After Ivanka Trump's strategic exit, is Tiffany the new 'first daughter'? | Arwa Mahdawi

Well, it looks like Melaniawatch is officially over. The former first lady has a habit of periodically disappearing, sparking fanciful theories that she has left her philandering husband and is crashing at the Obamas' mansion to write a tell-all. Her latest vanishing act came, understandably, after Trump was arrested last week for hush money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels. Melania was conspicuously absent from Trump's arraignment and he failed to mention her in a speech where he thanked his entire family, and - bizarrely - praised his son Barron for being very tall. Like Jesus, however, Melania made a public reappearance on Easter Sunday.

As soon as the where-is-Melania speculation was laid to rest, the what's-Tiffany-up-to conjecture started. Eyebrows were raised when Trump thanked Tiffany, his youngest daughter, in his post-arraignment speech, because Trump famously has a habit of forgetting that Tiffany exists. Her siblings reportedly aren't much kinder. According to Michael Cohen's memoir about his time as Trump's lapdog, Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka (Trump's children with his first wife, Ivana Trump) referred to Tiffany, who Trump fathered with his second wife, Marla Maples, as the "red-haired stepchild". Cohen also claims the former president and Ivanka were rude about Tiffany's looks.

While Tiffany has always been on the sidelines in the Trump family, she has recently started to edge closer to the spotlight. Now that Trump's eldest, Ivanka, is strategically keeping a distance from her disgraced dad, it looks like Tiffany is finally getting a little bit of her father's attention. Publicly supporting him in his hour of need "could be her way to get closer to her father", a source speculated to the New York Post in a recent piece titled "Is Tiffany Trump taking Ivanka's place as Donald's 'First Daughter'?" Heartwarming stuff, eh? Sometimes it just takes being charged with 34 felony counts to bring a family together.