Portraits in power: A critic’s take on the official photos of Melania and Donald Trump

Washington: The returning first couple have released their new official portraits: a perfectly synced duet of lady-boss power and glowering demand for surrender.

Melania Trump worked with Regine Mahaux, the Belgian photographer who documented her first tenure at the White House. This time, the first lady was photographed in stark black and white instead of colour, but she is once again wearing the Italian brand Dolce & Gabbana. For her 2025 portrait, it’s a dark tuxedo jacket with strong, sharp shoulders.

Donald and Melania Trump’s official portraits.Credit: Illustration: Marija Ercegovac

She’s positioned in a typical corporate power stance with her arms spread wide as her hands rest on a reflective tabletop. She stands with her gaze cast directly at the viewer with a blurred Washington Monument in the distance. And she is not smiling – not with her mouth and not with her eyes. Her jaw is set; her mouth is a straight line; her eyes do not twinkle.

The lighting is kind. The focus is respectful. The first lady’s face has been relieved of any evidence of life experiences, whether disheartening or invigorating. The viewer does not know if she has cried or laughed, thought deeply or raised an eyebrow in curiosity. The image is a far cry from those favoured by close-up portraitist Martin Schoeller, the photographer of Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel, who has rarely seen a wrinkle, blemish or age spot he did not want to scrutinise in the most unapologetic terms – and whose resulting photographs are almost unbearably intimate.

Mahaux’s portrait of Melania is glossy and slick and stuffed with familiar signifiers of power: the slightly looming posture, the perfectly manicured hands placed on the desktop, the tailoring of the pantsuit and the crispness of the open shirt, the obelisk in the background. But its totality is more of a fashion photograph than a portrait of an individual. Its pristine nature says a lot about how the person wishes to be seen but nothing about who the person actually is.

Melania Trump’s official White House portraits in 2017 and 2025.

It stands apart from portraits of previous first ladies, with their pleasant smiles, tasteful frocks by American designers and an abundance of pearls. Melania skipped the American label and the pearls, but in her previous White House portrait, she showcased the classic first lady smile. Her eyes practically twinkled. Her face was cast in a rosy-cheeked glow. She had her arms folded in front of her, and yet the overall effect was far more welcoming than the more recent image. That first portrait suggested a willingness to consider the traditional soft power of the first lady’s office. The new portrait simply announces her power. It’s in keeping with the aesthetic note she struck on Inauguration Day: sober, unyielding, self-contained.

Perhaps this new portrait marks a step forward – or maybe it’s just a sideways jog – in the country’s relationship with a first spouse. Dare one call it an awakening? This 2025 official image suggests that Melania Trump will in no way be saddled with the requirement that she offer up consoling hugs, approving nods or a face frozen into a toothy smile whenever in public. She won’t pretend to care. The picture recognises that the first spouse indeed has power, but there is no rule that it must be soft.

The first lady’s portrait is the yin to the president’s rage. Donald Trump’s second official White House portrait has far more in common with his mug shot taken in Fulton County, Georgia – where he was indicted on racketeering charges – than it does with the many presidential portraits that have come before.

The mug shot is a sad photo. It serves as evidence of how deeply Trump damaged the electoral system, the presidency and the country’s sense of cohesion. It’s also a photograph brimming with anger and sorrow. Trump folded his brow into a scowl and tilted his chin down. He doesn’t look defiant as much as petulant.

Donald Trump: The mug shot

He seemed intent on evoking that expression for his 2025 White House portrait. The lighting has been slightly refined. It’s calibrated to be dramatic rather than haphazardly harsh. He has adopted a one-eyed squint and self-conscious scowl as if he’s playing a version of himself in a Hollywood set piece about gangsters, or reprising his own role as a despotic corporate chieftain in The Apprentice. He has leaned into a persona defined by rage and a delight in screaming, “You’re fired!” to those who’ve failed his test of loyalty.

He’s come a long way since his first White House portrait. In hindsight, that one is distinguished by its fealty to continuity, even if his administration ultimately was not.

It showed the 45th president in natural light, smiling broadly and openly in front of an American flag.

That 2017 picture depicted a man stepping into an office, of someone sharing the frame with Old Glory. The 2025 portrait shows a man wrapping himself in power. He fills the frame with his fury. Any hints of dignity or thoughtfulness have been nearly squeezed out of the frame to make room for the breath of Donald J. Trump’s anger. And he is always Donald J. Trump, as if his middle initial is a talisman of respectability, some antiquated shred of social currency like being II or III or a Chip and not just a middle son from a family in Queens. Missives from President Trump do not come from the White House Press Office, they simply come from The Office of Communications. It’s not the White House that speaks. It is Trump. Only Donald J. Trump.

Donald Trump’s official White House portrait in 2017 and in 2025.

These 2025 portraits of the first couple reveal two people who have stepped into extraordinary circumstances. By any measure, they have been graced by good luck. In her flawless fashion shot, Melania Trump has slipped into her power. In his White House mug shot, the president has succumbed to his rage. Power and rage. There’s little room for anything else.

Robin Givhan is the senior critic-at-large writing about politics, race and the arts for The Washington Post.

The Washington Post

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