The visual was striking – Melania Trump stood in front of Egypt’s Great Sphinx, doing something she rarely does: Speaking about the news of the day.
Reporters traveling with her as she traversed Africa this week asked her about the news back home of the confirmation of the president’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her.
“I’m glad that Dr. Ford was heard,” the first lady said. “I’m glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard, FBI investigation was done, is completed, and [the] Senate voted.”
She spoke of sexual assault victims who have been speaking up, sounding a far more sympathetic note than President Trump, who has mocked Ford. “We need to help all the victims, no matter what kind of abuse they had,” she said. “I’m against any kind of abuse.”
The first lady, who so often comes across as sphinx-like herself and has often remained silent amid the din of her husband’s administration, was unusually outspoken.
“I don’t always agree what he tweets and I tell him that. I give him my honest opinion and honest advice. Sometimes he listens sometimes he doesn’t. I have my own voice and my opinions and it’s very important to me that I express how I feel.”
Asked if she has ever told him to put his phone down, she replied, “Yes!”
As she prepared to end her trip, she lamented the social-media mocking of a pith helmet she wore in Kenya – a sartorial choice many saw as a throwback to the colonial era – saying she wished people would “focus on what I do, not what I wear.”
But though she bemoaned the focus on appearances, Trump carefully curates her public image, and no more so than during the week-long visit to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt.
The journey has produced a set of photos designed to burnish the first lady’s public profile and generate goodwill in a continent wary of her husband’s administration.
Trump, who often comes across as removed, rehearsed and aloof – a former fashion model perched on five-inch stilettos, reading from scripts – appeared more spontaneous and at ease as she visited tourist sites, schools, hospitals, and orphanages.
In Cairo, Trump was greeted by Egypt’s first lady, Entissar al-Sissi. The pair then went to the presidential palace to have tea, where Trump was also greeted by President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi.
The meetings were cordial, absent of any discussions of controversial topics such as President Donald Trump’s derogatory comments about African countries, according to local news reports.
