Melania Trump slammed for First Lady failures

  • 20/04/2017

Melania Trump has been heavily criticised for failing to take on her new role as First Lady of the US in an opinion article analysing the reclusive wife of Donald Trump.

Ms Trump has developed a reputation for her distance from her husband and the public. She has made news for staying in New York's Trump Tower, even though she is required to carry out social and ceremonial duties as hostess of the White House.

"Melania Trump is the woman least fit for public service in the entirety of the United States of America," filmmaker Kate Imbach says in her post on Medium.com, where she looks at photos Ms Trump tweeted in the years leading up to Mr Trump's presidential campaign.

"We should expect nothing from her. She's living inside a dark fairytale, and in fairytales the women trapped in towers never save anyone but themselves."

Ms Imbach comments on the sense of imprisonment in the 74 photos Ms Trump shared of the view from her window in Trump Tower.

"They appear to be the documentation of changing seasons by a doomed recluse," she says.

"She lives behind glass, in cars, in her house, on private planes and private resorts. She doesn't even get out of the car to see landmarks or walk in the park. She is never among the public, not for a second."

Ms Imbach's post provoked fervent responses from readers.

"A mother focusing on her family and protecting herself and her son from the tsunami of people like you Kate Imbach," Michel Courtine commented.

"The First Lady is showing up to her job which is to be the mother of her young son. That is the only person she owes anything to at this time," Chad Bennett wrote.

But the most popular comments are ones of support.

"I don't see this article as hateful at all," Keith Goldstein commented. "It goes to the bottom of how one can hide behind wealth and power, never to be out in the world. Where she can speak up and do something, her silence says all."

There's been a backlash against Ms Trump after the New York Police Department estimated it costs up to US$146,000 a day to protect the First Lady and son Barron while they live in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

The First Lady is expected to move to the White House at the end of Barron's schooling year.

More than 500,000 people have signed an online petition to get the First Lady to stay at the White House - or pay for the security costs herself.

Newshub.