During Melania Trump’s four-year residency in the White House, she famously made it known on several occasions she wasn’t really invested in the whole ‘First Lady’ job.

Remember her confusing ‘I really don’t care. Do You?’ $39 Zara army-green jacket she wore while visiting a child migrant detention centre in 2018.

Or the damaging “who gives a f–k about Christmas?” leaked tape and her blood-red corridor of Christmas trees.

Hand-slapping the President. Regular reports she was unhappy. Living in a separate suite. Smiling as she arrived back in Palm Beach wearing a casual kaftan after the presidency ended.

The Republican National Convention meets on July 15 to formally nominate Donald Trump, 78, to challenge Joe Biden, 81, for president.

According to the latest polling averages from The Economist, Trump was slightly ahead before the first 90-minute presidential debate.

If Trump is re-elected on November 5, several first lady experts were asked whether Melania would return to the White House and live full-time in the East Wing.

Dubbed “Melania-ologists” by US news website, Axios (founded by former Politico journalists), they reckon it is “doubtful” Melania will be back.

The more likely scenario is that she will jet between Trump Tower in New York – where son Barron, 18, is rumoured to be going to New York University – and the family’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Washington Post associate editor and author of The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump, Mary Jordan, said: “Melania does what Melania wants.”

This makes her “stand out in history from any other first lady,” says Jordan.

“Her view is unelected, not paid.”

Melania with her husband Donald Trump in April. Photo: Getty

‘She clearly hated being in Washington’

Melania has largely stayed out of the spotlight this year as Trump campaigns for the presidency for a third time.

She did not attend his “Super Tuesday” election victory party, and has been conspicuously absent from his Stormy Daniels hush money trial or his post-conviction press conference.

However, she has made spectacular appearances at Mar-a-Lago for fundraising events, and was photographed with Trump in March as they cast their votes in Florida’s presidential primary.

When asked whether Melania was going to return to the campaign, Trump replied that she really wants to see America “succeed”.

Melania just told reporters to “stay tuned”.

Kate Andersen Brower, who has written several books about first ladies, told Axios Melania was “distancing herself even more from her husband and from the Washington social political scene”.

“I mean, she clearly hated being in Washington.”

Melania Trump walks alongside the White House Express train in 2020. Photo: Getty

Axios says Melania was “so atypically reclusive for a first lady that a long-running whisper campaign questioned whether she even lived at the White House” at all, or with her parents at a suburban location.

Although no other first lady has chosen not to live in the White House with their president husband, there are two exceptions from history, according to Sky News.

“Anna Symmes Harrison was unable to move in before her husband, William Henry Harrison, died a month after his election.

“And Bess Truman lived across from the presidential home at Blair House during renovations in 1948 and 1952.”

If Melania were to have another crack at first lady duties, Jordan says she would ensure she has a larger, “better,” and “more qualified” staff.

Melania had an atypically small staff, and there were reports of her delayed move-in to the White House put her at a disadvantage, it notes.

“Now having seen how this works, she would just be wiser and she would be more vocal and more demanding about what the first lady’s office should get.”

Wiser still, she may just jet in for official functions like state dinners, visiting dignitaries and special events like Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas celebrations, says Axios.