Melania and Me is an absorbing read, even if its subject is deeply unsympathetic and its author hopelessly codependent on her for most of the book. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is a devoted friend and adviser to Melanie Trump, and their texts are full of heart emojis and declarations of love. Wolkoff, who was in her 40s at the time, had never voted in a presidential election until her bestie's husband ran in 2016.

Wolkoff has a sense that Donald is a blusterer and thinks "grab 'em by the pussy" isn't great--for Melania. It's wild how Wolkoff's devotion to Melania obliterates any good sense she might have about Trump as president. She is drafted to work on the inauguration, which she explains week by week because "the family," as Ivanka, or "Princess" as Wolkoff and MT refer to her, attempts to make Wolkoff a scapegoat for the out of control costs and malfeasance of the event. Wolkoff's account makes vivid what a shitshow the inauguration was behind the scenes, but she also discloses that she made nearly half a million dollars for her role in producing the events.

Once the Trumps are in the White House, Melania dragging her stilettos to move in full time, Wolkoff's role is perpetually undefined--and unpaid. She volunteers her services because all of the staff lines have been gobbled up by the family. Whether her telling is accurate or not, and I believe it semi-is, it seems like many of Melania's early blunders were engineered or allowed to happen by others in the family who left Melania out of important conversations. Regardless of what is true vs. Wolkoff's perception, this is some high tea.