Where on earth is Melania Trump? | Arwa Mahdawi

In her husband’s first term, her absences sparked conspiracy theories.

This time, she is somehow keeping an even lower profile Anyone seen a 56-year-old woman around lately? Tall, cinnamon blond hair, fond of a fancy hat and, to quote Vogue , occasionally dresses like a “freelance magician”.

She goes by the name “Melania Trump” or “first lady”, and she appears to be missing again.

According to an analysis by the Daily Beast , Melania has only made 38 public appearances this year – with the last being the World Cup final.

She’s been MIA for about a month.

To be fair, this isn’t out of character.

During her first stint in the White House, the first lady’s frequent absences sparked various conspiracy theories, including one that she had a body double .

But it seems Melania is keeping an even lower profile during Trump 2.0.

NBC reported on Monday that she’s done about half as many public events as she did at this point in Trump’s first term.

A senior adviser told the outlet she “prioritises results over appearances”.

I dunno about that.

Her highest-profile public appearance this year was when she held a surprise press conference telling everyone not to speculate about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

This had the predictable result of getting everyone to speculate about her relationship with the dead sex offender.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .