After 21 years of marriage, President Donald Trump and Melania Trump still give the internet plenty to dissect — especially when one face says more than words.
Rumors of marital strife have followed the Trumps for years, intensifying during his White House stints.
Melania has largely stayed away from Washington during his second term, making their rare joint appearances ripe for scrutiny. Lately, her icy looks beside her husband have only fueled claims of a loveless marriage.
Melania’s apparent disdain was hard to miss this week when her husband welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan to America. The visit lasted from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25, when the Chinese delegation returned home.
Meanwhile, the U.S. president and first lady battle the fallout from a string of viral, chaotic scenes.
Video footage caught the moment President Trump seemingly reached for Melania’s hand as the couple descended the red-carpeted stairs.
Trump refused to let go, tightly gripped her hand walking down the stairs as Melania tried to pulled away.
Naturally, the internet had theories. Some viewers wondered whether Trump grabbed Melania’s hand for support, given the recent speculation surrounding his age and health.
“He has to hold onto her to get down the stairs as there isn’t a rail to hold on to. If she wasn’t there he would bail down those stairs,” observed one person.
Yet some say the mosment was a true reflection of her ways. “She’s just as bad as he is, maybe worse. No sympathy,” noted a second person.
“She’s always pulling away from him,” said one person stating the obvious. “lol she hates his guts!”
In another viral clip from earlier this week, the Chinese delegation arrived at Joint Base Andrews. Trump rolled out the red carpet for 73-year-old Xi, complete with a military band and more.
Melania stood beside Trump as the couples shook hands and posed for photos before heading toward their cars.
Once Xi drove off, viewers zeroed in on the Trumps. Melania kept her hands together close to her chest.
At one point, Trump patted her on the back, then stopped to wave toward the cameras.
First lady barely reacted to her husband’s touch, simply continuing her stroll as Trump followed behind with his head down.
The president and his thinning combover blew in the wind during his final steps alone after Melania made a beeline for their armored limo ahead of him.
Many viewers now believe Melania clasped her hands together to keep Trump from holding her hand.
“LMFAO,” a Trump critic wrote on X. A second person tweeted, “She learned not to put her hands down so he can’t grab them.”
Another video has viewers zooming in on the distance between Melania and Trump during Xi’s arrival ceremony. One X user pointed out the “odd exchange,” adding “Notice how far back she is standing from him.”
That wasn’t the only theory gaining traction, as suspicion kept brewing, “What a sham of a marriage. She needs to make this ‘silent divorce’ legal already.”
Former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews offered red meat to theorists convinced that Melania is only staying with the billionaire Mar-a-Lago resort owner for his money.
“It was this known thing that she was just not around, and she didn’t want to be around,” the Trump-backer-turned-detractor said, per The Daily Beast.
Matthews added, “We know too that—it’s been reported—that Melania gets paid for showing up at events when they were on the campaign trail, which is crazy to think that you have to pay your own wife to show up somewhere.”
Longtime Trump biographer Michael Wolff claimed in his 2025 book “All or Nothing” that a “Mar-a-Lago patio confidant” told him that Melania “f—ing hates” Trump.
The most recent awkward exchange between Melania and Trump in Maryland on Wednesday is the latest example of possible lingering friction behind closed doors.
An infamous incident from Trump’s first term at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport made international headlines in 2017, thanks to Melania’s apparent icy demeanor directed at the POTUS.
As the couple walked the tarmac alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Trump reached out to hold Melania’s hand, but she noticeably swatted his hand away.
In her 2024 self-titled memoir, Melania called one such moment “a minor innocent gesture.” She said the red carpet could not fit all four people.
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