Melania Trump said Wednesday she had a “very beautiful childhood” in communist-led Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia. She said she lacked for nothing, though people had to watch what they did, and life was less free than in the United States today.
Born in 1970, Melania grew up in Slovenia when it was one of six republics in communist-led Yugoslavia. Slovenia held its first multiparty elections in 1990 and declared independence in 1991.
Her remarks came as Donald Trump has repeatedly called Democrats and democratic socialists “communists.” FactCheck.org has noted that democratic socialism and communism are distinct political traditions.
