Melania Trump’s ‘who offers a f*** about Christmas’ tape mocked on TikTok after US election

Melania Trump’s sweary complaints about having to work her “a** off” decorating the White House at Christmas have resurfaced online.

A recording of the former first Lady is doing the rounds on TikTok as amused social media users mock how she feels about having to spend four more Christmases at the presidential building in Washington DC. The tape of Donald Trump’s wife was leaked by her former friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who wrote a book about the rise and fall of her friendship with Mrs Trump.

In the recording, released to CNN in 2020 but recorded in summer 2018, Mrs Trump said the media should give her a “f***ing break” as she complained that critics of her husband think she was “complicit” in his policies. It came as Mr Trump was under fire for his controversial plan to separate migrant families at the southern border.

Mrs Trump went on: “I’m the same like him, I support him. I don’t say enough, I don’t do enough where I am. I’m working … my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right? OK and then I do it and I say that I’m working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas and they said: ‘Oh, what about the children that they were separated?’ Give me a f***ing break.”

TikTok users seized on the recording after Mr Trump’s victory in the US presidential election on Tuesday. Some complained that he would be returning as the 47th US president but added jokingly that at least “diva” Mrs Trump would be in office again.

Other social media users edited the recording on top of clips of Mrs Trump walking past extravagant Christmas trees decorated in the White House. One post with more than 600,000 likes sent “prayers to Melania who has to decorate for Christmas again”.

Others added music from Charlie XCX’s Brat album onto their videos. And other users posted memes representing desperation or anger and compared it to Mrs Trump waking up realising she has to do Christmas again at the White House.

At the time the recording was released, Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Mrs Trump, said: “Secretly taping the first lady and willfully breaking a [non-disclosure agreement] to publish a salacious book is a clear attempt at relevance. The timing of this continues to be suspect – as does this never-ending exercise in self-pity and narcissism.”

Speaking after her husband’s win, Mrs Trump said on Tuesday: “The majority of Americans have entrusted us with this important responsibility. We will safeguard the heart of our republic – freedom. I anticipate the citizens of our nation rejoining in commitment to each other and rising above ideology for the sake of individual liberty, economic prosperity, and security. American energy, skill, and initiative will bring together our best minds to propel our nation forward forevermore.”