President Donald Trump, 79, revealed the nickname he uses for his wife, Melania Trump, during a speech in Iowa on July 3.
On the eve of the July Fourth holiday, Trump visited the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines to celebrate Congress passing his controversial One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The Republican politician referred to Melania, 55, while speaking to his crowd of supporters at the Salute to America event. At one point, he shared what he calls the ex-model behind the scenes.
“I remember saying to our great First Lady… I call her ‘First Lady,’ isn’t it terrible?” Trump shared about the foreign-born FLOTUS, according to The Daily Beast.
“I’m saying, ‘Good night, First Lady, my darling,’ because it reminds me that I’m president, that’s why,” he explained. “I said, ‘First Lady, it’s terrible nobody wants to join our military force.’”
Trump’s admission that he calls Melania by her honorary title as a way a reinforcing his own position of power was met with mostly ridicule online.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I call MelanIa
“FIRST LADY” because it reminds
me that I’M PRESIDENT!pic.twitter.com/Oa29wGaWf0
— George Balfour-Kinnear (@balfourUK) July 4, 2025
One person on Facebook commented, “He calls her First Lady to remind himself that he is President. Oh yeah, his IQ is really up there!”
In the comment section for The Independent article, one of the outlet’s readers brought up Trump’s infamous sex and cheating scandal with former adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
“He calls her ‘First Lady’ because he can’t remember her name. It’s Mercedes, right, no, Miranda? Melanie, Mavis? But he can always remember Stormy,” wrote the commenter.
Another individual challenged the president’s intelligence and integrity by posting, “I think he did rather well in saying first lady, he must have been real close to [saying] the thousandth lady.”
Perez Hilton Since entering the political landscape as a right-wing presidential candidate in 2015, Trump has constantly faced questions about his mental acuity.
In 2016, comedian Pete Davidson claimed that Trump is illiterate. The “Saturday Night Live” alum recalled his interactions with the longtime “The Apprentice” star in an interview with Opie Radio.
“He doesn’t really know how to read, and he loves to improv,” Davidson alleged about Trump when speaking on the reality television personality’s appearance as an “SNL” host in 2015.
Davidson added, “During the table read, before he had to reach each line, and he’s the host, so he’s in everything, he would go, ‘Uh, I’m not going to say this. I think I’m gonna say this the way I would’ve said this. Is that OK?’”
While her husband was addressing their bedroom conversations in Iowa, Melania met with patients at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., ahead of the Fourth of July.
“Everybody gets a teddy bear — and more stuff, too,” she told the kids on Thursday, per the New York Post.
Melania joined with the children to place patriotic-themed wind propellers, bows, and American flags in the hospital’s Bunny Mellon Healing Garden.
“It’s a very special day,” she added. “So we will have a big party at the White House… when you feel better, maybe next year, you come over and we’ll celebrate together.”
The Trumps’ marriage has been under the microscope for years. They initially met at a party in 1998, while Donald was still married to his second wife, Marla Maples.
Donald divorced Marla in 1999 before tying the knot with Melania in 2005. His current spouse gave birth to a son named Barron in 2006. The POTUS also has four children from his first two marriages.
Despite being married for 20 years, many believe Donald and Melania’s relationship is a “
“sham marriage” for the public. There have been numerous incidents where the first lady seemed to be annoyed by her husband.
A photo of the political pair attending a performance of “Les Misérables” at the John F. Kennedy Center in June left observers believing that Melania’s body language indicated she did not want to hold the president’s hand.
Trump biographer Michael Wolff claimed he was told Melania “hates his f—king guts,” as many have suspected. The “Fire and Fury” author also insisted that the couple no longer lives together, which received a scathing denial from the White House.
