[Lemon:] First Lady Melania Trump making a rare speech today as she unveils her official platform to help children. She's focusing on everything from opioid abuse to cyberbullying.
[Melania Trump, First Lady Of The United States:] It is our responsibility as adults to educate and remind them that when they're using their voices, whether verbally, or online, they must choose their words wisely, and speak with respect, and compassion.
[Lemon:] The President, her husband, is listening to that. Let's discuss now, CNN Presidential Historian, Douglas Brinkley, Sarah Ellison, a staff writer for "The Washington Post," and Lauren Wright. She is the author of "On Behalf of the President: Presidential Spouses and White House Communications Strategy." We can probably use you right now, by the way. Welcome, everybody. Douglas, let's talk about the new poll released by CNN. More than half of Americans, 57 percent, have a favorable view of the First Lady Melania Trump. That is a 10 percent jump from January, while 27 percent hold an unfavorable view of her at the same time. The President's approval rating is only at 41 percent. What's your reaction to those numbers?
[Douglas Brinkley, Cnn Presidential Historian:] First ladies usually are more popular than their husbands for starters. Secondly, there's a feeling of you almost feel bad for Melania, the fact that she's living with the Stormy Daniels crisis all the time, the fact that, you know, her husband does have a bit of a bullying nature to put it mildly, the fact that she's just a bit, trying to raise baron in this sort of crazy media environment, and trying to keep him out of harm's way. But, you know, all first ladies are usually beloved. But when Hillary Clinton was first lady, and she began all about politics, you saw her take a hit with public opinion polls. As long as she's not overly political, and stays on things like opioid addiction, and the strangeness of cyber bullying, she'll stay, I think, high in the public estimation.
[Lemon:] And, Lauren, she also has taken a more high profile role recently with the Macrons with the state dinner.
[Lauren Wright, Author:] Yes.
[Lemon:] Do you think all of these events at least recently will help the President?
[Wright:] They can, and my research shows consistently first ladies are the number one surrogate when it comes to boosting public opinion of presidents, and their policy agendas. I absolutely think so. A big part of this appeal that Doug just talked about is that they're political outsiders. They're family members, so people don't evaluate them in the same way that they do politicians. And that's extremely valuable.
[Lemon:] What do you think, Sarah?
[Sarah Ellison, Staff Writer, "the Washington Post":] Well, I mean, she is the most popular person in that family, and in the west wing, so more than Ivanka, certainly more than Jared, more than her husband. And I think it is because she hasn't tackled anything that's really that controversial.
[Lemon:] Yes. You mentioned, Douglas, that she's dealing with Stormy Daniels and all of that. And then there was a very special guest star, a special appearance, on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Watch this.
[Stormy Daniels, Adult Film Actress:] Hello.
[Unidentified Male:] Stormy? This is Michael Cohen. Are you alone?
[Daniels:] Yes.
[Unidentified Male:] And what are you wearing?
[Daniels:] Excuse me?
[Unidentified Male:] OK, Michael. I can take it from here. OK. But as your attorney, I highly advise against you to... So what up, girl?
[Daniels:] Hello, Donald.
[Unidentified Male:] Come on, Stormy. Stop making such a big deal about this. Everyone knows it's just an act.
[Daniels:] I work in adult films. We're not really known for our acting.
[Unidentified Male:] Just tell me what do you need for this to all go away?
[Daniels:] A resignation.
[Unidentified Male:] Yes, right. Being President is like doing porn, once you do it, it's hard to do anything else. Besides, my poll numbers are finally up, and speaking of polls being up.
[Daniels:] Donald.
[Unidentified Male:] Oh, come on, we'll always have shark week. I solved North and South Korea, why can't I solve us?
[Daniels:] Sorry, Donald. It's too late for that. I know you don't believe in climate change, but a storm's a coming, baby.
[Unidentified Male:] I've never been so scared, and so horny at the same time. Live from New York it's Saturday Night.
[Daniels:] Live from New York it's Saturday Night.
[Lemon:] That's...
[Ellison:] You're not going to come to me.
[Lemon:] Do you think the first lady sees that? That's got to be tough for her, the spouse, anyone that's in do you think she see this stuff?
[Ellison:] It's tough, ad funny to everyone except for her, probably.
[Wright:] On a serious note, we always turn to first ladies when it comes to presidential misconduct. This is funny, but really we're asking questions about Melania Trump when the President is the one misbehaving. And we always do this with political spouses. And I wish we could do a little better with that hold the President accountable, not his wife, for his misbehavior.
[Lemon:] Did you guys, I'm sure you saw "The Washington Post" revealing very revealing piece today about Melania Trump, it's called Inside Melania Trump's complicated White House life: Separate schedule, different priorities. And I just want to read a part of the piece. It says, the Trumps are often apart even during their free time according to several people who know the couple's schedules. At Mar- a-Lago on holidays and weekends, the President golfs and dines with politicians, business executives, and media personalities on the patio, while Melania is often nowhere to be seen. According to several current former aides, the President and First Lady often do not eat together in the White House either. They spend very little to no time together, said one longtime friend of the President. So she's seen as a separate entity from him, very independent, if reporting is true.
[Ellison:] Right.
[Lemon:] Maybe that's why her numbers are higher, that she's just separated herself and said, you know what, I'm going to take on cyberbullying, in your face.
[Ellison:] Well, I mean, she has said for a long time that she gives her husband his space. She they're both very independent from one another. That story started with he's waking up at 5:30 in the morning, and checking out what's on cable news, and she is getting their son, Barron, ready for school. We've known from the beginning that she's very dedicated to Barron, and less concerned with the political life in Washington. I do think that people asked me, do you think she's trolling him with her cyberbullying focus? And I think that is probably not. I think what she's actually doing is she's recognizing that she does recognize that could be something that people say, oh, that's so ironic. It's so absurd that that would be your cause. But I think she's actually dedicated to it, and so she's decided she's going to do it no matter what it is that he does, even though it's absurd to be having that as your cause, and having your husband be the most powerful cyberbullier on the planet.
[Lemon:] And she's I mean, as a mom, she would know, and all moms know about the cyberbullying, at least when your child is of a certain age. And that's certainly something that would be relevant to her. It's just the irony.
[Ellison:] Right. The irony is big.
[Lemon:] Remember, Douglas, in the beginning we were like who's the real first lady? People were saying is it Ivanka, is it Melania? But it seems like Ivanka's role has reduced lately, and Melania's moving up.
[Brinkley:] I think Melania's the one that the American public's infatuated with. I think if she really hones in not only the cyberbullying, but on the opioid crisis in the Midwest, and starts showing up in elementary schools in Ohio, and Michigan, Wisconsin, and talk about public health, and how not to be on drugs, a kind of low- grade Nancy Reagan just say no. But really aiming at younger people, I think her numbers will continue to go up, and she's also a victim, not just a victim of Stormy Daniels, but, you know, over a dozen women charging sexual harassment against the President. Rudy Giuliani inferred over the weekend there may be more women. If I'm Melania Trump, I'm not watching Saturday Night Live. I'm not watching a lot of news program. I'm trying to keep my son away from the humiliation of what's happening right now.
[Lemon:] Douglas, Sarah, thank you. It wasn't so bad.
[Wright:] Thank you.
[Lemon:] Your maiden voyage.
[Wright:] No, I loved it. This is great. Thank you.
[Lemon:] Thank you, Lauren. When we come back, the President said he'll announce tomorrow if he's going to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. If he does, would he be playing right into Vladimir Putin's hands? I'm going to talk to a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia.