US Presidential Election: Melania Trump’s visible presence at her husband’s fundraiser

His campaign committee had hoped to raise $40 million, but ultimately it was $50.5 million (€46.6 million) that Donald Trump needed to raise in Florida on Saturday night to continue his path to the presidential election in November.

The amount, which cannot be independently verified until filings with the Federal Election Commission in the coming months, is a record and dwarfs the $26 million that Joe Biden’s team says it raised last month during a celebrity event in New York, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Proof of the importance of the Inaugural Leadership Dinner, hosted by Republican billionaire John Paulson at his Palm Beach mansion, Melania Trump attended, even though she was standing on the breakout side of her husband’s third re-election campaign.

But the stakes were high: Trump’s campaign raised fewer donations than Biden’s, and money is the lifeblood of any election battle in the United States. The price of the napkin ring determined the scale of this lavish banquet: $250,000 per person, $814,600 for a seat at the head table of the “President” and First Lady.

Since November 2022, two political speeches

While her husband gave a 45-minute speech, Melania Trump said not a word, content to chat with a few people at a distance, as usual. Donald Trump often refers to the former first lady during his rallies, counting on his wife’s great popularity, but Melania does not travel with him.

Her rare public appearances since her husband officially resumed the election race – on November 15, 2022, in his presence – have no electoral purpose. She was among the former first ladies who attended Rosalynn Carter’s funeral last November and attended the naturalization ceremony in December in New York.

Occasionally, the former Slovenian model strolls through the lobby of the Mar-a-Lago, which is also a hotel. Sits on very high heels, one hand in his pocket, large sunglasses on his eyes. She is believed to have hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago a month ago, but there are no photographs to prove this.

She also didn’t attend a party thrown in early March to celebrate her husband’s—no doubt—Super Tuesday victory at Mar-a-Lago, the couple’s Palm Beach residence. She had just accompanied her husband on March 19 when he voted in the Florida primary. His first political appearance since the start of the election campaign. “Stay tuned,” she replied to a journalist who asked her if she planned to participate further.

We just know that on April 20, she will attend a fundraiser—behind closed doors—for the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of LGBT conservatives. It’s a balancing act at a time when many Trump voters are particularly intolerant of equal rights between straight and LGBT people. .