The Mysterious Melania
In many of her interviews with news organizations, First Lady Melania Trump has responded to tough questions about her husband’s controversial statements with the same cliché: “He’s an adult, he knows the consequences.” Indeed, her statements during the campaign were ambivalent. She dismissed the released “Access Hollywood” tape as an insignificant dialogue between “two teenage boys” and appeared on the campaign trail only when it was absolutely necessary. Now, as the First Lady, her absence from the White House poses a great risk to the United States’ foreign relations.
Melania’s image has been sullied by her numerous mistakes. She has become a target for mockery for her inability to cope with the media and fulfill her role as the First Lady. Her naïveté was poignantly demonstrated when she plagiarized Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC speech and used it as a template for her own speech. In addition to emulating Michelle’s sentiments, Melania copied some of her expressions, claiming that the “only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
The media has exploited Melania’s gullibility. During the summer of 2016, The New York Post featured photos of Melania posing as a model in Paris. The date on the photo was wrong, and many journalists began to question the legality of Melania’s immigration. A Daily Mail blogger dared to call Melania Trump an “escort” and was immediately taken to court. Newspapers are not afraid of making erroneous comments about the First Lady, carelessly publishing false articles and exploiting her naïveté.
Or is she really that naïve? Is she really so gullible? It appears that the media has underestimated her readiness to fight back. She successfully fought against the “Daily Mail” blogger with a 150 million dollar defamation lawsuit. Melania emphasized that the slanderous claim jeopardized her “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to profit from her fashion business, Melania being one of the most photographed woman in the world. Melania Trump is an independent women with interests of her own.
Last Friday, Akie Abe, the wife of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, roamed Washington, D.C. by herself, without the First Lady. Melania Trump arrived at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday and accompanied Akie Abe to the Morikami Museum, where she showed her love for nature and her commitment to sustaining Michelle Obama’s White House garden. Her tour with Akie Abe was her second appearance as the First Lady. Melania’s first appearance was at the Trumps’ Super Bowl Party, where she appeared confused and bored.
So where was Melania on Friday? The First Lady has for a long time expressed her dedication to preserving her connection with Barron in the midst of colossal changes in the Trump family. It was for this reason that she chose to stay in the Trump Tower, the American Versailles, until the end of Barron’s school year before relocating to the White House.
There is a certain refined and perhaps unintentional beauty, feminism, to Melania’s actions as a First Lady. She refuses to fit the mold and acts according to her own personal needs and preferences. She does not want her responsibilities as the First Lady to suffocate her freedom and does not allow the media to influence her decisions. The Guardian, in an article published on Feb. 11, applauded Melania Trump’s “effortless ability to confound and confuse.” The First Lady is both elegant and mysterious. She stunned the American public in her exquisite Jackie Kennedy inauguration day outfit, but confused many when she quietly receded to the confines of her prestigious New York penthouse.