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Melania Trump to tout immigrant story, ‘housewife’ appeal at Republican
convention
WASHINGTON, Aug 26, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Melania Trump, who married Donald
Trump after immigrating to the United States as a young fashion model, will
attempt to soften the president’s rocky reputation with women and immigrants
in a star turn at the second night of the Republican convention.
The first lady, who rarely speaks at length in public and has been less
directly in the media eye than many other presidential wives, has the main
slot in the lineup with an address from the White House’s iconic Rose Garden.
Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, promised something “very positive and
uplifting.”
The first lady will follow a controversial speech by heavy hitting Trump
supporter and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who broke with longtime
tradition to campaign openly for the president while on diplomatic business
in Israel.
Other speakers making the case for Trump against his Democratic rival Joe
Biden include daughter Tiffany and son Eric. On Monday, eldest son Don Jr
spoke, while daughter and omnipresent White House advisor Ivanka will take to
the podium on Thursday.
One person who didn’t address the nation on Tuesday, however, was a so-
called “angel mom,” Mary Ann Mendoza. She had been due to tell the story of
her son’s death after he was hit by a drunk driver who was in the country
illegally.
She was yanked from the schedule at the last minute after it emerged that
she had just retweeted an elaborate anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about Jews
taking over the world.
– ‘Suburban housewives’ –
Mendoza was chosen to highlight Trump’s relentless focus on illegal
immigration, a policy at the heart of his popularity with the Republican
right.
However, Melania Trump’s role was to humanize a president seen by
Democrats as cruelly exploiting anti-immigrant feelings for political gain.
“Something I think people forget is she really embodies the American
dream,” Grisham told Fox News.
“She came from a working class family and is an immigrant who came to this
country and worked very, very hard to achieve her dream.”
The campaign is also hoping that Melania Trump’s appearance will reach the
women voters that opinion polls show are turning to Biden.
Trump, who has been dogged by more than a dozen accusations of sexual
assault and harassment, as well as multiple claims of extramarital affairs,
is working hard to get what he calls the “suburban housewives” on his side.
Almost daily, he warns that Democrats will bring a scary combination of
violent crime and lower house prices to those women.
Melania Trump, 50, will again seek to show a softer approach. Asked if
regular US women could relate to someone who arrived in New York as a high-
flying model from Slovenia and became billionaire Trump’s third wife, Grisham
said “absolutely.”
“I think this first lady is very, very relatable,” she said. “She will
talk about her role as a mother.”
– What virus? –
The coronavirus pandemic, which has left more than 178,000 people dead in
the United States, millions unemployed and dented Trump’s reelection hopes,
was for the second night almost completely ignored at the convention.
Instead, speaker after speaker hit Trump’s main talking points on his
desire to get the economy reopened and to fight what he terms — in often
wildly colorful terms — the Left’s threat to end the American way of life.
Pompeo’s appearance by video was yet another blow to traditional etiquette
at a convention which for the first time is being staged in part at the White
House.
An appearance at a party convention is unusual for a top US diplomat and
the Biden campaign accused Pompeo of “blatant use of his office for overtly
political purposes.”
“Secretary Pompeo’s decision to serve as an errand boy for the President’s
reelection on a taxpayer-funded diplomatic mission… is absolutely
disgraceful,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said.
According to Israeli media, Pompeo may have taped his remarks from the
rooftop of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, providing a backdrop of the
Holy City that may appeal to Trump’s evangelical supporters.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0809 hrs