Melania soldiers on, often unsmiling, in a public role under the tabloid veneer she willingly married into but which has worsened dramatically with her husband’s presidency. On Thursday, former House Speaker John Boehner cracked at a public event, “I think Donald promised Melania that he would not win. She didn’t have to worry about ever living in the White House. That’s probably why she doesn’t look real happy every day. Well, maybe one reason.”

It may be that Melania Trump is truly miserable, which would further the case for deference from the press. The only thing she has ever made clear is her passion and priority is her son Barron. He is still only 12 years old. She and her husband have separate bedrooms, she has made herself an internet meme because of the many times she has flicked his hand away from hers at moments of high ceremony, and she has signaled her distance during the abject humiliation of the Stormy Daniels revelation by sometimes taking her own car trips to Joint Base Andrews for trips, and to the U.S. Capitol on the night of the State of the Union.