Amid dozens of sometimes bizarre tweets this weekend complaining about his press coverage in all-caps, attacking rival Joe Biden and defending his record, Donald Trump took some time to wish his wife a happy birthday.
Melania Trump turned 50 on Sunday and was celebrating with family, according to her aides.
The first family, like many others, have been remaining at home during the widespread social shutdowns needed to slow the novel coronavirus.
“Happy Birthday to Melania, our great First Lady!” the president, 73, wrote on Sunday morning.
Elsewhere over the weekend, he tweeted extensively about his problems with the news and with Democrats, retweeted a post from himself and added “So true!” and he re-posted a fake video of Biden tweeted by an account called “Trump & Biden Are Rapey.”
Trump also tweeted and then deleted attacks on journalists saying their “Noble Prizes” should be taken away. After others pointed out the prize is called a Nobel and that he likely meant the Pulitzers anyway, he took the tweets down and tweeted again to say he was making a joke on the word “noble.”
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Breaking with a weeks-long pattern, he did not appear at a coronavirus briefing on either Saturday or Sunday in the wake of many headlines about his musings over testing injections of disinfectant as a viral treatment. Monday’s briefing was also canceled and then replaced with a Rose Garden news conference.
“Thank you to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes,” Mrs. Trump wrote in her own birthday tweet. “This year, my heart is with those who have missed their own celebrations of birthdays, holidays, & special occasions with their families, friends, & colleagues. I look forward to the day when we can all be together again!”
The first lady has been appearing in public-service announcements about the coronavirus and on Thursday sent care packages to hospitals in 10 states, according to the Associated Press.
“The medical community has gone above and beyond to protect the health of the American People,” she said, the AP reported, and her gifts were “just a small token of my appreciation for their courage and leadership in this time of need.”
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Mrs. Trump has also shared “Be Best”-themed resources for children on social media, which prominent critics have used as fodder given the president’s own behavior.
Star Wars‘ Mark Hamill tweeted back at her last week: “While you stay home to keep yourself & others healthy, can keep your husband occupied with puzzles & other activities so he won’t keep telling people to take deadly untested drugs or to try injecting themselves with disinfectant?”
Son Barron Trump turned 14 last month — another birthday in isolation.
“He’s like everyone else,” President Trump told reporters in early April. “He’s in his room. He’s happy, but he’s not as happy as you could be.”
“He’d like to be playing sports, Barron,” the president added then, noting that his teen son, who is largely kept out of the public eye given his age, is “a good athlete, and he loves soccer.”
