--- title: Republican Convention: Melania Trump Speaks of Compassion description: Donald Trump's wife, former model Melania Trump, made her political debut at the Republican National Convention Monday night. canonical: https://time.com/4412009/republican-convention-melania-trump-compassion/ author: Haley Sweetland Edwards article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-19T04:00:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:43:53.088Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Strikes Rare Note of Compassion at Convention og:description: "Kindness, love, and compassion for each other that will bring us together." og:url: https://time.com/4412009/republican-convention-melania-trump-compassion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fa33d618f90ae35/69889c80428a9e5381cd3787/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2569 og:image:height: 1445 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL RNC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Strikes Rare Note of Compassion at Convention twitter:description: "Kindness, love, and compassion for each other that will bring us together." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fa33d618f90ae35/69889c80428a9e5381cd3787/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Strikes Rare Note of Compassion at Republican Convention > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Haley Sweetland Edwards / Cleveland](https://time.com/author/haley-sweetland-edwards/)  ## Haley Sweetland Edwards / Cleveland Jul 19, 2016 4:00 AM UTC  Melania Trump speaks to the crowd at the 2016 Republican National Convention on Monday, July 18, 2016, in Cleveland. Melania Trump speaks to the crowd at the 2016 Republican National Convention on Monday, July 18, 2016, in Cleveland.Landon Nordeman for TIME  by [Haley Sweetland Edwards / Cleveland](https://time.com/author/haley-sweetland-edwards/)  ## Haley Sweetland Edwards / Cleveland Jul 19, 2016 4:00 AM UTC After several hours of outraged speeches and fevered anger at the Republican National Convention Monday night, presumptive candidate Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, used her speech to sound an unexpectedly calm and conciliatory note, calling for cooperation, unity, respect and love among “all Americans.” “As citizens of this great nation, it is kindness, love, and compassion for each other that will bring us together and keep us together,” she said, a comparatively placid figure in an elegant white dress. “These are the values Donald and I would bring to the White House.” The former model and mother of 10-year-old Barron Trump has almost entirely avoided the political limelight thus far in the campaign. She has appeared only rarely on the campaign trail or in media interviews, and almost always in the company of the candidate. But in her first full-length speech on her own, she presented herself as a kindler, gentler counterpart to her often bombastic husband. **Read More:** [_Watch Melania Trump’s Speech at the Republican Convention_](http://time.com/4412008/republican-convention-melania-trump-2/) In a nearly ten minute address, she extended an olive branch to the sixteen other Republican candidates in this year’s primary, saying they “deserve respect and gratitude from all of us,” repeatedly thanked Republican voters for their “kindness and support” and spoke at length about her husband’s gentler side. “He is tough when he has to be, but he is also kind and fair and caring,” she said. “This kindness is not always noted, but it is there for all to see. That is one reason I fell in love with him to begin with.”  Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania at the 2016 Republican National Convention on Monday, July 18, 2016, in Cleveland. Landon Nordeman for TIME Melania, who immigrated from Slovenia, also offered a gentler vision of her husband’s hardline positions on immigrants and Muslims. Where Donald Trump has called for deporting all illegal immigrants and banning Muslims from entering the country, Melania Trump used more inclusive language. “Donald intend to represent all the people, not just some of the people,” she said. “That includes Christians and Jews and Muslims, and it includes Hispanics and African Americans and Asians, and the poor and middle class. Throughout his career Donald has successful worked with people of many faiths and with many nations.” Melania, who became an American citizen in July 2006, called the experience “the greatest privilege on planet Earth.” If her husband is elected, Melania would become the first foreign-born first lady since Louisa Adams, who was born in England and moved into the White House in 1825\. If she finds herself in that role, Melania said, she would “help people in our country that need it the most: children and women” and promised to ensure that every child received “the best possible education.” After her speech, Donald Trump strode onto the stage, beamed into the audience, and pointed happily at his wife as if to say, “Isn’t she great?” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4412009/republican-convention-melania-trump-compassion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4412009/republican-convention-melania-trump-compassion/"},"headline":"Melania Trump Strikes Rare Note of Compassion at Republican Convention","datePublished":"2016-07-19T04:00:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:43:53.088Z","description":"Donald Trump's wife, former model Melania Trump, made her political debut at the Republican National Convention Monday night.","url":"https://time.com/4412009/republican-convention-melania-trump-compassion/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Melania Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fa33d618f90ae35/69889c80428a9e5381cd3787/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Haley Sweetland Edwards / Cleveland"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fa33d618f90ae35/69889c80428a9e5381cd3787/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL RNC","caption":"Melania Trump speaks to the crowd at the 2016 Republican National Convention on Monday, July 18, 2016, in Cleveland.","creditText":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republican-national-convention/","name":"Republican National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4412009/republican-convention-melania-trump-compassion/","name":"Melania Trump Strikes Rare Note of Compassion at Republican Convention"}}]}] ```