Melania Trump to meet First Lady Michelle Obama at White House

The meeting — which will occur at the same time as the President hosts the President-elect — marks the start of the transition of power just one day after the Republican nominee beat Democratic-candidate Hillary Clinton in the election.

Only this time around the routine meet-and-greets have the added awkwardness of an extremely bitter campaign that preceded them.

The Obamas were the strongest Democratic voice calling Donald Trump “unfit” for the Presidency. There is also the slight matter of the speech Melania Trump gave to the Republican National Convention that lifted large passages of one given by Mrs Obama in 2008.

At the time, the First Lady spoke about working hard while growing up on the south side of Chicago and the values important to her.

“You work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do,” Mrs Obama said in 2008.

Melania Trump echoed those comments about her own upbringing earlier this year. She said her parents had taught her: “work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise.”

Side-by-side comparison

The Trump team denied the speech was copied and said it relied on common phrases.

Donald Trump also joked about it during a charity dinner where he said the media bias was made clear when Mrs Obama got rave reviews and Melania did not for the “exact same speech and people get on her case. I don’t get it,” he said.
 

Mrs Obama later addressed the storm in a late-night interview with Stephen Colbert where she said it was a “tough” moment.

She also said she had little sympathy for a spouse who did not believe in her partner’s message.

“You have to be in it if you’re in it,” she said. “If you don’t agree, you shouldn’t have agreed before they ran. Bottom line, if I didn’t agree with what Barack was saying, I would not support his run. So, I stand there proudly and I hope they are, too, standing by their spouses proudly. So, no sympathy!”

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The meeting comes amid rampant speculation over what type of First Lady Melania Trump will be.

Michelle Obama has proved so popular many hope she will run for office herself in 2020. She has championed causes close to her heart like childhood obesity, education for young women and planted a vegetable garden at the White House.

She has also let her personality shine through, communicating on Snapchat, dancing with Ellen DeGeneres on daytime television or singing Missy Elliot on Carpool Karaoke with James Corden.

By contrast the Slovenian former model, who has posed naked for GQ before, remains relatively unknown. She is the third wife of Donald Trump who arrived in New York in 1996. They married in 2005 in a Palm Beach wedding and is mother to son Barron who was born in 2006.

Mrs Trump has previously indicated she would like to make a stand against bullying in her new role.

“Our culture has gotten too mean and too violent,” she said in surprising comments given her husband’s rhetoric. “I will be an advocate for women and children.”