Trump is said to have joked about the state of his marriage – the latest chapter in the strange spectacle of their relationship

Trump’s joke about Melania is just one of their many awkward moments

Word on the street is that on Tuesday, at a private fundraising event for top Republican fundraisers, Donald Trump went a little rogue.

At first he was just reminiscing, thinking about that time the Louisana Republican Steve Scalise got shot – as you do.

But then he came out with this gem of a line: “[Scalise’s wife’] cried her eyes out when I met her at the hospital that fateful day … I mean not many wives would react that way to tragedy, I know mine wouldn’t.”

We can only guess that Trump said this in jest, of course. But that line can be read in so many ways that soon, it was an online talking point for people eager to share their views on his and Melania’s relationship.

Maybe he is saying Melania Trump hates him so much she wouldn’t even cry at his funeral. Maybe he’s saying that after all the strain that their marriage has gone through, she has no more tears left to give? Maybe he was genuinely being funny. Who knows?

Of course, this is not the first time the presidential couple and their relationship invited speculation. Here are others:

The hand-holding incidents

Tasneem N (@TasneemN) a very short story about two people holding hands pic.twitter.com/m2i7pn5a6d

Love moves in mysterious ways. But you know what moves more mysteriously? The first lady’s hands.

In short, she repeatedly appears to refuse to hold her husband’s hand in public. Above, she goes with the tactic of appeasing him with a one second hand hold, before letting go.

Other times she has swatted him away, like on this state trip to Tel Aviv.

And then there was the infamous hair sweep during a trip to Rome.

☇RiotWomenn☇ (@riotwomennn) Melania deploys a stratgeic & well-timed hair move to avoid the tiny hand of a perv as Trump arrives in Rome. pic.twitter.com/wIcWLspRh9

To be fair, that was four months after Theresa May’s visit to the White House, when she and Trump were caught hand holding. The first lady might still have been fuming.

When he got elected

In Fire and Fury, author Michael Wolff memorably stated that Melania Trump cried when Trump was elected – but those were not happy tears.

Others, like the White House communications director, Stephanie Grisham, claim that the story is untrue. At the time, Grisham said: “She was confident he would win and was very happy when he did.”

Judging by the scowl on her face during Trump’s inauguration, we are inclined to agree with Wolff.

Odd public kisses

It appears that Melania Trump has an entire wardrobe full of special attire to prevent her husband from kissing her. Sometimes she wears heels so that he can’t reach her, other times a big hat to keep him at bay. And when all else fails, she can rely on her chiseled jaw to keep him away.

Horror at the baseball game

Play Video 0:38 'Lock him up': Trump greeted with boos at World Series – video

When Trump got his big moment on the Jumbotron at the World Series this week, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Hearing the crowd chant “lock him up!”, he went from an ear-to-ear grin to a scowl.

His better half, strangely, went from cat-like-grin, to serious face, back to cat-like grin in a matter of seconds. Like someone trying to put on a very serious face whilst trying not to burst out laughing.

Her laissez-faire take on his alleged affairs

When confronted by allegations of infidelity levelled against her husband, the first lady simply said that “really hard evidence was needed”. And then, the killer blow: “I have much more important things to worry about and to do.” Well, that settles it then.