Melania Trump Missing Concerns Grow

Melania Trump's whereabouts have continued to be a talking point on social media, days after her husband, Donald Trump, assured his followers that she would be joining him on the campaign trail ahead of November's presidential election.

Melania Trump has been largely absent from her husband's presidential campaign events, declining to make public appearances or comments about the election. Her presence has been scaled back, in contrast to the 2016 presidential campaign, when she took an active role.

Her absence has been the subject of much speculation, as critics question why she has appeared to remove herself from public life. The talk was exacerbated when the former model was notably absent from a Trump family Christmas card, which featured her husband, all of his children, and her father.

Donald Trump revealed his wife's reasons for being absent from his New Year's Eve party, when he explained in a speech at his Mar-a-Lago property that her mother, Amalija Knavs, had been "very ill." He added that his wife was with her mother in a hospital in Miami at the time, describing the situation as "a very tough one." Knavs died in January at the age of 78.

During his town hall last week in South Carolina, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said his wife was "gonna be out quite a bit," as his reelection efforts ramp up.

However, that reassurance hasn't been enough to keep the questions at bay on social media. On Monday, attorney and frequent Trump critic Ron Filipkowski posted a photo originally shared by Fox News host Jeanine Pirro hours earlier. It showed Pirro posing with Donald Trump as they sat together at a dining table.

"Not Melania," Filipkowski captioned the photo, which as of press time had been viewed more than 200,000 times on X, formerly Twitter.

"Where is Melania????" one X user asked, becoming one of dozens to respond with the exact same question.

Adding a little spice to the line of questioning, another wrote: "Where the hell is Melania?"

Another added the hashtag "#whereismelania," as they enquired of the former first lady: "Where is she?"

"WHERE IS MELANIA? Pass it on," one X user wrote.

Acknowledging the flood of questions, another commented: "Where's Melania is one of my favorite games to play! Lol."

During his recent town hall in South Carolina, Donald Trump was asked if his wife would be active on the campaign trail, much like current first lady Jill Biden has been for her husband, President Joe Biden.

"It's a question I'm asked a lot, that Jill Biden is everywhere," Fox News host Laura Ingraham said. "She's campaigning everywhere for Joe Biden and she did in 2020.

"Will we see more of your secret weapon, for those of us who know your wife Melania? Will we see more of her this time around, given her ability to speak so many languages... [she's] so wonderful with children and everyone? I think a lot of people here want to see more of her."

"They love her, I'll tell you," Trump responded amid applause from the audience. "And you know her. She's a very brilliant person. She speaks many languages, the whole thing."

The onetime real estate mogul went on to explain that much of his wife's attention is devoted to their 17-year-old son, Barron Trump.

"Her life revolves around that boy, [he's] so important to her," the former star of The Apprentice said. "At the same time, it also revolves around our country and the success of our country. She's raised a lot of money for charity."

"She's a private person," he continued. "It's funny, she was a very successful model, very, very successful, and yet she was a private person. She's going to be out a lot, not because she likes doing it, but she likes the result. She wants to see this country really succeed.

"[The people] love the fact that she's not out there so much. You know, a lot of first ladies will go out. They want to be everywhere. They get angry at their husband because he's not introducing them. If I didn't introduce Melania she'd be very happy about it. She's just a different kind of a person. And she loves the country. She's gonna be out quite a bit and she loves [this] country."

Newsweek has contacted the office of Donald Trump via email form for comment.

Donald Trump's comments come weeks after he provided an update on his wife's possible involvement in his 2024 presidential campaign.

"She's gonna play, and she always did play a big role," he said during an interview with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade last month. "She was somebody that you could rely on. She's very smart, a very compassionate person...she wants to make America great again, too."

"And I would rely on her for advice," he said. "I think she's going to be very active in the sense of being active, at the same time, I don't want my family to be too active because they did such a great job last time."

Donald Trump is the GOP frontrunner, currently polling at 77.7 percent nationally, according to an average from website FiveThirtyEight. According to a Morning Consult poll of 6,321 registered voters conducted from February 17 to 19 for the top role, the Republican is at 45 percent and Democratic President Biden stands at 41 percent.