In a rare public appearance on Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump visited patients at the National Children’s Hospital, bringing gifts that included stuffed animals, books, and a plant for the hospital’s garden.
Trump met with 10 children in the facility’s Garden Room, according to USA Today, where they made patriotic decorations from cups and rocks.
“I love to see you all,” Trump told the children.
The plant the first lady bought was a gift for the Bunny Mellon Healing Garden. She helped dedicate the garden in 2017, and six other former first ladies, including Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, and Rosalynn Carter, are or have been honorary chairs of the garden, USA Today reported.
The first lady also met privately with heart and kidney patients and their families.
The visit may seem like a great gesture from a first lady who is extremely private and makes very few public appearances, but, in an ironic twist, the visit coincided with the Republican-controlled Congress’ passage of her husband’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
President Donald Trump’s legislation slashes almost $1 trillion from Medicaid, a program that helps low-income and disabled children and adults access life-saving medical treatment and health care services.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates millions of Americans will lose their health insurance over the next 10 years as a result of the legislation. Medicaid covers some 70 million Americans.
Many of the children at the National Children’s Hospital depend on Medicaid to pay for their health coverage.
Trump even bragged about her visit on social media on her official X account.
“First Lady Melania Trump hands patients teddy bears as she visits with children at Children’s National Hospital,” followed by a heart emoji.
While the MAGA world gushed over the visit on social media, others pointed out the irony of it.
“Good time to visit before they lose their healthcare, ” X user wrote. “Is she informing them that their Healthcare was just cut?,” another remarked.
“Hmmm…. this is a PR stunt as transparent as a plastic shoe on a footballer. Sit, color, smile – every move calculated. Meanwhile, her husband’s on the phone with a dictator. The symbolism writes its own satire,” another X user posted.
The president spent an hour speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, which occurred while the first lady was at the hospital, according to news reports. The phone call was made before the House passed Trump’s signature bill.
The president had applied tremendous pressure on GOP lawmakers to pass his mega bill by the Fourth of July so that he could have an Independence Day signing ceremony.
In addition to giving massive tax breaks to his billionaire buddies and adding trillions of dollars to the national deficit, the tax and spend measure will make the biggest changes to health care since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010.
Republicans paid for the massive spending measure, in part, by slashing more than $1 trillion from federal health programs, mostly with cuts to Medicaid.
