The long-running campaign by Melania Trump’s fans and supporters to get the former fashion model and style icon on the cover of Vogue suffered a major setback on Monday with the announcement that the powerful editor who’s overseen Vogue for decades, Anna Wintour, has installed a loyal supplicant to oversee the American edition of the magazine.

Ms. Wintour, a major Democratic “bundler” who strongly opposes President Trump, will remain in power as chief content officer of Condé Nast, the publishing house that owns Vogue and other prestigious magazines such as Vanity Fair and GQ. But Ms. Wintour, 75, has been stepping back from day-to-day operations, and on Tuesday, Vogue announced that Chloe Malle, currently the editor of Vogue.com, will become the new “head of editorial content.”

Ms. Malle, the daughter of “Murphy Brown” star Candice Bergen and French director Louis Malle, grew up at Los Angeles and New York, and studied comparative literature at far-left Brown University. She told the New York Times that she is a “proud ‘nepo’ baby.” She started working at Vogue in 2011 and became the editor of Vogue.com in 2023.  

Ms. Malle’s mother — who has so far appeared on the cover of Vogue four times — is an opponent of Mr. Trump and mocked Vice President JD Vance at the Emmys last December. Ms. Bergen famously found herself at the center of a major political controversy in 1992 when Vice President Dan Quayle criticized her “Murphy Brown” character for being a single mother. 

Mrs. Trump has criticized Vogue in the past for not putting her on the cover while she was first lady during Mr. Trump’s first term.

The fashion outlet featured her on the cover in 2005, when she was a model, and focused on her relationship with Mr. Trump, but that was it. Mrs. Trump was mentioned in multiple online-only articles on Vogue during Mr. Trump’s first term.

Going back to 1929, with Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of President Hoover, Vogue has typically published photographs of the spouses of presidents in its magazines. It published photographs of Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan,  Barbara Bush, and Laura Bush inside its editions.

In recent years, the magazine has featured first ladies on its cover, though they have only featured the wives of Democratic presidents, such as Hillary Clinton, who was the first of the first ladies to appear on the cover, Michelle Obama, and Jill Biden. 

Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the cover of Vogue twice during her time in office. Mrs. Obama appeared on the cover three times. 

The Harris cover from October 2024 was accompanied by a fawning profile that called her “the candidate for our time.” 

Mrs. Trump criticized Vogue and Ms. Wintour in 2022 after the magazine decided to put Mrs. Biden on the cover. 

“They are biased, and they have likes and dislikes, and it’s so obvious,” Mrs. Trump told Fox News in 2022. “And I think the American people and everyone see it, and I have much more important things to do — and I did in the White House — than being on the cover of Vogue.”

The British-born Ms. Wintour — a major Democratic donor who was reportedly under consideration by President Obama to be the American ambassador to Britain or France — has previously defended the outlet’s process for deciding who gets to appear on the cover of Vogue, telling CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2019, “I think one has to be fair, one has to look at all sides, but I don’t think it’s a moment not to take a stand. You have to stand up for what you believe in. You have to take a point of view. Our readers and audiences respect us. … I don’t think you can try to please everybody all the time.”

At the outset of Mr. Trump’s second term, Vogue harshly criticized the first lady’s official portrait, a black and white photograph in which she wore a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo jacket and Ralph Lauren trousers. The outlet lambasted her outfit, saying she “looked more like she was guest starring on an episode of The Apprentice than assuming the role of first lady of the United States.”

“The choice to wear a tuxedo—as opposed to a blazer or blouse—made Trump look more like a freelance magician than a public servant. It’s perhaps unsurprising that a woman who lived in a gold-encrusted penthouse, whose fame is so intertwined with a reality-television empire, would refuse to abandon theatrics—even when faced with 248 years of tradition,” the outlet said. 

Vogue did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment about whether the first lady would appear on its cover by the time of publication.

Vogue is not the only Condé Nast publication facing questions about whether it will put Mrs. Trump on the cover. Vanity Fair is reportedly at risk of a staff revolt over the matter. Semafor reported that Vanity Fair’s new editor, Mark Guiducci, has told staffers he is considering putting Mrs. Trump on the cover, which is not going over well with its reliably liberal writers.

A “mid-level editor” told the Daily Mail, “I will walk out the motherf—ing door, and half my staff will follow me.”

“We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife; we’re just not going to do it. We’re going to stand for what’s right,” the editor said. “If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s, I’ll do it. If [Guiducci] puts Melania on the cover, half of the editorial staff will walk out, I guarantee it.”

While the staff is reportedly prepared to rebel, it is unclear if Mrs. Trump even wants to be on a Condé Nast cover. A source “familiar with the first lady’s thinking” told the New York Post that she rejected the Vanity Fair idea and “doesn’t have time to be sitting in a photo shoot. Her priorities as first lady are far more important. … These people don’t deserve her anyway.”

The idea of putting Mrs. Trump on the cover might cost Mr. Guiducci his job, just weeks after he took the position. A former executive editor of OK! Magazine, Rob Shuter, reports in his newsletter that there has been “backlash” at Condé Nast.

“Mark thought booking Melania would be bold,” a Condé “insider” told Mr. Shuter. “Instead, she rejected him flat-out. It made the magazine look desperate and out of touch. Staff were livid.”

Another source complained that “morale is rock bottom,” saying, “We’re supposed to set the cultural agenda. His first call is Melania Trump? People are furious. It feels clueless.”

Meanwhile, another insider noted that Ms. Wintour “doesn’t do embarrassment” and even though she “hand-picked” Mr. Guiducci, “This fiasco has her doubting him already. And when Anna doubts you, your days are numbered.”

“Anna hates missteps,” a “high-level source” told Mr. Shuter, “She won’t protect someone who makes her look bad. And right now, she’s embarrassed.”

While Mr. Guiducci, a Vogue veteran, was hired to try to revitalize Vanity Fair, his controversial idea may lead to him being one of the shortest-lived editors of the magazine in its history.