WASHINGTON — Former first lady Melania Trump will be present at the Republican National Convention next week in Milwaukee, where she will make a rare political appearance. But unlike in previous years, she is not expected to address the event where her husband, former President Donald Trumpwill formally accept the Republican nomination.
While in the White House, Melania Trump sought to maintain her privacy and was often a reserved presence on the campaign trail. This election season, she has largely avoided appearing on the campaign trail altogether.
Convention organizers released a full slate of speakers Saturday, but the former first lady was not among them. It includes the three leading contenders for the vice presidential nomination — Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota — and a mix of Trump allies from inside and outside the administration.
Melania Trump has spoken at the last two Republican conventions. Spouses of presumptive nominees typically give speeches describing their partners’ backgrounds and personal qualities.
During a 2020 conference that was disrupted by the coronavirusMelania Trump said her husband “would not rest” until he “has done everything he can to care for everyone affected by this terrible pandemic.” Four years earlier, she told the crowd in Cleveland about her upbringing in Slovenia and testified to her husband’s toughness and loyalty.
Her speechwriter offered to resign in 2016 after it was discovered that some lines in her speech were nearly identical to passages from a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama.
This year’s speakers include Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Lee Greenwood, the singer of Trump’s walk-on song, “God Bless the USA,” is also on the bill, as is model and rapper Amber Rose and Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White.
Other notable names include evangelist Franklin Graham, Teamsters president Sean O’Brien and the mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, who has been highly critical of President Joe Bidens response to a 2023 train derailment that released a cloud of hazardous chemicals into the air.
Some senior Trump campaign officials consider the former president’s visit to the city after the derailment one of the defining moments of his campaign and pivotal to his transformation from exiled former leader to front-runner of the Republican Party.
The campaign previously announced a list of “ordinary people” it will feature, including a group of students and brothers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, struggling parents and its former golf caddy.
