Melania Trump was anything but a standard First Lady in her husband’s first term, and by all indications, she has no intention of starting now. In addition to being a relentless self-promoter, Melania also seems to have little time for the traditions of being FLOTUS, which she proved time and again from 2017 to 2021.

No, she doesn’t have immediate plans to redecorate the American institution in the fashion of her homeland, Slovenia. But the standoffish nature of her relationship with Donald Trump seems to be extending to any other courtesies, as well. Melania’s staff announced that she would be turning down an invitation from Dr. Jill Biden, the current First Lady, to meet before the transition. She did meet Michelle Obama for tea after Donald’s first election, but evidently thinks less of Dr. Biden.

In true aloof form, her office confirmed the snub, along with delivering a curt statement from Melania: “Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success.”

She wishes him success from her home in New York, that is.

On the same day we found out that she’d be breaking the longstanding tradition of meeting with the outgoing FLOTUS, we also learned that she has no plans to move into the White House immediately — or at all, at least not full time.

She had already indicated that she intended to spend time in New York with her son Barron, who is attending NYU. But she’ll be splitting her time between there and Mar-a-Lago, not Washington. At least Donald will see her when he vacations there constantly during his second term.

But this isn’t just like when she tore up Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden.

Every single First Lady, aside from two, has predominantly spent their time at the White House. And Melania will be the first one to choose not to live there; the others who didn’t were Anna Symmes Harrison, wife of William Henry Harrison (who died one month to the day after taking office), and Bess Truman, who simply lived across the street while the White House was being renovated.

This is a true break with tradition, and she doesn’t seem to be batting an eye. Oh, she’ll still have an office in the East Wing, as we’ve already reported. But it’s not likely she’ll use it often. She was only in that office twice during Trump’s entire first term.

A source told CNN that Donald doesn’t really care if she lives there (!) and that there “is no internal backlash among the president-elect’s team,” so it almost sounds like this will be for the best. Maybe they just really don’t like each other, and neither wants to ruin the other’s chances at selling more junk to gullible supporters by getting caught squabbling.

We already knew that she doesn’t have much respect for the role of First Lady. When an ex-aide leaked audio of Melania from 2018, we heard her complain about decorating for Christmas: “I’m working … my ass off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*ck about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”

Well, it would be nice, I suppose. It does give the appearance of normalcy. They DO have Christmas in Slovenia, right? You know what? Strike that, I know they do. My mother-in-law was Yugoslavian (the place Slovenia used to be part of), and I ate potica (pronounced po-TEET-za) that my ex-wife made every year for Christmas.

Maybe make some potica and it will feel like home, Mel. Actually, I doubt she does much cooking. Maybe the White House chef can learn the recipe and entice the First Lady over for the holidays.

Just before Election Day, Melania told Fox News that she felt cool as a cucumber about the Trumps’ upcoming stint in the White House. “I’m not anxious because this time is different,” she said. “I have much more experience and much more knowledge. I was in the White House before. When you go in, you know exactly what to expect.”

I would say that it’s more likely that she’s not nervous because she basically can’t screw anything up if she never goes there.

She was already anything but traditional before. When it came to her fashion choices, her decorating style, or even just the way she interacts with her husband, she has behaved in a way that seems to ME like she’s enjoying a purely transactional relationship, and being FLOTUS is no different to her than a modeling gig.