Trump quips about where he might move after White House as smiling Melania nods her approval
Minister Donald Trump On Friday, he suggested that he might build his post-presidency home somewhere nearby. North Carolina military base rather than the gilded Florida social club where he has lived since leaving his longtime home in New York to avoid various investigations into his behavior.
Trump was working his way through remarks to soldiers at Fort Bragg that differed little from his usual political stump speech when he began bragging about the “billions” his administration had allegedly invested in improving housing and other facilities at the sprawling military base.
He also claimed that his administration would similarly spend “billions of dollars” on improvements “here and in the region” because “the people in this area are so incredible.”
“I’m actually thinking of moving here one day. Maybe I’ll move, maybe I’ll move here with our big movie star … with us first lady” he said, referring to the First Lady. Melania TrumpShe had also traveled to the base with her husband in a rare joint appearance.
Turning to his wife, he said: “We’re going to move to Fort. Bragg. Do you want that, darling?”
(AFP via Getty Images)
The First Lady, who later appeared to be there to promote her documentary as well as to head to Mar-a-Lago, laughed and appeared to nod, at which point Trump continued speaking and told the assembled soldiers: “He loves you.”
“It’s a possibility, it’s actually not a bad idea because we love it,” he said.
Although the president’s remarks were meant in jest, he does have some family ties to the Tar Heel State through his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, a North Carolina native who twice considered but rejected the chance to run for open Senate seats there.
Trump and his wife previously changed their primary residence in 2019, filing documents to officially move their residence from the eponymous New York skyscraper where he has lived since 1983 to Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach, Fla., mansion where he keeps rooms while using the gilded age-era residence as a social club for dues-paying members.
At the time, he claimed to “cherish” the Empire State, where he lived from the time of his birth until the start of his first semester in college. white house He only complained in 2018 that he had been “treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and the state” amid multiple civil and criminal investigations into his conduct there.
Melania Trump appeared to have joined her husband on a trip to Fort Bragg to promote her Amazon-funded documentary as well as to hitchhike to Mar-a-Lago, the next stop on the weekend trip. (Getty Images)
The first couple arrive at Fort Bragg ahead of Donald Trump’s speech to special forces troops (Getty Images)
The first lady’s appearance with her husband — just one of several exclusive conversations she’s had with him since returning to the White House — came weeks after the premiere of a hagiographic documentary chronicling her preparations for the January 2025 inauguration, which was acquired by Amazon for $40 million and which critics derided as an obvious win for her and her husband.
Amazon also reportedly spent $35 million marketing the film, and has so far brought in just over $13 million in box office revenue since its theatrical release last month.
In his speech to soldiers, Trump cited the documentary’s box office performance, telling them that the United States was “truly lucky to have such an extraordinary First Lady.”
“And now he’s a movie star,” he said.
