Did Donald Trump Really Accuse Melania Trump Of This When They Fought?

Donald and Melania Trump are back in the news — as if they're ever really out of it — thanks to the publication of Stephanie Grisham's new memoir, "I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House." Grisham worked as the communications director for close to a year near the end of Trump's term. As a result, she was especially familiar with Melania. Many news stories circulating around the memoir have focused on revelations regarding the former first lady revealed in the text. For example, Grisham asserted that one of Melania's staff members was abruptly fired after John Kelly's tightened security clearance requirements uncovered his Grindr profile.

Even during her time in the White House, Melania presented as a very private person. She shied away from the public eye and eschewed traditional first lady roles, leaving much of the politicking and appearance-making up to her daughter-in-law Ivanka Trump. However, according to Grisham's book, things were even less copacetic between Melania and Ivanka as they may have seemed from the outside. Furthermore, some of that tension may have spilled over into Melania's relationship with her husband.

While Melania Trump might be a deeply private woman Stephanie Grishman, was able to suss out some details about her personal relationships during her time in the White House. One such revelation was that there's little love lost between Melania and Ivanka Trump. While it's not exactly a secret that Donald Trump seems to openly favor Ivanka over his other kids, it seems like Melania might also feel slighted by the relationship. According to Grisham's book (via She Knows), Melania and her staff referred to Ivanka as "the Princess" due to her elevated position in Donald's eyes.

Grisham also alleged that Donald, for the most part, seemed to be in denial or willfully ignorant of the tensions between his wife and eldest daughter. "Both of the women, Melania and Ivanka, were important to him, and it wasn't in his interest to take one side or the other," she wrote, per She Knows. 

However, just because Donald didn't like to get involved with the conflict between Melania and Ivanka doesn't mean that he wasn't prepared to weaponize those tensions in the rare arguments he had with his wife. "I did learn that every once in a while the president and First Lady would argue about the fact, as he put it to her, that 'you don't like my kids,'" Grisham explained. However, she did call this "a rare occurrence," as the president generally opted to pretend that everyone got along fine.