WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump made his grand return to Congress on Tuesday, March 4, delivering his first major address since securing his second (non-consecutive) term as President.
The speech was a big moment, but what had everyone talking wasn’t his words. It was his wife Melania Trump’s gesture while departing the White House.
Pres. Trump just departed the White House for the U.S. Capitol ahead of tonight’s joint speech to Congress. He left the White House hand in hand with first lady Melania Trump. Elon Musk was seen exiting the White House moments before the president. https://t.co/TMrE9LVMBB pic.twitter.com/zeIdHcoXlj
Melania Trump appears to yank her hand away from Donald Trump in viral video
As the First Couple made their way to the Capitol, cameras caught a seemingly awkward moment.
According to the Irish Star, Melania Trump seemed desperate to free herself from her husband Donald Trump’s grip. In what looked like a struggle, she raised her arm in the air before appearing to yank her hand away.
The whole thing was caught on video and quickly went viral on social media. People on X started roasting the president and first lady.
“How much extra is Melania Trump getting paid to hold Donald’s hand?” someone asked.
“My guess, $250,000 and another 4 months of disappearing,” another replied.
“Obviously not enough. Not even a parting kiss for good luck. So sad,” one commenter pointed out.
“Did you see how she let it go???” another asked.
“The check cleared early today,” one person joked.
How much extra is Melania Trump getting paid to hold Donald’s hand? pic.twitter.com/ijbwULoZ0O
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) March 5, 2025
My guess, $250,000 and another 4 months of disappearing.
— Bob J (@BobJohn25237232) March 5, 2025
Obvoiusly not enough. Not even a parting kiss for good luck. So sad.
— Cheryl Lindstrom 💙🇺🇸 (@LindstromCheryl) March 5, 2025
Did you see how she let it go??? 🤣🤣🤣
— Cork Off! (@CorkYou) March 5, 2025
The check cleared early today 🤣
— Dj Omega Mvp (@DjOmegaMVP) March 5, 2025
This isn’t the first time that Melania Trump has been caught rebuffing her husband’s public affection.
She’s apparently been expertly dodging Trump’s hand. The infamous hand swats have been captured on camera a number of times, from their early campaign days to the White House years.
In 2017, late-night host Stephen Colbert put together an entire spoof video titled “The Best of Melania’s Presidential Hand Swats.”
Melania Trump’s vanishing act
Melania Trump was MIA for most of her husband’s 2024 election campaign. She didn’t show up to rallies, didn’t give speeches, and wasn’t even traveling with him unless it was absolutely necessary.
According to journalist Michael Wolff’s book ‘All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America’, Melania had zero interest in being on the campaign trail. She reportedly laughed at the idea.
“Since the first indictment in New York, when Melania had simply laughed at the campaign’s effort to get her to accompany her husband (‘Nice try’), it had been clear that she wasn’t going to show up. During the past year, she had yet to make a single campaign appearance. In only one instance in 2023 did she even appear on the plane—and then only hitching a ride,” Wolff wrote.
“Magically, the Melania issue had not, in the White House years nor the Mar-a-Lago years—with both staffers and press quite aware of the Trumps’ nontraditional living arrangements and their careful distance from each other—become an issue,” he added.
And she wasn’t just skipping campaign events. She was avoiding everything.
“Melania continued to be an additional freak-out, absolutely refusing every entreaty to speak or even to appear side by side with her husband. He had never faced point-blank questions from the media about their relationship. But what if ‘Where’s Melania?’ started now in earnest?” Wolff added.
Donald Trump assassination attempt and Melania Trump’s return
Melania Trump stayed in the shadows for months, but then came the shocking attempt on Trump’s life. And suddenly, the then-former first lady who had been avoiding the spotlight was front and center.
“That was all before the shooting… now the attempt on Trump’s life not only made him again incontrovertibly the central figure of the moment, if not the age, giving him a maximum hero’s electoral mantle, but it also repositioned his convention as the joyous and abject coronation of which he dreamed,” Wolff wrote.
Trump’s near-death experience turned him into a martyr, and with that, Melania was back. She made a grand reappearance at the Republican National Convention, stood beside him on election night, and was by his side through the entire inaugural celebration.