Michelle Obama shows Melania Trump around the White House
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On January 20, America will get not only a new president, but a new first lady -- 46-year-old Melania Trump.
Michelle Obama showed her around the White House residence Thursday.
Mrs. Trump was born in Slovenia and became a U.S. citizen ten years ago.
Melania Trump will make history when she becomes first lady, the only one to grow up in a communist nation, and only the second one to be born abroad in nearly 200 years.
The former fashion model, who speaks five languages, will soon have to decide how to use her new platform, according to Anita McBride, who served Laura Bush.
“I think she’s given us a little bit of a hint of what she thinks she would like to work on and that is the issue of social media with young children,” said McBride.
Mrs. Trump gave only two major speeches during the campaign. And one, her convention address, plagiarized from Mrs. Obama’s 2008 speech.
She’ll follow the high profile first lady, who championed healthy eating and did star turns on late-night television.
“It’s a position description that gets rewritten with each person and we will adapt to it, the White House will adapt to its new occupant, and the occupants will adapt to the White House and so will Americans,” McBride said.
One thing in common: both will have raised young children in the White House. Ten-year-old Barron Trump will be the youngest boy in the executive mansion since JFK Jr.
“Mrs. Obama has talked before publicly about the stresses and anxieties of moving to a new place, living inside a fishbowl, moving inside a museum and raising her family there,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “And I’m sure that Mrs. Trump is feeling many of those same anxieties”
And Trump’s children from his first wife are among his most trusted advisers, especially daughter Ivanka who has championed a proposal for paid family leave. She is expected to have a key role.