Melania Trump breaks with tradition by skipping presidential debate
Election 2024 Melania Trump
Melania Trump will break a long-standing tradition by not attending the 2024 presidential debate on Thursday evening.
Donald Trump’s wife was nowhere to be seen when he de-boarded his plane in Atlanta, Georgia ahead of his first debate against President Joe Biden since 2020. Now, it is confirmed she will not be attending the debate to support her husband, CNN reports.
The former president’s wife has been largely absent from his 2024 presidential campaign. She has already missed key events, including the kickoff of the 2024 election in Iowa and her husband’s Super Tuesday victory party.
Melania also did not attend a single day of Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan. He is set to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention, where he will be named the official GOP presidential nominee.
Melania was most recently seen at Barron Trump’s high school graduation in May. She also attended a campaign event in April with the Log Cabin Republicans, which describes itself as “the nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies.”
When reporters asked Melania in March if she’d be returning to the trail, she told them, “stay tuned.” Several experts also predict Melania will not move back into the White House if her husband wins in November.
“She’s distancing herself even more from her husband and from the Washington social political scene,” Kate Andersen Brower, an expert on the White House and first ladies, said.
Katherine Jellison, a history professor at Ohio University who studies first ladies, told the Associated Press that Melania and her husband have often broken with tradition.
“But everything the Trumps do seems to be against the standard playbook of how candidates and spouses behave,” Jellison said this week.
Thursday’s debate is also breaking with tradition. The event marks the first televised debate between a former and sitting president. CNN, the network hosting the debate, has also eliminated a live audience and will mute candidates’ microphones when it is not their turn to spreak.
Biden has spent much of the last week at Camp David with his close advisers preparing for the debate. Meanwhile, Trump has prioritized policy discussions with allies over formal debate preparation, The Independent previously reported.
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