Crossword Genius

… here with old Pence and poor Melania, essentially not accepting what's happened (2,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

in denial

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'not accepting what's happened' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'here with old pence and poor melania essentially' is the wordplay.
'here with old pence' becomes 'ind' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'poor' indicates an anagram.
'essentially' means to look at the middle letters.
The centre of 'melania' is 'elani'.
'elani' anagrammed gives 'enial'.
'ind'+'enial'='IN DENIAL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for in denial that I've seen before include "Not facing painful truth" , "Refusing to acknowledge reality, living in illusion" , "Refusing to come to terms with a painful reality" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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