I agree with doorhinge (something I don’t do often). Not about the media being lame stream but about the First Lady’s intent. I think she was saying that she’s not letting the criticism directed the Trumps bother her.
I believe the exact statement was that there was no ‘hidden message.’ So it naturally follows that the message was mean to be plainly understood.
Over 4 decades, Donald Trump has mastered the art of manipulating people through messaging. Trump is keeping people off balance. It’s like Sugar Ray Leonard in boxing: watch me wave my right hand in front of you while I stick you with a left jab that snaps your head back.
And sadly the media is out there shouting “Watch his right hand!”
“I may be hopping on a plane to go gawk at screaming toddlers that my husband kenneled, but you know what? Fuck y’all haters!”
That doesn’t seem too likely. Zara is a Spanish company without a huge USA store presence and that jacket isn’t part of their current collection. They’re fast fashion similar to H&M.
Yep. Just like Kirstjen Nielsen & Stephen Miller choosing to eat a Mexican restaurant in the midst of this. Distract & troll.
I think that the end of the firing of Jeff Sessions & Rod Rosenstein, and the end of Mueller investigation, are coming. Maybe I’m wrong, but I get the sense that the immigration outrage is the waving right hand, and the end of the Russia investigation is the jab that snaps the head back.
Well, my first thought was a bit different to all of yours … I thought it was a middle finger to all the people who are interrupting her comfortable life - starting with her husband, on through the rest of the White House staff, and also the media (not necessarily in that order)
I say this because she’s never struck me as an intentionally cruel person. Selfish, probably. Indolent if she can get away with it, possibly. I don’t think she was thinking of the actual children she was going to see at all, in any way. They’re not her family or friends, therefore they don’t exist.
Seems to me if you want to wear a jacket that doesn’t convey a message, step one would be to pick a jacket that doesn’t have words on it.
She’s Donald Trump’s bitch. She will do what she’s told to do. Just like John Kelly, just like Kirstjen Nielsen, just like pretty much everyone else who spends more than a few days in Trump’s orbit.
And oh by the way, the temperature in McAllen, Texas is anywhere from 80 to 97 degrees. Having a heavy jacket on in the first place is highly unusual – unless you’re trolling.
It’s yet another effective means of distracting us all from the erosion of the constitution and the assault of international democracy.
Actually (I live in McAllen), we had severe floods today. Most local attention was not on Ms. Trump’s jacket, it was on “will my yard become a sinkhole” or “can I get home from work” today.
well…I guess
But if Trump wants to send a message that they don’t care about the kids in tents, wouldn’t that be easier accomplished by Melania not going there in the first place?
Let’s ignorance. Melania wore it to here plane, and wore it again back to the White House. During the actual immigrant tour, she didn’t wear it.
NY Times: Mrs. Trump did not wear it while visiting with the children, but she did wear it upon her return to the capital, in full view of the news photographers who had gathered to capture her arrival. As the images were beamed around the world, the message was also in full view of her husband, a vociferous viewer of cable news.
Again, who (singular and plural) the middle finger was aimed at is the open question…
She wore it on a specific trip, so the only interpretation that makes sense is that it was about that specific trip. Trying to claim it’s about the media is an obvious stretch, as the time to wear that would be some media-only event.
I think the only favorable interpretation is that she’s trying to hurt Trump himself, and sacrificing herself to do it.
I thought she was wearing the jacket when she boarded her plane in Washington, then not wearing it in Texas, then wearing it again when she got off the plane after flying home. If that’s correct, the temperature in Texas isn’t really relevant. But it probably wasn’t classic jacket weather in D.C. today, either.
My questions are:
What’s the point in wearing a jacket with anything written on the back of it? Has this become a fashion thing recently, independent of what the actual words say?
What’s the point of going to Texas to investigate a situation that’s supposedly already fixed? Trump signed some executive order yesterday. There’s no point in gathering information that you’re not going to act on. Seems a perfect example of this administration’s “ready, fire, aim” approach to policy.
I’ve started wondering this today. The whole separating families is SO blatant that it feels like a distraction.
That’s how you and I might see it. But causing extreme outrage could have a purpose that we’re not able to understand.