Tell me if you’ve heard this before: Reporters are asking Donald Trump where Melania is and if she’ll be joining him at his rallies as he seeks a second term as president. Indeed, Melania Trump has a remarkable ability to seemingly vanish into thin air. She frequently did this as First Lady and she was largely absent when her husband campaigned in 2020 — a direct contrast to 2016 when she played a more active role in her husband’s campaign. The former president is apparently already girding himself for such questions, Newsweek reports.

And once again the rumor mill is going around and around and critics continue to question why Melania has kept herself out of the public eye. Their speculation reached a fever pitch when the former model was noticeably absent from a Trump family Christmas card that featured her husband, all of his kids, and her father, Viktor Knavs.

When Donald Trump held a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, he made note of his wife’s absence, explaining in a speech that Melania’s mother, Amalija Knavs was “very ill.” He noted that his wife was with her mom in a Miami hospital at the time. The situation, he said was “a very tough one.” Melania’s mother died in January at age 78.

So when Laura Ingraham, during a town hall for Trump in South Carolina, asked him if his wife would hit the campaign trail, just as First Lady Jill Biden is doing for her husband, President Joe Biden, the former president was more than ready to respond when the Fox News host asked:

“It’s a question I’m asked a lot, that Jill Biden is everywhere,” 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 as the audience applauded. “And you know her. She’s a very brilliant person. She speaks many languages, the whole thing.”

Okay, this is lie number one. Melania doesn’t speak 5 or 6 languages. We have been over this before, and even Snopes has covered it. Melania speaks Slovenian (obviously) and English (moderately). For someone who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years you’d think she’d have less of an accent. But because she speaks to her father and son in Slovenian, she really never made English a top priority.

He went on to say Melania devotes most of her time to their son, Barron, 17.

“Her life revolves around that boy, [he’s] so important to her,” the former Apprentice star 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.”

Ingraham: Will we see more of Melania on the campaign trail given her ability to speak so many languages? pic.twitter.com/ybsdn0DxVQ

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 22, 2024

“She’s a private person,” Trump added. “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.” (Okay, okay, I know, but I can’t get by without adding a little snark).

Okay, this is lie number two. Melania was NEVER a “very successful model”. Ever. She was a model and got a few jobs. The few big jobs she got were after she met Trump, and got them because Trump basically asked for favors. Her NYC roommate even said as much, that Melania was failing as a model, and she met Trump at the exact right time.

“[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 his country and she wants a great and she says hello.”

Last month, during an interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, Trump had another “Water is wet,” moment (even if that isn’t exactly what he said).

“She’s gonna play, and she always did play a big role,” he said. “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,” Trump added. “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.”

“Active in the sense of being active?” Really? What the hell does that mean? Then he up and says “…At the same time, I don’t want my family to be too active because they did such a great job last time.” That almost sounds like he’s suggesting “I don’t want my family to help because I might win again,” or something along those lines.

And people are bugging President Biden about his cognitive abilities.

Really.