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Donald Trump was seen stepping off Trump Force One with a fervent female supporter by his side ahead of his primetime presidential debate against Kamala Harris.
But it wasn’t his wife, former first lady, Melania.
Instead, the former president touched down on the tarmac in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Laura Loomer – the conservative conspiracy theorist and firm fixture of his MAGA entourage who once described herself as a “proud Islamophobe” – by his side.
Former Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba were also among those stepping off Trump’s jet.
The MAGA clan were among a group of Trump’s closest allies to join him at the debate on Tuesday night where he clashed with his Democratic rival, and wildly – and falsely – claimed that immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Ohio.
Melania, meanwhile, was notably absent from the night’s events.
The former first lady has largely avoided the campaign trail since her husband kicked off his re-election campaign, making only a handful of appearances beside him, including at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.
Even there, she shirked tradition by choosing not to give a keynote address on stage.
Besides the RNC, Melania has made only a handful of other appearances with her husband this year including a Florida campaign fundraiser in April and their son Barron’s high school graduation in May – which Trump was allowed a day away from his hush money criminal trial in New York to attend.
She did not attend Trump’s first debate of his campaign against President Joe Biden in July – which ultimately led to the president dropping out of the race and Harris stepping up to lead the Democratic ticket.
Melania did, however, attend Trump’s debate against Biden back in 2020 where the candidates greeted their spouses post event – which saw the frosty ex-model sharply pull her hand away as the Trumps exited the stage.
While missing from Tuesday’s debate, Melania wasn’t totally silent that day.
Just hours before the debate, she posted a cryptic video calling for the “truth” to come out about the assassination attempt on her husband at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally in July.
The family apparently had no idea that she was going to post the video on X.
“The former first lady is not under any sort of direction from anybody but herself,” Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the RNC, told NewsNation moments before the debate on Tuesday.
“She put [the video] out all on her own. I actually had no idea she was going to do that,” she added.
While largely staying out of her husband’s campaign, Melania has been plugging her upcoming memoir in recent days.
On Sunday, Melania shared another video promote the self-titled book Melania and commenting on the state of the US since her husband lost the 2020 election.
“America is more divided today than ever before. It has become increasingly apparent that there are significant challenges to free speech, as demonstrated by the efforts to silence my husband,” Melania concluded before an image of her upcoming memoir burst onto the screen/
The book is billed on Melania’s website as an “intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life”. In a separate advert, the former model said that she was a “private person” and the book presented an opportunity for her to tell her “truth”.
