There are only four days until Donald Trump’s inauguration and transition to Washington D.C., but one key person in his life won’t be making that move just yet.
In a scenario that some are calling unprecedented, Trump’s wife, Melania, is staying in New York with their 10-year-old son Barron until the end of the school year.
But Anita McBride, former chief of staff to Laura Bush, says it “really isn’t” that unusual for the first lady to delay her move to the White House.
“It’s just something that we’re accustomed to in recent administrations and recent times,” McBride said in an interview on CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday.
In the more “distant” past, McBride said, first ladies did not “make the trek down to Washington right away and they came much later.”
By remaining in New York for the time being, Melania is strongly indicating that her focus will be on family first.
“And we know that this is something that (current first lady Michelle) Obama contemplated eight years ago as well – not to move to Washington right away until the (Obama) girls finished their school year in 2009,” McBride said.
Once Melania does make the move, and adjusts to the role, she’ll have the opportunity to shape it however she chooses.
“I think that’s one of the things that’s so great about this position of first lady, is that each person that comes into it gets to define it the way they want it to be,” McBride said.
However, that doesn’t mean expectations aren’t high for an incoming first lady.
“Americans like to see their first ladies active, like to see them engaged,” McBride said. “But I think we can also appreciate and understand that it takes some time to adjust to this role that nobody can prepare you for completely.”
But is the role of the first lady an official job or a title?
McBride said former first lady Patricia Nixon called the role the hardest unpaid job in the world.
“And it really is, there is no position description, you get to rewrite every single time, but there are just such great expectations for it,” McBride said. “You engage in issues, you’re expected to be the caretaker of the White House, which is a living museum, it’s a home, it’s a symbol of our democracy.
“The one good thing about it though, is you do get to pick and choose, unlike the president of the United States, where every problem comes to their desk,” McBride said.
And unlike other White House roles, where career civil servants will “continue the work of an operational unit” despite a change in administration, none of the staff members currently working in Michelle Obama’s office will be there after the inauguration.
McBride expects that Melania Trump has already interviewed new candidates, and that formal announcements will come sometime after Jan. 20.
Two-person role?
There has been much speculation that the role will be shared between Melania and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, who is moving with her husband and young children to Washington.
If that’s the case, it would also not be unprecedented.
“We have had many daughters, nieces, sisters of presidents in the past help to fulfill this role,” McBride said.
McBride pointed to former first lady Betty Ford, who underwent a mastectomy shortly after her husband, ex-U.S. President Gerald Ford, took office. While she was recuperating, her daughter Susan Ford “stepped in to help her father with different events around the White House.”
