First lady Melania Trump has said “you’re fired” to more than one White House staffer, according to a new tell-all book about the intrigue and chaos at the Trump White House.
Far from the helpless, unhappily married woman the media makes her out to be, Melania Trump is a force to be reckoned with and plays an active role in protecting her husband from treacherous staffers, according to the book’s account of the first couple.
The Washington Examiner obtained an advance copy of former Trump aide Cliff Sims’ “Team of Vipers,” released Tuesday.
Book: Melania is a strong force
“Team of Vipers” is the latest in a series of sensational accounts of the inside workings of the White House. President Donald Trump has had a notoriously difficult time keeping track of which staffers he can trust within the ambitious, cutthroat environment of the West Wing, but according to Sims’ account, Melania is not an idle observer of the chaos.
While media reports usually portray Melania as either an air-headed model, a passive partner trapped in an unsatisfying marriage, or a quietly rebellious wife, Sims’ book paints a different picture. According to Sims, Melania has lobbied for treacherous staffers to be fired on numerous occasions.
That’s not Melania’s only affinity with the Donald. According to Sims, Melania is a “savvy consumer of news” and she spends a lot of time keeping up with media’s coverage of her husband’s administration.
The book describes an incident in which Melania warned her husband about a Politico story that claimed that his then-communications director Michael Dubke had told White House staff that Trump’s foreign policy was unfocused and needed a “re-brand.” Dubke denied the story and resigned within a month.
A New York Times review of the book notes the book “[defies] public perception of their marriage” and describes Melania as “protective” of the president.
Denies Election Night story
Sims’ account also contradicts the media’s depiction of Melania as unwilling in her role as first lady. Sims provides a different account of Melania’s reaction to her husband’s election night victory, which, according to unproven rumors peddled by the media, was not a happy one.
British paper The Daily Telegraph recently ran a cover story which printed the popular but false claim that Melania cried when the election was called for her husband. The paper agreed to pay damages to Melania and apologized for the claim along with several others typical of the media’s treatment of her, which painted Melania as riding the coattails of her husband’s success in launching her modeling career.
The election night story has also been spread by gossip columnist Michael Wolff in his tell-all book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, along with other false claims that Sims described as “second or third-hand rumors.” According to Sims, that night went very differently than Trump detractors would have the public think:
The man who is never at a loss for words was rendered speechless by the verdict of history. And he looked, just for the briefest of moments, vulnerable. Sensing this was Melania Trump. Melania was never the person outside observers seemed convinced that she was — a reluctant and put-upon spouse who just wanted to escape him. For good or ill, she was in it with him all the way. In that moment, she reached for her husband’s hand and squeezed it.
Sims writes that Melania told her husband, “We’re going to do this together. And you’re going to be a great president.”
The president, however, isn’t a fan of White House tell-alls. He gave a clear thumbs-down, tweeting that Sim’s book was “boring” and full of “made up stories.”
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