Melania Trump, Ever Elusive, Expected to Appear at RNC

The former first lady skipped much of the Trump family reunion in Milwaukee this week.

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Former President Donald J. Trump and his wife, Melania, at an event in West Palm Beach, Fla., in March.

The Republican National Convention has been chockablock with Trumps.

Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican Party and Donald J. Trump’s daughter-in-law, delivered a keynote address. Her husband, Eric, has made the rounds on cable news. Another Trump son, Donald Trump Jr., spoke for 19 minutes on Wednesday night, long enough even to hand the mic to his teenage daughter, Kai.

And yet, where is Melania?

Donald Trump’s wife has remained out of sight. She has not been in the V.I.P. box where Mr. Trump has presided over the prime-time show each night. She has not been on television. She is sparsely featured in the videos played for delegates between speakers and in the photos plastered on the arena’s walls.

Mrs. Trump is set to appear on Thursday, as her husband delivers his acceptance speech on the convention’s final night. But, in a break from tradition, she is not expected to speak. (Other Trumps are likely to make their first appearances, too: Ivanka, the former president’s daughter who is keeping a distance from his current campaign, and Barron, 18, Mr. Trump’s youngest son.)

At this celebration of all things Trump, nobody knows quite what to make of this.

Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin, speculated on Wednesday from the floor of the convention hall that it is probably just “too overwhelming” for Mrs. Trump, given the assassination attempt on her husband on Saturday. “I think it’s going to be emotional even to be with him,” Mr. Walker said, “let alone speak.”

Asked about the former first lady on Tuesday, Matt Schlapp, a former White House aide, shrugged. “I don’t know whether she’s coming or not,” he said. “Melania has always taken full measure of her ability to have private time for as long as possible. I know that she’s completely behind this campaign.”

Mrs. Trump has been disappearing from view for a while now. She did not show up at her husband’s trial for falsifying business records to cover up hush payments to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claimed to have had a tryst with Mr. Trump while his wife was home with a newborn. So far in this campaign, Mrs. Trump has done two fund-raisers with gay Republicans, but little else.

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