Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump made a rare joint public appearance when they joined Donald Trump at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday for his ringing of the opening bell.
Tiffany Trump, the president’s other daughter, was also there.
The president-elect was surrounded by admirers for his big moment – his first time opening stock trading. Trump made his name as a New York real estate mogul.
Incoming Vice President J.D. Vance and Cabinet nominees Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Scott Bessent, Ben Carson, Kelly Loeffler, Pam Bondi, Elise Stefanik, and Lee Zeldin were also present.
The group surrounded the president as he made opening remarks ahead of the formal bell ringing.
‘Thank you very much. This is a tremendous honor. I brought some of our co-patriots along with us and they’ll do a beautiful job for you for the next four years,’ Trump.
Vance stood between Melania and Ivanka, who are said to have a tense and, at times, competitive relationship. Tiffany, who is expecting her first child, stood next to her sister.
Donald Trump (center) preparing to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange – to the right of him is Melania Trump, J.D. Vance, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump
Each woman donned a power pants suit for the occasion – Melania in gray with a white shirt while Ivanka and Tiffany were both in all black.
Melania Trump has rang the bell before. When she was first lady she rang it as part of her promotion of her Be Best campaign.
Trump acknowledged his wife beat him on this one, noting that she was ‘very popular’ as first lady.
‘She rang in the bell,’ he said.
Trump is ringing the bell in celebration of being named Time’s Person of the Year.
At the formal bell ringing, the two women stood apart again, applauding as Trump pressed the button to open day trading. CEO of Time Jessica Sibley stood between them.
The stock floor burst into applause and traders yelled ‘USA, USA, USA.’
Trump has vowed to restore America’s economy as president. Voters blasted President Joe Biden for high inflation and the high price of food.
The president-elect basked in the moment, thanking Time Magazine and New York Stock Exchange Chairman Jeff Sprecher in his remarks ahead of the bell ringing.
‘Thank you very much. And Jeff and to all of the people from the New York stock exchange. He knows how much I like it because many years ago I bought a building across the street.’
He also talked about his upcoming president, bragging it will be a ‘tremendous run.’
‘I think we’ll have a tremendous run. We have to straighten out some big problems in the world. When we left we didn’t have any of these problems. We didn’t have Russia with Ukraine, Israel October 7th, we didn’t have the Afghanistan disaster, we didn’t have inflation. We had no inflation. And we had a very strong economy. And we will do that again,’ he said.
Trump will take office on January 20th.
Donald Trump at the formal bell ringing at the New York Stock Exchange
President-elect Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, at a Time magazine Person of the Year ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange
Donald Trump gives his signature raised fist move at the stock exchange
This is the second time the 78-year-old Trump has been named Person of the Year. He also received the title in 2016 after his first presidential election victory.
It comes after Trump dominated headlines the past 12 months with his third bid for the White House and decisive win last month.
The president-elect also survived a close assassination attempt in July and became the first U.S. president convicted of a crime in May.
The magazine has been naming a person, group or concept each year since 1927 that had the ‘biggest impact—for good or for ill—on the world over the previous 12 months.’
Trump said in his interview that his astounding victory was due to hitting the ‘nerve of the country… the country was angry’.
Trump joins thirteen other US presidents who have been named Person of the Year including most recently President Biden who received the title in 2020.
Seven of those presidents besides Trump have been named Time’s Person of the Year more than once.
Donald Trump is Time’s person of the year
President-elect Donald Trump stands for a selfie after ringing the opening bell
A rare picture of Ivanka Trump and Melania Trump standing together – they stood side by side as they watched Donald Trump’s inaugural parade in January 2017
Trump has long obsessed over being on the cover of Time magazine.
Marc Benioff, the chair of Time Inc. and Salesforce CEO, supported Trump in the election. He and Ivanka Trump are longtime friends and worked together on a 1 trillion trees campaign during the first Trump administration.
Ivanka was a senior adviser to her father in his first four years in the White House but will not be formally joining his administration this time around.
There were reports she and Melania Trump went to war during Trump’s first administration.
At the time, Ivanka was eying the office space of the East Wing, looking to revamp the area so it could house the offices of the entire Trump family. Melania put a stop to that.
The two women had little overlap in the White House complex.
In fact they were rarely seen together and rarely photographed together. They never hosted a joint initiative or event.
During Donald Trump’s second campaign, both women kept their distance.
Neither attended a debate or a campaign rally although both were at the Republican National Convention.
Melania and Ivanka are expected to be together again in January, when Trump takes the oath of office for a second time.
