Melania Trump drew backlash on social media after describing her husband — the divisive rhetoric-spewing President Donald Trump — as a “unifier.”
The first lady’s claim came on Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Five” while promoting her upcoming documentary, “Melania,” which is set to be released Friday.
During the interview, co-host Jessica Tarlov pointed to a moment in the film’s trailer in which the president, speaking at his second-term inauguration, said he hoped to be remembered as a peacemaker. His wife then added, “and unifier.”
Tarlov asked what role Melania Trump plays in helping that aim, noting there’s “no question that the country needs a lot of unifying at this moment.”
“Yes, it does,” Melania Trump replied.
“But I think he is a unifier. He is a unifier, not just here in the United States but around the world. He stopped many wars,” she added, echoing her husband’s disputed claims about ending multiple global conflicts.
The first lady then argued that domestic opposition is the real issue and appeared to suggest that critics just need to agree with whatever her husband says.
“Here in the United States, it’s a lot of opposition, and that’s the problem, right?” she said. “So the people not agreeing with everything what he does. And they just need to come on the same page and see that he wants to make America only safer and better.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Melania Trump was asked by co-host Jesse Watters for her real thoughts about her husband’s dancing to The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A” at campaign rallies and public events.
The president has previously said his wife has criticized the routine as “not presidential.”
“I like it at the certain times,” she said. “Some days was not appropriate and I told him so. But it’s his dance and I think people love it. People in sport, all around the world, they’re dancing. And it’s a great atmosphere when he does so it brings happiness and fun as well as serious as you need to be as well so I think he’s doing just fine.”
She then revealed that she performed her own “different” version of the dance during the inauguration.
Critics online questioned the idea that the president is a “unifier” and panned Melania Trump’s remark that people just need to get onto the “same page.”
