The Two Words Trump Said To Melania After His 2016 Presidential Win Says It All About Their Marriage

Melania Trump has spilled quite a bit about her life and relationship with her husband, former president Donald Trump, in her upcoming memoir, "Melania." The memoir, which was published on October 8, 2024, gives readers insight into intricate aspects of the former first lady's world and thoughts, like the one thing that made Trump's assassination attempt worse for Barron Trump and the huge divide between her and her husband. However, other pieces of information illustrate a vivid picture of their marriage dynamic.

Melania showed a genuine concern for her husband in a portion of her memoir which discusses the recent assassination attempt on Trump while at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The scene is portrayed as a terror-filled, emotional incident where she frantically tried to call her husband and the Secret Service to check on his well-being.

However, another event Melania wrote about provides a far less passionate look into Trump's approach to their relationship. She described one instance in her memoir where she congratulated her husband just one day after he won the 2016 presidential election. "What an achievement," Melania said. "All those other people ... and you won. You're the president of the United States of America." However, Trump's response to his wife left some confusion regarding its true meaning. "And you're the First Lady," Trump said, according to Melania, "Good luck."

Melania Trump said she was initially confused by her husband, Donald Trump's vague sentiment. "I looked at him, momentarily unsure of his meaning," she said. "Good luck? I realized he wasn't worried, he was proudly confident I could handle the future." Despite the formal tone his message carried, Melania claimed her husband meant well by it. "It was his unique way of saying, 'Good luck — I know you'll excel. Let's get started.'"

This kind of professional exchange between the Trumps might seem unsurprising to some observers, especially if one is to believe Melania's former aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's description of their relationship, which she told CNN's Jake Tapper in May 2024 was "transactional," via HuffPost. She argued that Melania strives to shed herself in a positive light, and strategic planning often dictates her actions. "By marrying Donald, Melania really did finally get to be the Vogue cover model that she's always wanted to be, that supermodel, and by marrying Melania, Donald was legitimized as trying to get away from that whole playboy mentality that everyone wanted to characterize him as," she said.