Melania Trump Engaged in 'Power Struggle' With Stepdaughter Ivanka Trump in the White House

Melania Trump allegedly had a power struggle with her step-daughter Ivanka Trump in the White House as per a book. Authored by New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers, the book titled American Woman detailed the dynamics between the two women during Donald Trump's tenure as the President. "For her four years in the White House, Melania would wage an internal power struggle with her stepdaughter. Melania called her ‘the princess’ so frequently that a coterie of East Wing aides had adopted the nickname," the book exposed.

Furthermore, it revealed, "She was aware that her husband had suggested that his eldest daughter would be helping to share the responsibilities of being First Lady, and this was not a development that pleased her. At the time, Ivanka was staking out office space in the West Wing but was eyeing the potential of a revamped East Wing that could be geared to serving the entire First Family, not just the First Lady, according to people familiar with her plans." Ivanka was hired as an unpaid adviser for the ex-POTUS around March 2017 according to Fox News.

This was followed by her husband Jared Kushner as an official employee of the Trump government, the then-FLOTUS was majorly bothered. "The suggestion irritated Melania, who put a stop to the talk of a family-led wing. A month later, Ivanka announced that she would become an official government employee, working as an unpaid adviser for her father," the book revealed. Adding on the cold competitiveness between the two, an excerpt of the book read, "The two were locked in a quiet competition for press coverage and, to that end, Melania did not think that it was appropriate for Trump’s children to be enmeshed in White House operations." 

The book also disclosed, "By 2020, when the pandemic was setting in, Melania had taken to wearing elegant robes at all hours. In the evenings, she would occasionally visit her husband in his bedroom, perching on his bed and listening as he placed calls to and received calls from advisers. She busied herself with assembling photo albums of her aesthetic contributions to the White House." Previously, when Stephanie Winston Wolkoff released her memoir, Melania and Me, she described similar instances of power tussle between the women related to the former President.

Describing the Inauguration Day in 2016 she wrote, "It was Donald's inauguration, not Ivanka's. But no one was brave enough to tell her that. Melania was not thrilled about Ivanka's steering the schedule and would not allow it. Neither was she happy to hear that Ivanka insisted on walking in the Pennsylvania Avenue parade with her children," as reported by People. Wolkoff and Melania also launched "Operation Block Ivanka," which included keeping the First Daughter away from the First Lady during the photo ops. "Yes, Operation Block Ivanka was petty. Melania was in on this mission. But in our minds, Ivanka shouldn't have made herself the center of attention in her father's inauguration."