General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrom The New Yorker's devastating profile of Melania Trump:
<huge snip>
They call out other fudges: Melania has claimed to have won first place in the Look of the Year contest; her Web site states that she obtained a degree in architecture and design from the University of Ljubljana when in fact she dropped out in her first year. Lets assume, for a moment, that Melania does have Donalds ear. Imagine the game of geopolitical telephone that might ensue after a state dinner, with each of them trying to persuade the other how he or she killed with Xi or Netanyahu.
Do you speak any Spanish? Barbara Walters asked Trump in November. No, he replied. This is an English-speaking country, remember? It must be a bizarre feeling to be Donald Trump and to have a multilingual son who, at one point, spoke English with a Slovenian inflection. (He has an accent? Larry King asked, in puzzlement, when the family appeared on his show in 2010.) Trump had no problem lumping Columba Bush, who came to America legally, with other Mexican illegals, or mocking Jeb Bush on the ground that he speaks Mexican. (Trump retweeted both comments.) Yet Melanias speech suggests that she hasnt entirely dropped Slovenian. And Trumps in-laws, who dont speak English, spend a significant portion of the year in New York, helping with Barron. Running parallel to Trumps belief in American exceptionalism is a sort of personal exceptionalism: the rules, even if he makes them, dont apply to him.
Melania is as imperial as her husband, if not more so. Most aspiring First Ladies chase accessibility to the point of absurdityTeresa Heinz Kerry called herself an African-American when she spoke to black audiencesbut Melania positions herself as aspirational, playing ice queen rather than soccer mom. Not only does she never joke about her husband; she is entirely self-serious. The most un-American thing about her is that she is discreet about her weaknesses. She doesnt attempt to bond by deprecating herself. She makes no apologies for her twenty-five-carat diamond (a gift from Trump for their tenth anniversary), her formal life style (Hes not a sweatpants child, she has said, of Barron), her multiple houses (Bye! Im off to my #summer residence #countryside #weekend). Nor does she brook any challenge to her grasp of the issues. In 2011, after Donald joined the birther movement, she went on The Joy Behar Show:
<snip>
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/09/who-is-melania-trump?intcid=mod-most-popular
malthaussen
(17,235 posts)... except isn't Mr Trump due to trade her in for a new model sometime soon?
-- Mal
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)what appears to be a strong family ... What is the controversy here, that she's too pretty? That she maybe lied about stuff in her life, unlike Hillary of course? That unlike Hillary or Bill, Melania refuses to be held accountable?
Give me a break - she's not running for President.
MFM008
(19,834 posts)There is nothing good about this bunch.
nothing.
cali
(114,904 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)???
cali
(114,904 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)understand why you care? Or maybe you don't want to say why.
So not a big deal to most people.
cali
(114,904 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Never thought I would see the day someone got upset about telling the truth about Donald's wife...strange days.
cali
(114,904 posts)I'm always curious to see the sorts who fed on that birther non-issue like hyenas gnawing on a dry bone. Strange that a wealthy woman from Eastern Europe would be so invested in the issue.
Also strange that you are being treated like you're being offensive for questioning the motives and character of a woman who may become FLOTUS.
But it's an election year, so I expect to scratch my head a lot when I get the rare chance to visit here and see what's up. It's D frickin' U after all.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)what you DID say was that lots of people care. So you state lots of people care, without adding whether you do or you don't.
So, fine, you think it's interesting.
What bothers me is the appearance of misogyny here. She's an attractive woman who conforms to traditional gender stereotypes, and not only succeeds at it, but wildly so.
cali
(114,904 posts)They want to know about a potential first lady. Misogyny? Ridiculous. No misogyny in that piece or in comments.
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)Not that you care to think about it
yardwork
(61,772 posts)Response to yardwork (Reply #30)
closeupready This message was self-deleted by its author.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)underpants
(183,007 posts)Might want to build a wall around his pants
Very well written.
My wife has a word for Melania but I won't post it here.
Hekate
(91,005 posts)clarice
(5,504 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)clarice
(5,504 posts)is that it's somewhat refreshing to see a person who doesn't deem it necessary to apologize for their wealth...
In contrast to some of the actor/lawyer types who will do anything to paint themselves as "one of the people" in spite of their
obvious economic advantage. (see: Susan Sarandon)
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)but she is still willing to work for people below her on the totem pole, and say they deserve to be more "equal"
Donald's wife on the other hand, is happy to say the people are not equal and do not deserve the same kinds of happiness and wellness.
And apparently there are Hillary supporters who agree with her.
Tikki
(14,562 posts)to be King and Queen of this Country.
Kings and Queens don't have to vet anything...They are born into it, you know...
Tikki
Ineeda
(3,626 posts)from a little while back that is a slideshow of the Trump's opulent NYC penthouse. If something is standing still, it's gilded! It makes Buckingham Palace look downright ghetto. One shot is of Princess...um, I mean Mrs. T evidently packing for a little getaway. Her entire bed is covered with matching Louis Vuitton luggage, with open jewelry boxes spilling out priceless trinkets. Now, I believe that in their own private residences, people can live however they want. But all I could think of was the redecorating that would ensue to pimp out their White House.
B2G
(9,766 posts)The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)Response to cali (Original post)
ailsagirl This message was self-deleted by its author.
keithbvadu2
(37,039 posts)BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)She's trump's trophy wife. Attack him, not her.
cali
(114,904 posts)Democat
(11,617 posts)Whose side are you on?
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Lol. ("If hes as concerned as he says he is by all the people that are from all over and theyre killers and rapists and theyre coming into this country, he might consider building a wall around his pants."
I hadn't read anything about her before, so I ended up finding this article more interesting than it maybe should be. Aside from her "louche" life, the deepest insight about her to me is that she may once have been interested enough in architecture to choose it as her phony degree. Oh, and definitely her description of her "boys." Mean anything? Reportedly, many people with narcissistic-type personality disorder are arrested emotionally at some point in childhood.
Oh, well. Semi-victim, with his daughter taking her place beside him? Cynical panderer to a 69-year-old billionaire's narcissism? Both? I disagree that her seeming profound limitations are irrelevant in someone this close to the White House. But that she lacks the hypocrisy to pretend guilt for her lifestyle is at least a relatively positive point to me too, such as it is.
Jnclr89
(128 posts)a few years ago, so to speak.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)It's not to her credit that Clinton's campaign started that rumor.
As far as I know.
Lady_Chat
(561 posts)When their husbands were running for President, they were "fair game" and even after their husbands were elected it continued. Not to mention their children. And these were two accomplished women who didn't need their husbands to attain their goals in life. I admire both of them, for what they have achieved on their own. Some of the most vicious, sexist, racist, hateful things were said, and are still being said, about them. But now that's it's Melania Trump, everyone should remain quiet and respectful? She's best known for taking off her clothes and selling junk jewelry on QVC, all made in China. Oh, and she married a very rich man and is pretty, has maids, cooks, a trainer, a nanny, and has beautiful clothes. How will she deal with all this awful criticism? Cry me a river.
And it doesn't just stop there, Trump has insulted even more women who aren't running for President. Today he called Elizabeth Warren a "Fraud", Megyn Kelly was "Menstrual", Heidi Cruz was "ugly". On and on. Nothing new there. He can say whatever he wants, especially about women, and we should be "nice" when it comes to his wife? I don't think so.
If he's going to dish it out, then he better be able to take it, and that includes his wife. I'm tired of him getting a free pass.