Politics

WAGA: The Wives of Trump’s New MAGA Administration

POLITICS AND PAGEANTRY

They’ve hitched a ride with their husbands to Washington, D.C., but will Beltway politics make or break them?

MAGA Wives
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/AP

Behind every powerful politico in Washington, D.C., is a supportive spouse in way over their head. Yet these nine women (and counting) have vowed to follow their husbands off and into the deep end of Trumpland.

Will they sink or swim? With beauty, brawn and grace, here’s how these MAGA women could win favor across America’s 50 states.

‘Mrs. MAGA’ Melania Trump

Melania Trump
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

If there was a Queen Bee reigning over all of Trumpland, it’s Melania Trump. On her first time around as FLOTUS, Melania attempted to put her cold spin on many long-held first lady traditions, such as decorating the White House for Christmas and actually living in said White House with the president. But now that Barron Trump has gone off to college, and it has become canon just how much Melania doesn’t really care (do you?), expect Mrs. Trump to skirt tradition altogether on her second White House run. That is, until she has something to sell—which can be anything from Christmas ornaments, jewelry, her NYT best-selling memoir, or just various photos of her traveling around Trumpland in stilettos. From publicly going against MAGA views to buying into her husband’s Big Lie, Melania is still a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. And that’s why she remains reigning Queen.

ADVERTISEMENT

‘Mrs. Hillbilly’ Usha Vance

Usha Vance
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

When future second lady Usha Vance, wife of Vice President-elect JD Vance, first made her debut on the campaign trail, skeptics weren’t sure if she was truly all-in on Trumpland or trying to signal for help. Yet following several public statements in which she defended her husband’s crude comments about women, now we know she is fully invested in believing in MAGA—despite her impressive educational background. But an elegy of questions remain: What are her interests? Her motivations? Her goals? Will she use her husband to trade up on political power or simply stay Mrs. Vance? All will be revealed when she officially enters the White House.

‘Mrs. Luckey’ Ginger Gaetz

Ginger Gaetz
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Ginger Gaetz was born Luckey, and the maiden name says it all. Gaetz is the sister of Oculus VR founder, multi-millionaire, and big Republican donor Palmer Luckey, and she reportedly became Mrs. Gaetz soon after a chance-meeting with Matt Gaetz at a Trump fundraiser. California blonde and a California native, Ginger now mostly uses her sustainable business studies from the Harvard Business School Online to stan her husband on social media. But with all the allegations of statuary rape and drug-use following her husband, it’s only a matter of time until Ginger snaps back at all the haters.

‘Mrs. Enthusiasm’ Cheryl Hines

Cheryl Hines
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Everyone has at least one Cheryl Hines in their life: a one-note actress, and a political pacifier. Through thick and thin, alleged affairs and truly unhinged behavior on her husband’s part, Hines has managed to stay married to husband RFK Jr., like a worm in his head. Now it has seemingly all paid off with a ticket to the White House in Trump’s administration. And as much as we’d love to think RFK Jr. leading the US Department of Health and Human Services is just one big Curb Your Enthusiasm (Hines‘ most famous acting credit) joke setup, truth has been a lot stranger than fiction lately. And in the words of Larry David, it’s been “prett-ay, prett-ay” bad.

‘Mrs. Anything Is Possible’ Lara Trump

Lara Trump
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

RNC co-chair, Lara Trump (or soon-to-be senator?) has truly proved that “anything is possible”— and for her those aren’t just words for her to sing but words to live by. From failed pastry chef to now potential Senate appointee, Lara has perfected the art of falling forward, a skill that will help her and husband Eric go far in D.C.

‘Mrs. Reality’ Rachel Campos-Duffy

Rachel Campos Duffy
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

A former reality TV star, Fox News host Mrs. Rachel Campos-Duffy is already the most familiar with how Trump likes to run his administrative cabinet: It’s all ratings and headline-making decisions all the time. And Rachel’s experience on MTV’s The Real World, opposite her sex-crazed husband, Department of Transportation nominee Sean Duffy, could quickly work in her favor. Add in some endorsements from her colleagues at Fox News, and she could be Trumpland TV’s newest leading lady.

‘Mrs. Underworld’ Katie Miller

Katie Miller
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/AP

To be honest, we still can’t believe Goblin-like white nationalist Stephen Miller actually found someone to say “I do”—which makes us wonder if his tips for attracting women truly worked on wife Katie Miller. Not only is their union real proof that there’s someone just about for everyone, actually being married to Stephen Miller seems be an otherworldly skill within itself. So, hats off to you Katie, who is proving with each unhinged tweet that she herself is a malevolent force to be reckoned with.

‘Mrs. Primetime’ Jennifer Rauchet (Hegseth)

Jennifer Hegseth
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Instagram

Her husband Pete Hegseth may be busy defending himself from allegations of rape and white nationalism, but if there is anyone who knows how to spin a story around, it’s TV producer Jennifer Rauchet. Hegseth, who was then still married to his second wife, Samantha Deering, reportedly collaborated frequently on programming with Rauchet at Fox News before they collaborated outside of work hours. Now if Hegseth’s third wife does indeed join him among the White House elite, she could have her work cut out for her in making sure her husband stays palatable to the American people.

‘Mrs. Quack’ Lisa Oz

Lisa Oz
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Oprah is directly responsible for making Dr. Mehmet Oz a great and powerful daytime TV star, but she wasn’t the only woman drinking the pseudoscience Kool Aid. Enter Lisa Oz: a former cardiothoracic surgeon, like her husband, who has aligned herself with his caregiving and career aspirations no matter how farfetched they may have seemed. Since marrying in 1985, she has been there for Oz’s TV career, failed 2022 Senate run, and now will no doubt follow him to his perch as head of the head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “The best thing I ever did was marrying Lisa,” Oz told People magazine in 2020. And when he asked her what was her favorite thing in their house, she responded, “You.”