Why an unenthusiastic Melania Trump is being dragged back into the spotlight

Call it Donald Trump’s attempt at manufacturing an October Surprise.

The release ofa memoir from Melania Trump with less than a month left in the presidential election cycle feels like the epitome of a Hail Mary. An obvious, direct appeal to the one demographic — women — among whom her husband is bleeding support the most. A call to return to the fold aimed at conservative women turned off bythe ugliness of Trump’s campaign and the battle over abortion rights, which has become a weight around the former president’s neck.

The only question is why anyone thinks this will matter, given the infrequency of her public statements and appearances.

Let’s dive into it: Melania Trump, having taken a firmly backstage role over four years of her husband’s presidency and three of his post-presidential “golden years”, is suddenly lurching back into the spotlight. And it is a sudden change: the former First Lady was notably absent from all but the most essential performative aspects of the Republican National Convention in July, when Donald Trump was selected as the GOP’s nominee for a third time. She gave no onstage address, no interviews with Trump-friendly cable news networks or YouTube channels.

But now she’s back. With just weeks to go in the election, Melania has given her first sit-down interviews in months: two of them, both to Fox News. A request for a third, from CNN, was declined. She’s back in a familiar role, doing the absolute bare minimum to help her husband’s presidential bid despite her obvious discomfort with the idea.

One cannot feel her heart in the matter. Her latest interview — an appearance on Fox News Sunday — aired this past weekend. Her robotic responses to questions about the first of two attempts on her