‘At Least We Get This Diva Back.’ Melania Trump Finds Gen-Z Fans on TikTok

In the days and weeks since Donald Trump’s re-election to the White House, much liberal discourse on social media has been in meltdown mode. The immediate aftermath, for example: “I hope the hurricane washes the whole damn state away,” screams a man in a bonnet in one TikTok clip; a young woman asserts, “If you voted for Trump, unfollow me, block me, do not speak to me” in another. A video of a woman clutching her steering wheel, screaming “NO, NO, NO” and “WHY, WHY, WHY” as her voice strains with emotion, racked up some 13 million views.

But amid the histrionics, an unlikely figure has emerged in Gen-Z feeds: Melania Trump. One such TikTok edit of the former (and future) First Lady captioned “At least we get this diva back” has, for example, also received millions of views.

From chaos to calm, Melania stands apart—a stoic if disaffected figure. The video is a montage of her serving impeccable looks, wielding her caught-in-a-sandstorm squint, swatting her husband’s hand away, and delivering her now-iconic line “Who gives a f--k about the Christmas stuff?”

The comments are full of semi-ironic adoration: “She went too far for the plot,” writes one laudatory viewer. “Holding the Birkin instead of his hand,” adds another.

“She has a distinct way of saying so much while actually doing and saying very little,” explained Blair Huddy, CEO of Hudson Davis Communications.

This re-imagining of Melania’s position, and perspective, is iconography like the Kamala Harris Brat rebrand all over again—it starts ironic, but ends with genuine obsession. Better laugh than cry, right?

(Incidentally, that “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” jacket Melania wore to visit detained immigrant children in 2018 takes ‘brat’ energy to a place even Charli XCX wouldn’t dare.)

What is it about Melania that captivates Gen-Z, especially its progressive cohort? Part of the allure lies in her embodiment of the “trad wife” aesthetic—a once-shamed patriarchal dynamic now revamped for the modern era. Leaders of this social media trend like Nara Smith, a 22-year-old TikTok sensation with 6.9 million followers, document their serene, home-based lifestyles on social media—ironically making a killing by “not working.”

But Melania also embodies the energy of “born to slay, forced to work.” Her appeal isn’t just her “trad-iness”—it’s her apparent rage against it. Stay-at-home contributions are often framed as effortless, erasing the labor therein; her infamous Christmas outburst made that frustration visible—even if unintentionally—and highlights the universal resentment over enforced domesticity.

“First ladies are expected to want to please people,” Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies, told the Daily Beast. “I’m not sure she really cares.”

A fatalistic femme fatale

Melania’s part-time participation as First Lady—fulfilling her duties only on her own terms—is quintessentially modern. During her husband’s second term in the White House, she reportedly plans to split her time between Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower in New York City. “She will do what she wants with Barron’s needs coming first,” a People source noted.

Gen-Z TikToker Marija Ivanovska (@Maki98), who posted a viral Melania edit captioned “Prayers to Melania who has to decorate for Christmas again” (16.5 million views), agrees. “Melania attracts people from both sides,” Ivanovska explained to The Daily Beast. “Republicans think she’s cool and appreciate the relatable, stylish side of her, while Democrats want a ray of hope in a situation they’re scared about... The wife of the president being so different from him makes them laugh and feel better—almost like she’s on their side.”

Beyond the comic relief, Melania resonates because “she fits a lot of the most viral TikTok talking points,” Ivanovska added, referencing trends like #OldMoneyAesthetic, #QuietLuxury, and #SugarBaby.

Online audiences admire women who, like Melania, have “finessed” their way into luxury, hoisting themselves up onto aspirational pedestals. Devorah Ezagui, owner of the @ClassofPalmBeach account (655,000 followers) on TikTok, which features interviews with women in expensive resort wear, gushes over Melania. “She’s the classiest, most beautiful woman—a class act. I don’t know why they don’t put her in Vogue,” Ezagui told The Daily Beast. “She’s not even into her fashion. She just does that.”

“Melania embodies the contradictions Gen-Z idolizes,” said Zen Media CEO Shama Hyder. “She’s both traditional and rebellious, elegant yet defiant.”

Her blend of glamour and reluctant obligation has cemented her as an unexpected Gen-Z icon—political royalty who wears her crown with dark sunglasses, a Jennifer Coolidge pout, and a shrug.