I do not often agree with much of anything that is published by Jezebel. There is a piece up now though that can almost be considered fair to First Lady Melania Trump. That is a really rare occurrence because liberal women’s publications go out of their way to trash Melania Trump.
The piece addresses the obsession on the left with the Trump marriage. Liberal women desperately want Melania Trump to divorce her husband. It isn’t so much that they are actually concerned about Melania, it just that they hate Donald Trump so much that surely he doesn’t deserve a loyal wife. So, nothing pleases the haters more than watching a video where it looks like Melania is swatting away President Trump’s hand. The latest such video went viral Sunday as the Trumps traveled back to the White House after a weekend in New Jersey. Their son Barron was with them. First I’ll show you the video, then I’ll continue.
Hard not to notice Trump repeatedly trying to hold Melania’s hand on their way down the steps and her having none of it https://t.co/SXwkhgUagh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 17, 2020
The caption on the video is typical of the tweets sent out to call attention to what is hyped as Melania refusing to take her husband’s hand. What I saw was a husband extending his hand as his wife (who wears very high heels) descends stairs. Then, because it is windy, her hair is flopping in her face and she is holding the hem of her dress down with her Birkin handbag. That is the hand closest to Trump. With her other hand, she is holding on to the railing. She doesn’t have a free hand. She didn’t swat his hand away, she simply turned her body just a bit toward the railing. Good heavens. She’s just trying to get down the stairs without her dress flying up over her head.
What I also see in the video is that as the Trumps move from Air Force One towards Marine One, I see that the First Couple is holding hands. It all looks perfectly normal. I also notice how dang tall Barron is but that is neither here nor there.
So, as the piece in Jezebel points out, the Trump haters saw the same video but took away from it that the First Lady is so repulsed by her husband that she can’t even hold his hand. It’s a whole lot of projection if you ask me. They are repulsed by him so certainly, she must be, too, right? The article, while going on to note other tweets about the incident goes on to say that for Democrats, it is easier to think that Melania is a long-suffering wife than that she is “being complicit” to Trump’s racism and sexually abusive behavior. I told you the piece is almost a fair one. Don’t expect this publication to support Melania without bringing up standard criticism of him.
While there’s some fun to be had in the concept of a perpetually disdainful Melania Trump, it’s not one that seems all that tethered to reality. But that didn’t stop Sky News from blaring the headline “Melania Trump pulls her hand away from Donald Trump’s as they step off Air Force One.” Nor did it stop Vox journalist Aaron Rupar either, who tweeted, “Hard not to notice Trump repeatedly trying to hold Melania’s hand on their way down the steps and her having none of it.” It also didn’t stop a few Democrats with a large following on Twitter from crassly joking that Melania, a sex worker, charges extra for hand-holding.
It’s 2020, and clickbait tabloids and Resistance™ Democrats are still clinging to the notion that Melania Trump actually hates her husband’s guts, just as they do. This characterization kicked off in earnest during Trump’s inauguration, when every twitch of Melania’s lips were psychoanalyzed. For some Democrats, it was easier to imagine Melania as a long-suffering wife rather than a woman with a history of being complicit in Trump’s racism and dismissive of those who have accused him of sexual assault.
Like clockwork, an ad popped up on social media that includes the stairs. A progressive PAC, MeidasTouch, founded by Colin Kaepernick’s attorney, included it among other clips of Melania with the message that it is time to for Melania (and America) to divorce Trump.
“He’s been lying to you,” the narrator hisses, as if whispering to Melania, just before showing footage of Trump fumbling his way through a presser. “He’s a cheat,” the narrator continues, flashing a clip of Melania seemingly rejecting Trump’s grasp before transitioning to a recent photo of stockpiled United States Post Office mailboxes—an alleged voter suppression tactic by the Trump administration.
BREAKING: Melania Trump swats away Trump's hand again.
It's time for both Melania and America to divorce Donald Trump!
Who's with me?#DivorceTrump pic.twitter.com/MCcLBk0DAh
— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) August 17, 2020
I’ve written about the Meidas Touch PAC. There is a history of using female members of the Trump family against President Trump. Other than this one using Melania, there was also one using Ivanka in June. The wackos on social media regularly speculate that Melania is a victim of sexual abuse, even a rape survivor. It’s a sick obsession. Divorce Trump is a new get out the vote campaign.
I agree with the conclusion of the piece.
Any cleverness this ad might have possessed was drowned by the melodramatic victim narrative it bestowed upon Melania, one that we have little reason to believe is even valid. Instead of believing Melania Trump is an unwitting victim of Trump’s abject cruelty, perhaps it’s better to ask why so many are eager to save a woman who has made her bed and appears more than happy to lie in it.
Leave Melania alone. She’s fine and living her best life.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member