
Donald Trump has a penchant for fiery Twitter rants, which lead to his words being both heavily scrutinised and criticised on both sides of the political spectrum.
Meanwhile his wife and First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, appears to be in a league of her own when it comes to her online presence.
The recent tragedies – Thursday’s terror attack in Barcelona and the neo-Nazi riots in Charlottesville Virginia – have cast an a revealing light on the different way the duo handle their accounts and social media presence.
In both cases outlined above, Melania Trump was first to respond with messages of love.
At 12:46pm on August 12 – a good 45 minutes before the US president, she tweeted this about the violence taking place in Charlottesville:
Our country encourages freedom of speech, but let's communicate w/o hate in our hearts. No good comes from violence. #Charlottesville— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@Melania Trump 45 Archived) 1502555770
Her husband and Commander in Chief commented:
At 12:51 on the 16 August, she expressed her condolences for the victims of Barcelona’s terror attack:
Thoughts and prayers to #Barcelona— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@Melania Trump 45 Archived) 1502988679
Again, her husband was behind on the message, tweeting his own reaction one hour later:
Melania’s tweets are short and to-the-point, absent of the emotive, exclamation – filled tirades President Trump is infamous for. The president usually fires off a number of angry tweets in the morning, leading to worldwide coverage and reactionary op-ed pieces in newspapers by lunch.
Her tone differs from that of her husband, with her messages often filled with compassion and sympathy, acknowledging people and families with respect...
My deepest sympathy to all of the military families who lost their loved ones in the Mississippi plane crash. Thoughts & prayers for all.— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@Melania Trump 45 Archived) 1499780446
And gratitude:
Thank you to the first responders who rushed in to help protect those who were hurt in Alexandria, VA. My thoughts & prayers to everyone!— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@Melania Trump 45 Archived) 1497446864
.@Potus & I are heading home after a very successful first International trip. Thank you to all of the host nations… https://t.co/rlcBn8HaSK— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@Melania Trump 45 Archived) 1495906000
A White House official told CNNthat Melania is particularly autonomous when it comes to her social media, and does not tend to check in with the President before tweeting. In fact, she is reportedly “her own person”, and operates the account herself.
She also runs the East Wing “as she sees fit,” the official continued, with 10 staff members, including one aide. This is a departure from previous FLOTUS staff numbers, who tended to err towards the 20s (as was the case with Michelle Obama and Laura Bush).
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