For the children gathered at Washington DC’s Children’s Hospital earlier this month, it should have been a moment of festive magic.
Dressed in their Sunday best, many of them battling serious illness, they sat patiently as the First Lady took her seat to read a Christmas story — eyes occasionally drifting toward Santa and Mrs Claus perched across the room, waiting for something joyful to happen.
Instead, Melania Trump delivered How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? with the solemn efficiency of a flight attendant reciting emergency exit procedures.
The internet, as ever, did not miss a beat.
Within hours, clips were circulating online, critics dissecting everything from her accent — “chiminee,” one scoffed — to her decision not to show the children the colourful illustrations in what was, unmistakably, a picture book.
“I don’t mind her accent,” one user posted on X. “But she doesn’t know how to read to children.”
And so, another Christmas tradition was honoured: mocking Melania Trump’s festive duties.
The Call That Wouldn’t Die
The Call That Wouldn’t DieBut beneath the annual pile-on lies a moment that has followed Melania for years — the leaked 2018 phone call in which she vented her fury in language that stunned even her critics.
“I’m working my a** off on the Christmas stuff,” she fumed to former friend and adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.
“Who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”
She went further, clearly raw with frustration, complaining that she was being attacked for focusing on decorations while migrant families were being separated at the southern border.
“Give me a f***ing break,” she snapped.
The recording detonated like a cultural grenade. Overnight, Melania was crowned ‘Grinch Melania’, held up as proof — critics said — that she despised Christmas, children, and her ceremonial role.
But friends insist the truth is far less cartoonish.
A Bad Day — Not a Hatred of Christmas
A Bad Day — Not a Hatred of Christmas
According to those closest to her, that call captured one terrible day, not a philosophy.
“She had reached her limit,” one close friend of the Trumps told the Daily Mail.
“She was exhausted, under relentless attack, and feeling damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.”
Another insider added:
“It showed her being human. Yes, she swore. Yes, she was angry. But frankly? People respected it. She doesn’t lie down and take any crap.”
Former White House press secretary and Melania chief of staff Stephanie Grisham echoed that sentiment, insisting her former boss does not, in fact, hate Christmas.
“She loves the holiday,” Grisham said.
“And she loves events involving children. She puts enormous thought into the decorations.”
What Melania does not love, Grisham added, is the constant, merciless criticism.
“And honestly, who would?”
Red Trees, White Trees — and No Way to Win
Red Trees, White Trees — and No Way to Win
If Melania hoped to silence critics with creativity, she learned quickly that Christmas décor is a political blood sport.
In 2017, she was slammed for lining the East Colonnade with stark, skeletal white trees — some even accusing her of using dead branches.
The following year, she swung in the opposite direction, unveiling a dramatic forest of blood-red trees made from thousands of cranberries.
The reaction was vicious.
Commentators compared the display to The Shining and The Handmaid’s Tale. Others couldn’t decide which year’s décor was more disturbing.
Melania didn’t back down.
“We are in the 21st century,” she said coolly.
“Everybody has different taste. I think they look fantastic.”
It was vintage Melania: unapologetic, icy, immovable.
‘She Doesn’t Have to Do This’
‘She Doesn’t Have to Do This’Friends point out that Melania’s festive role is far more gruelling than it appears — and almost entirely thankless.
“She doesn’t have to stand for hours in four-inch heels, smiling and greeting people,” said one longtime family friend.
“She doesn’t have to be First Lady. But she does it — without complaint.”
That includes reading to children, hosting receptions, welcoming the White House Christmas tree, and enduring microscopic scrutiny over every facial expression and syllable.
Just three weeks ago, critics timed her appearance at the Christmas tree arrival ceremony to the second — two minutes and 50 seconds — before she retreated indoors.
The footage went viral. Again.
But supporters ask: what exactly is she supposed to do with an undecorated tree on a carriage?
Born Elsewhere, Judged Here
Born Elsewhere, Judged Here
Melania’s relationship with Christmas has also been shaped by her upbringing.
Raised in communist Slovenia, she grew up in a society where public Christmas celebrations were suppressed, replaced with secular figures like Dedek Mraz — Grandfather Frost.
To expect American Hallmark enthusiasm, friends argue, is to misunderstand her entirely.
And yet, irony abounds: today, Melania sells her own line of Christmas ornaments — including a limited-edition $90 ‘American Star’ — proving she understands the season’s symbolism better than her critics admit.
The Verdict
This year’s White House theme, Home Is Where the Heart Is, features 75 wreaths, more than 50 Christmas trees, 700 feet of garland, 25,000 feet of ribbon and 10,000 butterflies.
The East Colonnade — once her most controversial canvas — is gone, demolished to make way for a new ballroom.
Some cynics joke that only a Grinch would be relieved.
But friends say Melania Trump isn’t heartless — she’s hardened.
Hardened by mockery.
By double standards.
By the expectation that she must smile endlessly while being shredded for every choice she makes.
And if, on one brutal day, she let slip a few swear words?
Those closest to her say it simply proved what critics refuse to see:
Behind the accent, the heels, and the marble halls — Melania Trump is human.