Melania Trump was often roasted for her decorating decisions while serving as first lady, but there’s one particular change she made to the White House that people want Jill Biden to reverse immediately.

In the summer of 2020, the Trump unveiled a redesigned version of the White House Rose Garden that felt conspicuously void of, well, garden. 

Although the Rose Garden was created by first lady Ellen Wilson during President Woodrow Wilson’s tenure in 1913, first lady Jackie Kennedy famously remodeled the landscape into a lush garden with bright flowers in 1962. However, Melania Trump felt the garden needed a change to “fulfill the dynamic needs of the modern presidency,” according to CNN.

USA Today noted at the time that Trump chose to update the garden with “audiovisual equipment, cameras, paving, drainage, and lighting” but “removed 10 crab apple trees that lined the colonnade” in the process. She also “swapped out the vibrant roses and flowers for roses of white, cream, pale yellow, and pale pink.” According to the A.P., the White House had plans to replant the trees in another location.

While a Change.org petition asking Jill Biden to reverse Melania Trump’s “update” was first posted in March, Refinery 29 reports that it recently picked up more steam. As of April 29, there are more than 45,000 signatures calling on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, to “restore the Rose Garden to Jackie’s original design.”

“Melania Trump had the cherry trees, a gift from Japan, removed as well as the rest of the foliage and replaced with a boring tribute to herself,” the petition created by user Liz Tapanes reads. “Jackie’s legacy was ripped away from Americans who remembered all that the Kennedys meant to us.”

While Trump didn’t respond to the backlash surrounding her garden overhaul, she did put out a statement to her critics while working on renovations to the White House Tennis Pavilion. “I encourage everyone who chooses to be negative & question my work at the @WhiteHouse to take time and contribute something good & productive in their own communities,” Trump tweeted in March 2020. “#BeBest.”

In December 2020, Trump unveiled the tennis courts in the middle of a global pandemic.

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Donald Trump is not the only one that left the White House with a record-breaking disapproval rating. Melania Trump is officially the least popular first lady in polling history.

According to the latest CNN/SSRS poll, the former first lady ended her term with a 47% unfavorable rating and an approval rating of 42%, which still makes her more popular than her husband, who left office with a 33% approval and 60% disapproval rating, per a Quinnipiac University poll.

“The 47% is the highest unfavorable rating we ever recorded for [Melania] Trump. It’s also amazingly high from a historical perspective,” the CNN report, which was published before the Inauguration of Joe Biden but after Melania’s farewell address, reads. 

According to CNN, these numbers are particularly unusual. “Traditionally, first ladies are nearly uniformly admired. The position is unelected and normally uncontroversial,” reporter Harry Enten writes. “It’s hard to be unpopular.” 

Maybe not so hard after peddling birtherism conspiracies about Barack Obama, destroying Jackie Kennedy’s rose garden, hosting a photoshoot during the attack on the Capitol, those Christmas recordings, and of course, wearing an “I Really Don’t Care, Do You?” jacket on her way to visit the children separated from their families at the U.S. border. Just a thought.

CNN notes that prior to Melania, the average first lady’s final approval rating was 71% with an unfavorable rating of 21%. “That means the average net popularity rating for these first ladies was +50 points,” the report states. For those who don’t want to do the math, that puts Melania’s net rating at -5 points. 

In fact, the second least-popular first lady was Hillary Clinton, who left the White House in 2001 with a net favorability rating of +13 points (52% favorable and 39% unfavorable). Unlike Melania Trump, however, Clinton ran and was elected to the U.S. Senate during her husband’s term, making her a naturally more polarizing figure. 

But hey, at least Melania Trump pulled it together in the end and welcomed Dr. Jill Biden and her family into the White House with open arms, a long-held tradition for First Ladies. Oh, wait…

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After four years, Melania Trump has given her last address as First Lady of the United States.

In the six-minute pre-recorded speech, Melania promoted “love over hatred,” a somewhat befuddling message to come from the administration that peddled lies about the 2020 election results, encouraged insurrection, and refused to attend the upcoming Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. “Be passionate in everything you do,” she said. “But always remember that violence is never the answer and will never be justified.”

You can watch the entire speech, below. 

It’s important to remember that Donald Trump’s wife is hardly a passive part of his legacy. All the way back in 2011, Melania actively peddled her husband’s racist birtherism conspiracy that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. And, of course, we all remember the “I Really Don’t Care” scandal of 2018. 

As recently as today, January 18, Melania Trump is facing backlash yet again for snubbing Dr. Jill Biden. For the first time in 100 years, the First Lady did not invite the incoming president’s spouse to visit the White House, despite the fact that Michelle Obama welcomed her four years ago. 

“That’s not very ‘Be Best,’ is it,” one Twitter user wrote.

“Michelle Obama graciously hosted Melania Trump at the White House immediately after 2016 election to ensure a smooth transition,” historian Michael Beschloss tweeted. “Melania Trump has done absolutely nothing for Dr. Jill Biden. Some people are givers, others takers.”

In an Instagram post from November 16, Michelle Obama reflected on her family’s experience welcoming Trump the Trumps into the White House, admitting that pushing forward with this presidential tradition “wasn’t easy”—you know, because of the racist conspiracy theories I mentioned earlier. 

“I have to be honest and say that none of this was easy for me. Donald Trump had spread racist lies about my husband that had put my family in danger. That wasn’t something I was ready to forgive,” she wrote. “But I knew that, for the sake of our country, I had to find the strength and maturity to put my anger aside.”

 In her final speech, Melania said serving as First Lady was the “greatest honor” of her life, adding, “I am humbled to have had the opportunity to represent a nation with such kind and generous people.” 

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Oooh, the irony of Melania Trump’s latest Twitter kerfuffle. 

On Friday, January 15, the first lady tweeted a message about the “legacy” of Be Best, her White House initiative focusing on issues facing children in America—including, wait for it, social media and cyberbullying. 

“As the legacy of #BeBest comes to a close at the @WhiteHouse, we must continue to give a voice to our Nation’s children & the issues that impact their lives,” Trump tweeted. “It’s the values & spirit of the American people that inspired Be Best & it’s those values that will carry on its mission.” 

Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up. Melania Trump—the wife of arguably the world’s biggest bully who, don’t forget, was kicked off Twitter—is tweeting about the “legacy” of an anti-bullying initiative. The U.S. House of Representatives literally ruled days before FLOTUS posted this that President Donald Trump’s combative, blatantly false tweets in large part caused January 6’s Capitol riot. His bullying tweets helped incite literal insurrection! Meanwhile, Melania Trump wants to talk about Be Best’s “legacy”! The mind boggles! 

Of course, folks on Twitter are thinking the same thing. “The legacy of #BeBest is that your husband is banned from social media,” Vox journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted. 

“Thank you, First Lady. Your Be Best initiative cleared social media of its biggest cyber bully. Thank you for your effort and all you’ve done,” someone else wrote. 

A third added, “Your husband is the biggest online bully the world’s ever seen. Your mission failed miserably.”

View some more reactions, below: 

This tweet just about sums it up: “What legacy? Your husband demonstrated to children all over America that bullying wasn’t just okay, it was something the President of the United States does. He modeled childish temper tantrums and insults for four years. That’s your legacy, lady.”

According to a new report from CNN, Melania Trump hasn’t done anything to help with Jill Biden’s first lady onboarding. 

To quote the outlet’s piece directly, Trump “hasn’t established an office for continuing her platform in the post-White House years, according to a source familiar with her activities. Nor has she helped with the onboarding of incoming first lady Jill Biden—with whom she has still not made contact, the source said.” 

It’s hard not to compare this to how Michelle Obama interacted with Melania Trump in the weeks leading up to President Donald Trump’s inauguration. In fact, Obama recently opened up about this in a statement criticizing President Trump for delaying a smooth transition of power after Joe Biden won the 2020 election. 

“My husband and I instructed our staffs to do what George and Laura Bush had done for us: run a respectful, seamless transition of power—one of the hallmarks of American democracy,” Obama wrote. “We invited the folks from the president-elect’s [Donald Trump] team into our offices and prepared detailed memos for them, offering what we’d learned over the past eight years.”

She continued, “I have to be honest and say that none of this was easy for me. Donald Trump had spread racist lies about my husband that had put my family in danger. That wasn’t something I was ready to forgive. But I knew that, for the sake of our country, I had to find the strength and maturity to put my anger aside. So I welcomed Melania Trump into the White House and talked with her about my experience, answering every question she had—from the heightened scrutiny that comes with being First Lady to what it’s like to raise kids in the White House.” 

Why Melania Trump reportedly hasn’t done this for Jill Biden—or reached out to her at all—is unclear. But according to CNN’s article, there have been several miscommunications in the White House lately. A source says the first lady wasn’t sure if she’d be attending Biden’s inauguration until President Trump tweeted that he’s skipping the event. “It’s not the first time she has learned what he was doing because he tweeted it before he told her,” said the source. 

Read CNN’s full report here. 

She continued, “As an American, I am proud of our freedom to express our viewpoints without persecution. It is one of the paramount ideals which America is fundamentally built on. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect that right. With that in mind, I would like to call on the citizens of this country to take a moment, pause, and look at things from all perspectives.” 

The first lady followed this with, “I implore people to stop the violence, never make assumptions based on the color of a person’s skin, or use differing political ideologies as a basis for aggression and viciousness. We must listen to one another, focus on what unites us, and rise above what divides us.” 

She then added, “It is inspiring to see that so many have found a passion and enthusiasm in participating in an election, but we must not allow that passion to turn to violence. Our path forward is to come together, find our commonalities, and be the kind and strong people that I know we are.” 

You get the idea: The statement sees Melania Trump simultaneously denouncing the violence that happened at the Capitol while also highlighting freedom of expression. 

She ended her statement with vague platitudes about how “it is these defining moments that we will look back and tell our grandchildren that through empathy, strength, and determination, we were able to restore the promise of our future.” Trump then thanked the people who have supported both her and President Donald Trump during their time in office. 

“Most importantly, I ask for healing, grace, understanding, and peace for our great Nation,” she wrote.

Read her full statement here. 

First lady Melania Trump was reportedly doing a photo shoot at the White House during the Capitol riot on January 6, according to a new article from CNN. 

Per a source who spoke to the outlet, “Photos were being taken of rugs and other items in the Executive Residence and the East Wing” while the first lady and chief White House usher Timothy Harleth oversaw the project. As this was happening, a mob of Trump supporters violently stormed the halls of Congress.

CNN also reports Melania may be working on a coffee table book about the items she has restored in the White House. She was, according to another source who spoke to CNN, not “in a place mentally or emotionally” to address the country about the riot. Simply put, this source says Melania Trump is “checked out.”  

Other members of President Donald Trump’s family have addressed the Capitol riot in general terms. CNN reports Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, held an emergency meeting and urged him to call for an end to the violence. “Everyone else was told to leave the room,” a source told CNN. In the meeting Ivanka reportedly told her father he was the only one the rioters would listen to and he had to tell them to stop. “[President Trump] will do what he wants to do,” said the source. “But if she wasn’t in there yesterday, his tweets would have been a lot different.”

Publicly, Ivanka has condemned the mob but only after she seemed to call them “patriots” in a since deleted tweet. Meanwhile, her sister-in-law, Karlie Kloss (who is married to Joshua Kushner), said on Twitter she has “tried” to explain to Ivanka how the Trump family has helped spread the false narrative that Joe Biden and his running mate, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, stole the 2020 election.  

The rightfully elected President Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20

Melania Trump is back in the headlines again—and likely not for the reason she was hoping. On December 7, the first lady announced the completion of renovations to the White House tennis pavilion, and let’s just say it didn’t go over great on social media. 

“History continues to unfold at the @WhiteHouse & I am pleased to announce the completion of the tennis pavilion. Preserving this historic landmark is vital & I want to thank all who helped complete this project,” she tweeted from the official @FLOTUS account. 

“I am pleased to announce the completion of the tennis pavilion on the White House grounds. Thank you to all of the talented craftsmen who made this project possible and to the generous supporters of the White House,” Trump said in a press release about the project, which began in 2018. “It is my hope that this private space will function as both a place of leisure and gathering for future First Families.”

It’s not hard to see why this announcement could be perceived as tone-deaf as the coronavirus pandemic rages on across the country. Infection numbers are surging, many hospitals are at or near capacity, and millions of Americans remain unemployed. 

The backlash on social media was swift. “Put hospital beds and respirators in there. Then it’ll be useful,” one person tweeted. “I’m sure all the citizens waiting in food lines and wondering if they will have a roof over their heads are thrilled to hear about the new White House tennis courts,” another added.

The first lady has had her share of social media controversies lately thanks to her holiday decorations and previously leaked comments she made about Christmas. But this also isn’t even the first time the tennis pavilion project has been criticized.

She gave an update back in early March that was also considered to be poorly timed, as the country was on the verge of the initial COVID-19 lockdown.