Melania Trump on Her Life, Marriage, and the 2016 Election | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Melania Trump first arrived in the United States from her native Slovenia back in 1996 and now, two decades later, she is facing the prospect of becoming first lady. Yesterday I sat down with Melania Trump and got her to weigh in on everything from her husband's rhetoric surrounding immigration, to his propensity for profanity on the stump, to his treatment of women. I began by asking her how the entire experience has been so far. Well it's amazing what's going on and we having fun. I like to keep it life as normal as possible for my son Barron and I'm a full-time mom and I love it. So I decided not to be in the campaign so much but I support my husband hundred percent. We want to understand who Melania is. I grew up in Slovenia and I went to school there. I studied design and architecture and then I moved to Milan and Paris to live there and I had successful modeling career. I came to New York 1996. How many languages do you speak? I speak a few languages. A few? Yeah. English? English, Italian, French, German. Tell me about your mother. Really special. She's with a lot of elegance and style. She was in fashion industry for a long time. What did your father do? He was a salesperson and then he was a manager of the company and once the Slovenia separated and was possible to have own business, he opened his own business. What was it that you saw in Donald when you met him or fell in love with him? His mind. Amazing mind and very smart, very charming, a great energy. We have a great relationship. We are own people. I'm my own person, he's his own person and I think that's very important. I don't want to change him, he doesn't want to change me. I got a list of terms that have been used to describe your husband from the left, the right and the center and they're not pretty. From stupid to demagogue, jerk, idiot, racist, sexist, race baiting, xenophobic, vulgarian in chief, textbook narcissist. It goes on. What do you make of all this when you hear it? It's normal that will come up. We are prepared for that. We have a thick skin and we know that people will judge him and people will call names and they don't give him enough credit from june that he announced they don't give him enough credit. What about people who feel he is? Let's just go down the list because the campaign started and um, many felt he had insulted mexicans. No, I don't feel he insulted the mexicans. He, he said illegal immigrants. He didn't talk about everybody. He talked about illegal immigrants and after a few weeks, like after two weeks giving him a hard time and bashing him in the, in the media, they turn around. They said, you know what? He's right. He's right. What he's talking about. And he opened conversation that nobody did. But you are an immigrant. Yes. Do you ever think he's gone too far? I follow the law. I follow a lot of ways supposed to be. I never thought to stay here without papers. I had visa, I travel every few months back to the country to Slovenia to stamp the visa. I came back, I apply for the green card, I apply for the citizenship later on after many years of green card. So I went by system, I went by the law and you should do that. You should not just say, okay, let me just stay here and whatever happened happens. When he talked about a ban on muslims, which can't happen for so many reasons. I mean, do you ever think he's going too far with some of this? You ever worry about it? Well, what he said is it will be temporary and it's not for all the muslims. It's the one we need to screen them who is coming to the country. He wants to protect America. He wants to protect people of America. So we have a country and keep the country safe. That's very important to him. And what's going on in the world? It's very dangerous. We have people coming in the country. You don't know who they are. You don't know what they will do. And that's why he was talking about that. It's temporary. We need to figure it out how and what we will do that we know who is in this country. What about some of the language he uses? He curses. Well, do I agree all the time with him? No, I don't. And I tell him that I tell him my opinions. I tell him what I think. Sometimes he listens, sometimes he don't. In what areas do you advise him? I follow the news from A to Z and I know what's going on. I'm on the phone with my husband a few times a day. He calls me. I call him. I tell him what's going on. He's on the road and I give him my opinions. Let me ask you about women. He's taken a lot of criticism for faffles, of course, during the debate with Megan Kelly in the Trump organization. How are women treated compared to men? They treated equal. I see him in life. He treats women the same as men. He will tell you what he's in his heart, what he thinks he will not hold it back. If you're a woman, you are human. You're human. You're not. It's a woman or a man. It's no difference. You are human. So I asked Melania if there were any specific issues she hopes to take on. If her husband wins the White House, she said she has ideas but wouldn't reveal yet what they are focused on their son. I've met her on many occasions before and so I was not surprised if she's extremely cultured and articulate. She speaks many languages and I thought that, you know, she put it out there and explained exactly who she is and where she's come from and people can make their own decisions. She seems quite lovely though and they were very welcoming. Up next, we'll head to the New York Stock Exchange where oil is once again pulling Wall Street into negative territory. Stay with us. Hey YouTube fans, I'm Luke Russert. Thanks for checking out our MSNBC channel. Subscribe by clicking right here and click any of the videos over here to watch the latest breaking news, mini documentaries, conversations from Shift and other digital exclusives. 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