First Lady Melania Trump and Second Lady Usha Vance spent Wednesday visiting military service members and their families at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to thank them for their service ahead of the holiday season – though part of the first lady’s message was briefly cut off due to tech issues.
While addressing servicemembers and families in the Lejeune High School gymnasium, Trump’s microphone began emitting loud feedback, forcing the first lady to stop her speech and hand over the mic to be fixed.
After a roughly 15-second intermission, the first lady restarted her speech, in which she thanked military families for supporting servicemembers.
“Let’s start again, this is much better,” Trump said, leading to applause from the audience for the working microphone.
"I want to thank you, all of you, because you are military families behind our nation's defense, and thank you for your service. My husband, the president, is sending best regards. We are both thinking of you, and you’re in our thoughts and prayers for holidays, every day, but especially for the holidays,” Trump said.
She thanked those who helped package 2,000 care packages for service members stationed away from home and invited audience members to visit her at the White House.
Trump’s brief speech came after she and Vance visited a high school classroom to meet with students taking advanced placement classes, discuss artificial intelligence advancement and listen to a presentation on how social media impacts adolescents’ wellbeing.
Trump has made educating young people about artificial intelligence and encouraging its implementation in innovation part of her initiatives during her second stint as first lady.
Trump and Vance also visited DeLalio Elementary School, where they met with young students and discussed the first lady’s “Be Best” initiatives – her first-term campaign to encourage kindness and discourage cyberbullying.
As second lady, Vance has made childhood literacy a key initiative of hers. This past summer, she launched a “Summer Reading Challenge” that offered prizes to encourage young students to read more.
After meeting with families, Trump and Vance addressed service members and their families at Marine Corps Air Station New River, where Vance praised military families for serving as a “model for our country.”
“Today, I’ve had the privilege of spending time with your families at the elementary and high school on base,” Vance said. “At a time when children around the country are struggling, it is so heartening to see thriving schools and engaged students.”
Trump also praised the military base schools for encouraging the use of AI to innovate, reminding service members that students “will lead the Marine Corps in the future.”
“Lejeune High School demonstrated today that it’s ready to lead,” Trump said. “The school’s ecosystem of educators, administrators, parents, and students is poised to drive innovation for America. They have fully embraced the presidential artificial intelligence challenge, showcasing creativity and technical vision for the future of AI.”
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