Editor's Note: Kate Andersen Brower is the author of "First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies" and "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House." Brower worked as a journalist in the Bloomberg News Washington bureau from 2006 to 2012. Comments made here are those of the author. Read more articles like this at cnne.com/opinion
(CNN) - President Donald Trump would have had no way of checking whether he had reached undecided voters in the United States until the second night of the Republican National Convention. With her emotional and heartfelt speech, Melania Trump showed that people can be challenged beyond her husband's base, referring to the pandemic that has devastated the country.
In the first moments of her speech at the opening, the first lady spoke delicately about the enormous human cost of the health crisis. "Since March, our lives have changed dramatically," he said. "My condolences to all who have lost a loved one." She said she prays for those who are sick and wants them to know that they are "not alone." Melania also said that she and her husband are inspired by the people who wake up every day with the goal of supporting their families. "You are the backbone of this country."
"I have been touched by the way Americans have come together in such an unfamiliar and often terrifying situation," she told a small audience sitting in the newly renovated rose garden, as her husband watched. Apparently the west wing did not intervene and she was very involved in its writing. Perhaps she wanted more control over her speech than she did four years ago when, at the 2016 Republican National Convention, parts of her speech were strikingly similar to Michelle Obama's remarks at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Melania also called for unity, something we haven't heard from other speakers in the Republican conclave. Her secretary and spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham, said "every word" of the speech came from the first lady and that they came from "the heart." If true, that would show that Melania Trump is capable of doing something her husband cannot: show that the government feels the pain of people suffering during the pandemic and in the face of racial injustice.
However, it must be said that at times the speech sounded more like a farewell, in which she highlighted her work as first lady, than a genuine intention to keep her husband in the White House.
In the end, he spoke more about his personal history than about the Trump presidency. I think Melania has been the most reserved first lady in modern history, and we got to know her more on Tuesday than in the last three and a half years. She mentioned, for example, that growing up in Slovenia her goal was to move to the United States.
On closing his speech, he referred to calls for racial justice and adopted a sermonic tone when he asked Americans to "stop the violence and looting in the name of justice" and "take a moment" to analyze things from all perspectives. He then asked the media to focus on addiction problems, a central part of his "Be Best" campaign. "If you are fighting addiction, there is no shame in your illness," he said. Please get help, you're worth it.
Melania played a big role this week. She managed to show compassion and empathy, which her husband struggles to do. We don't hear any personal stories about Donald Trump as the father of his daughter Tiffany, who delivered a fiery partisan speech. His son Eric was about to show his father's humanity when he ended his comments by saying that his father's brother, Robert, who died just over a week ago, would be proud of him, and then, turning to his father, he He said, "I love you very much." But that was it. So far, Melania is the only member of the Trump family who has spoken convincingly about her husband's character.
"No matter the number of negative or false media headlines or the attacks from the other side, Donald Trump has not lost and will not lose focus on you," he said.
Let's look at the two most recent examples of first ladies speaking at party conventions on behalf of her husband's re-election. Laura Bush spoke about watching her husband, President George W. Bush, deal with Homeland Security in a post-9/11 world. “I remember sitting in the White House window, watching as my husband walked across the lawn below. I knew I was struggling with these agonizing decisions that would have such profound consequences for so many lives and for the future of our world.
While, at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama brought up what she calls her husband's consistent good character. “He is the same man who, when our girls were born, anxiously checked their cribs every so often to make sure they were still breathing, proudly showing them to everyone we knew… That is the man I see in those moments late at night , hunched over his desk, carefully studying the letters that people send him.
First ladies may have an anachronistic role, but it is one that carries enormous power, the main of which is to influence and humanize their husbands. This president, with a notable lack of empathy for the victims of the new coronavirus, needed that more than most. I think Melania delivered better than anyone else could have.
In a recently posted and secretly recorded conversation by Mary Trump, the president's niece, her own sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, said terrible things about her character. "All you want to do is appeal to your base," she said. «It has no principles. None. None. And its base, I mean, my God, if you were a religious person, you would want to help people. Do not do this".
16 years ago Laura Bush said of her husband: “You can count on him, especially in a crisis. Her friends don't change, and neither do her values. Melania made her own version of this message, although it sounded more like an excuse than a compliment: "We all know that Donald Trump does not keep secrets about how he feels about things ... Like it or not, you always know what he is thinking."
Melania Trump