Another book written by a former official in Trump’s administration, more unpublished information, and another personal attack from Trump. But this time the personal attack was really personal because most of the unpublished information was about the former First Lady Melania Trump.
“I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House,” published this week, was authored by Stephanie Grisham, 55 years-old, who was Press Secretary to the First Lady (2017-2019), White House’s Communication Director (2019-2020), and Chief of Staff for the First Lady (2020-2021).
A staunch conservative, she shunned the media during and before her White House years. She was described as the first White House Press Secretary who didn’t hold a press conference because she preferred individual interviews and mostly with conservative media, particularly Fox TV.
She grew up in a conservative family and became interested in religious media (in 2015, she was a press coordinator for Pope Francis's visit to the US). A year before Trump announced that he was going to run for the US president, Grisham joined his staff and most of the time handled information about Melania Trump.
However, after a total of six years as a loyal assistant to the Trumps, she betrayed them, and published this book about their secrets as well as unpublished details of their lives.
Fair enough, the Trump machine launched documented personal attacks against her that seemed to contain more sensational information than what she published about Melania Trump:
First, she was only a high school graduate, and with low grades, who could not finish university also because of lower grades.
Second, she was divorced by her first husband, then married a second man who also divorced her. Two years later, she had a child without being married.
Third, in 2013, she was arrested for driving while drunk, and in 2015, was arrested again for a similar charge. A judge ordered her arrest when she didn’t show up for her trial.
Fourth, in 2007, while working for the Arizona American Automobile Association (AAA), she was fired for cheating about office expenses. A year later, she was fired from a job at Mindspace Agency in Arizona for plagiarism.
Grisham’s book was just being published this week, and the Trump machine had already published the above-mentioned sensational information, showing that this personal “dirty war” has just started. Actually, during a TV interview about her book this week, Grisham said that she didn’t publish all that she knew about Melania Trump.
Now, to what she already published about Melania:
First, Melania, back from Africa, wanted to send mirrors to children she met in Malawi because the children had asked the Americans to take photos of them because “they didn't know what they looked like.” Melania said: "Children need to know what they look like and see that they are very strong or very beautiful.”
Second, Melania appeared in public as not involved or interested in what was going around her in the White House, but the book revealed that: "Like her husband and all of his kids, Mrs. Trump scrutinized her press clippings like an expert ... No detail was overlooked, nothing missed her eye. She had Google alerts set up for herself and saw everything."
Third, Melania rarely went to her office in the East Wing of the White House. Grisham said she saw Melania there only "a handful of times" during four years. The Secret Service gave Melania the nickname "Rapunzel" "because she remained in her tower, never descending."
Fourth, there was no love in the relationship between Melania and Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Mostly due to Ivanka Trump's desire to be in the spotlight at public events and on foreign trips. Angrily, Melania called Ivanka the “Princess.
And so continued Melania’s sensational information, even if they were not really “secrets.”
But Donald Trump has the last word about Grisham, the media and the publishing companies: "Too bad that sleaze bag publishers continue to report this very boring garbage. We are totally used to it. And someday, in the not-too-distant future, we will have our voice back and be treated fairly."
