Melania Trump breaks her long silence, telling Americans her husband Donald Trump is 'authentic' and 'loves his country'

  • Video report by ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore

America's First Lady has been the great enigma of the Trump Family, rarely speaking out, and her own political views are opaque.

But Tuesday night was different.  

On prime-time television to tens of millions of viewers, and to an audience in the Rose Garden, Melania Trump asked Americans to give them four more years in the White House.

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She acknowledged the president wasn't to everyone's taste - the understatement of the decade, you might judge - but she said Americans should recognise his honesty, authenticity, and his love for America.

Melania also addressed those appalled at the administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic - almost 180,000 Americans have died of Covid 19.

She said she feels deep sympathy for those who have lost loved ones to the virus - showing an empathy and awareness that the president has often lacked.

She did not win over all her critics last night - many accuse Melania of being blind to her husband's many provocations and complicit in his refusal to reach across a deepening racial divide.

Her request that people "come together in a civil manner" will strike many Americans as absurd given the venom that so often flows from the President's twitter feed.

The First Later later said the jacket's message was 'for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me.' Credit: AP

Many also recall that while on a 2018 trip to a migrant detention centre, Melania wore a jacket with a slogan emblazoned on the back that read, "I really don't care, do you?"

At times, Melania and Donald Trump have appeared distant - even cool - towards each other.

Last week, video emerged of Melania awkwardly rebuffing the president's attempts to hold her hand as they walked down the stairs from Air Force One.

But for all those rumours of a rift in the First Family, Melania ended her speech last night with a simple and powerful appeal for Americans to deliver another election shock by backing a Trump second term.And she made an observation about her husband that Republicans and Democrats will both agree with - a rare achievement in this toxic, partisan atmosphere.

"Whether you like it or not," Melania said, "you always know what he's thinking."