Melania Trump left Republican supporters amazed with her surprise appearance at the highly-anticipated Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday. Despite only speaking for about five minutes at the glitzy New York event, she has been dubbed the “jewel” in Donald Trump’s “political crown” by body language expert Judi James. Here’s why:
Melania – a ‘jewel’ in Trump’s ‘political crown’
Speaking to FEMAIL, James decoded the former first lady’s behaviour during her recent appearance at the GOP nominee’s campaign trail. “Her rituals with Donald also show a massive upgrade that seems to illustrate how he fully accepts her as the jewel in his political crown,” she said of Melania.
“She is allowed to show signals of dominant status and authority with her normally competitively alpha husband here. He looks at her in these moments with an open adoration that has leap-frogged mere pride,” James added.
Melania’s behaviour in public now vs before
The body language expert highlighted the contrast between Melania’s past appearances on stage alongside Trump, noting that the former model “now looks like a woman who has finally found her own voice thanks to her new book and a woman who can now work the stage and connect with the crowd like a pro.”
“When Trump first ran for the presidency Melania was not even presented as his non-verbal “plus one”. as that role on stage was taken by his daughter Ivanka,” James said of the former first lady’s past on-stage behaviour. “When she began to give speeches her body language looked rigidly nibbled away by reluctance and inner anxiety.”
James noted that the power couple’s PDA involved “some add-on moments like reluctance to part touch rituals and lingering whispering.” “There is still a hint of the famous “smile-drop” that Melania has done in the past, where her flash smile at her husband would drop like a brick as soon as he looked away,” she explained, adding that her smiles “were warmer and wider than before” during the MSG rally.
Analysis of Melania’s stage presence, awkward kiss with Trump
The expert lauded Melania’s stage presence, revealing that she hyped the crowd with the words “And now…” “Her intro of Trump at the end of her own speech shows just how well she can now work a crowd,” James said, adding, “She bends her knees to say them straight into the mic, elongating the word ‘now’ before allowing a seven second pause to work the thrill of the crowd even higher.”
However, Melania and Trump’s awkward kiss showed that they lacked “synchronicity” in “reading the other’s thoughts.” “Their hug needs some correctional movements at the start as they appear unsure when it comes to reading each other’s intentional gestures,” James noted.
Despite sharing seemingly awkward kisses, Melania and Trump showed a “reluctance to separate,” the expert noted, adding, “He[Trump] whispers at length in her ear and raises the sense of “romance” by gazing at her with his head cocked and an asymmetric smile to suggest “I’m a lucky guy”.”
“Melania performs a reluctance-to-part ritual as she goes to walk away but remains holding his hand, then he takes that hand in a gesture of gratitude, placing it in both of his own then patting it,” James went on, adding that the former first lady “amazingly almost has the edge over Donald at this point.”
