in the East Wing, because the East Wing, when she ultimately did arrive, was to be her territory and hers alone,” Bennett wrote.
Melania thought Ivanka was “was infringing on her turf” when the first daughter traveled to Africa to promote women’s entrepreneurship months after the first lady visited the continent on her first major solo international trip.
“Ivanka and Melania would clash over the Africa trip,” according to Bennett.
Before Melania’s trip to Africa, the East Wing asked the West Wing not to have the president or Ivanka do anything that could distract from the first lady’s trip abroad. But Ivanka did not take heed. She “was doing something she normally doesn’t do,” Bennett said, by visiting hurricane survivors and passing out supplies. Ivanka then had a video made of the day that she posted to social media, copying the style of the short videos the first lady shares about her activities.
There was also tension between the two women over Trump’s zero-tolerance policy of separating families at the border.
While Melania was having “intense talks” with her husband about the issue and “telling him how upsetting it was,” Ivanka received a lot of the credit when Trump signed the executive order ending the policy. Melania gave her husband “an earful” about how Ivanka got the credit and not her.
The next day, Melania wore the green jacket with the words “I really don’t care do u?” emblazoned on the back as she boarded a plane to visit the United States-Mexico border. The $39 Zara jacket, which overshadowed her trip, was likely a “facetious jab at Ivanka and her near-constant attempts to attach herself to positive administration talking points,” Bennett wrote.
Bennett noted that Melania hardly ever wore the fast-fashion brand but Ivanka regularly wore items from Zara.
“She didn’t wear it on the ground in Texas, which to me was evidence the messaging was not meant for greater public display,” Bennett wrote. “I can’t say with any reportable certainty that she wore that jacket to send a message to Ivanka to quit taking credit, but Melania’s message was surely conveyed loud and clear to the intended receiver.”
Melania’s relationship with Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, is warmer. Tiffany, now 26 and in law school at Georgetown University, was six when Melania started dating her father. Trump divorced Tiffany’s mother, Marla Maples, in 1999, and Melania was around on the days Trump had custody of his daughter.
“Melania liked spending time with little Tiffany,” according to the book.
“Melania and Tiffany remain close to this day, in part because of the early years after Trump’s divorce from Marla. … Melania was, and still is, very conscious of Tiffany’s oddball status in the Trump-children dynamic. … Melania has always tried her best to make Tiffany feel welcomed, loved, and supported — and that all began back in the early days of her dating Trump,” the book said.
