Where Is Melania? Fundraising With LGBT Republicans.
Where is Melania? She’s set to attend a fundraiser with the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of LGBT Trump supporters, at Mar-a-Lago this month. But does a private fundraiser really count as a ‘return’ to the campaign trail?
Later this month, Melania Trump will appear at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago for the Log Cabin Republicans, which describes itself as “the nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies.”
So does this mean the former First Lady is back and everyone can stop speculating about her absence from Donald Trump’s reelection effort? That’s how multiple outlets are framing this news, but the answer depends on what the question “Where is Melania?” is really asking.
Politico broke the news of her alleged return on Friday with the headline “Melania Trump is back, set to hold event for Log Cabin Republicans.” The piece begins:
Melania Trump, who has been largely absent from the campaign trail during her husband’s presidential run, is back on the GOP fundraising circuit. The former first lady is set to hold her first major political event of the year — a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans on April 20 at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach, Florida, club where she and former president Donald Trump live, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.
This was later confirmed by the New York Times, which described the event as a “return of sorts to the political arena” for Melania. The paper noted that the fundraiser “will still keep her largely out of the public eye.”
Melania Trump was never truly “missing.” The phrase “Where’s Melania” took off — literally — in September after someone hired a plane to fly a banner featuring that message during a Trump campaign appearance. Presumably, the same unidentified Trump 2024 opponent was behind the distribution of “missing” flyers featuring the former First Lady at another Iowa event a few days later:
While Melania was occasionally spotted shopping in New York or dining at Mar-a-Lago throughout 2023, the pranks were meant to draw attention to the fact that she was “missing” from 2024 campaign events and her husband’s various court appearances during this time. Donald Trump responded by insisting for months that his wife would join him on the campaign trail “pretty soon” and invoking her name during rallies.
This year, Melania has been slightly more visible at campaign-related events. On February 11, 2024, Melania attended a fundraising gala hosted by the Trumpettes, a Trump fan club, at Mar-a-Lago. And on March 19, 2024, she joined her husband to vote in the Florida GOP primary. A reporter asked Melania, “Are you going to return to the campaign trail with your husband?” She responded, “Stay tuned.”
Does a private fundraiser with the Log Cabin Republicans count as hitting “the campaign trail?” If so, why is this event being touted as Melania’s big return while the Trumpettes event wasn’t? Melania recently skipped Trump’s big Super Tuesday party — so will her involvement in the 2024 campaign be limited to private fundraisers held in her own home? Is Melania quietly pushing us to rethink the expectations we put on politicians’ wives, or is she just trying to tell the world “I Really Don’t Care” about my husband’s campaign?
Perhaps a cryptic “stay tuned” is the only good answer to these questions.