What to Know
In her new memoir, Jill Biden wrote about an interaction with Melania Trump that sounds extremely tense and awkward. In January 2025, they rode in a limousine together to get to President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and by the sound of it, Jill tried to make conversation, while Melania… didn’t.
The two women were not alone. They were accompanied by John Bessler, Amy Klobuchar’s husband and a member of the inauguration committee. Jill wrote that John probably had to escort them because he drew “the shortest of all possible straws.” She also described his role as “arguably one of the trickiest assignments.” There was some obvious tension on the way to the inauguration, and John tried to ease it by asking Melania about her son, Barron Trump. It did not seem to work, though.
Because, according to Jill, Melania would not share any details about him.
Asking about Barron seems like a pretty obvious way to make conversation with Melania. However, Melania wasn’t having it. Per The Independent, Jill wrote that John tried to ask Melania about where Barron was going to school. She gave a one-word (or one acronym) answer and then immediately tried to change the subject.
“NYU,” she reportedly responded while looking out the window. According to Jill, any time she or John tried to speak to Melania, she would pivot to talking about the weather instead. For example, Jill tried to ask Melania about her father, and she just offered a brief response, Vanity Fair reported.
When nothing else seemed to be working, Jill tried to talk about the weather too.
Because that’s clearly what Melania wanted to talk about? “Melania kept trying to switch the topic to the weather,” Jill wrote in her memoir. Hoping to keep a conversation going, Jill made a weather-related comment. “I tried to get with Melania’s weather-only program,” she wrote, per Vanity Fair. “I said I felt bad for the military dogs we passed along the route because of the cold.”
Jill also noted that her husband’s conversation with Donald was probably uncomfortable as well, but maybe not on the same level. After all, they had interacted with each other before. This limousine ride was one of the few times Jill had spoken to Melania.
“The presidents’ car was likely frosty too, but at least they’d spent considerable time in each other’s company,” Jill noted in her book. “This would be one of few interactions Melania and I had ever had.”
Jill also felt bad for John, as he seemed to really be trying to make things less awkward, but to no avail. “Poor John had to figure out how to break the tension and find some path to relative peace in the course of that drive,” she said.
So, it seems like Melania’s alleged awkwardness was not just about Barron.
However, she is also known to be extremely protective of him. Previously, it was reported that she even got angry at her stepson Eric Trump for speaking about Barron publicly. Eric hadn’t said anything negative or even anything all that personal; he just recalled what Barron said to Former President Joe Biden at the inauguration and talked a bit about Barron’s personality.
But Melania reportedly “told Eric to shut his mouth” after that. So, it’s possible that in addition to being protective of her son, she’s also maybe not the most forthcoming person.
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