"Most aspiring First Ladies chase accessibility to the point of absurdity—Teresa Heinz Kerry called herself an 'African-American' when she spoke to black audiences—but 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 doesn’t 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 ('He’s not a sweatpants child,' she has said, of Barron), her multiple houses ('Bye! I’m off to my #summer residence #countryside #weekend')."
From "The Model American/Melania Trump is the exception to her husband’s nativist politics" in The New Yorker. (Worth clicking through for the Barry Blitt illustration, which captures, among other things, her ever-smizing eyes.)
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56 comments:
Who writes this stuff?
Having Zsa Zsa as first lady is a downside, but it's better than Michelle O and her adoring press.
For the first time in my life I'm proud to be Czechoslovakian or whatever she is.
An Asian first lady would be nice. People should choose candidatates with that sort of thing in mind.
They won't steal the White House chopsticks when they leave.
The New Yorker should apologize for considering the notion of a need to apologize for a large diamond, dressing up or owning multiple houses.
Melania cannot be her own person, she must conform to what the corruptocrat hacks want.
25-carat diamond. Hmm. That's a strange thing.
A big hard to believe.
They seem well matched.
This is actually refreshing--a rich man's wife acting like a rich man's wife. We elect presidents, not first ladies, so who cares whether they're nice or try to help win votes? Not their business! Teresa Kerry was just laughable because they tried to make her personable and failed miserably.
You know what I liked about Calvin Coolidge's wife, Midge Coolidge? No one knows who she is! In fact, I probably have her name wrong, and I don't care.
Grace Coolidge was one of the the prettiest first ladies and one of the more graceful.
RHardin
Are you actually Czechoslovakian or just identifying as one?
Nothing wrong with either. If Bruce/Caitlin Jenner can identify as a chick with a dick, nationality is nothing. I've been thinking that I should identify as Tibetan. Just for the Wow! factor.
How many other Tibetans comment here? Huh?
John Henry
"Grace Coolidge was one of the prettiest first ladies and one of the more graceful."
I hope he didn't leave her for Midge.
Not much to like about either Tereza or her awful husband. One thing I did like was her identifying, truthfully, as African.
John Henry
"Are you actually Czechoslovakian or just identifying as one?"
I wasn't aware we could do that, but now don't know which culture I'd like to join. Let's look at the options:
1) German--beer drinking efficiency!
2) Irish--beer and whiskey drinking not so efficiency but getting there!
3) Japanese--lots of rice and fish, and efficiency!
4) I can see this going into some dark places.
"Not much to like about either Tereza or her awful husband. One thing I did like was her identifying, truthfully, as African."
What she should have said was "N*gga please, I'm more African than you people." Al Sharpton would have dropped his sandwich.
Girl with the Pony Tail on the Treadmill:
Trump's wife is HOT.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I hate that.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Okay, I'm jealous. I can admit that.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
She has an amazing ass.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I bet she never gets weak and has a Starbucks Mocha after a workout.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Like she would ever set foot in a Starbucks, anyway.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
She could have an Audi for each day of the week, if she wanted.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I work hard on my ass. It seems like I should get something for that.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Other than creeps staring at me from behind when I wear my yoga pants.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I wonder if Trump would like MY ass.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
What if Trump saw my ass and said "What a FINE ass. That girl deserves an Audi."
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I could picture Trump doing something like that.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I will NOT have a Mocha after this work-out.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Stop even thinking about it.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Stop.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I am Laslo
"Most aspiring First Ladies chase accessibility to the point of absurdity—Teresa Heinz Kerry called herself an 'African-American' when she spoke to black audiences
She was born in 1938 Mozambique and graduated from a college in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1960. What's that make her? White?
I think there was a brand of butter named "Imperial."
Or maybe I'm thinking of Blue Bonnet margarine where the crown would pop onto someone's head when they tasted it.
Too much TV as a child.
Every single piece of media about Trump, helps Trump. Please keep it up.
So, The New Yorker is anti-immigrant and anti-native. They are first, second, and always opportunistic or pro-choice. Class diversity is newspeak for racist, sexist, etc.
Heinz is African-American. At least until the international leftists colluded with the African ISIS to destroy the native white and black Africans in South Africa, Rhodesia, etc, and today in Egypt, Libya, Sudan, etc. And now through class diversity policies denies native status to men, women, and children who are legally natives by right and jurisdiction, and backs redistributive change and mass exodus to exploit and suppress native populations.
If we take the office of First Lady seriously ...
Well that's the basic thing that Lauren Collins gets wrong. We don't. If we did then George H. W. Bush wins in 1992 in a landslide because Hillary was already showing that she was a worthless shrew -- and that's on her best days.
Nice fact-checking on the part of the New Yorker. Among other things Melania's engagement ring is a 15 carat emerald cut diamond -- not 25 carats. The hit piece knocks Donald Trump for not visiting Melania's birthplace -- but Sevnica is a quaint town of 5000 people and apparently Melania's memories of the place are not the best.
A few questions about the "imperial" Melania are unanswered by this hit piece. Does she refer to her Secret Service detail as "pigs," the way that Hillary Clinton is known to have referred to the people who signed on to take a bullet for her when she was First Lady? Would she sic the FBI on a travel office for some imaginary indiscretion?
Most aspiring First Ladies chase accessibility to the point of absurdity—Teresa Heinz Kerry called herself an 'African-American' when she spoke to black audiences...
A NewYorker scribbler thinks its absurd for an African-American to call herself an African-American. That's shocking.
What tangled webs we weave when we use political labels to describe biology...
John Henry said...
How many other Tibetans comment here? Huh?
I sometimes identify as being hatched in Antarctica.
Another example of media bias, showing how the media spins when Trump isn't involved:
Daily Mail Headline
The battle of Seattle 2016: Nine arrested and five cops hurt as May Day protesters run through the streets hurling rocks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at police officers
First sentence:
The clashes in Seattle followed a peaceful march in the city earlier in the day by advocates for workers and immigrants, just one of several events in cities nationwide Sunday marking May Day.
Note the "clashes" followed "peaceful marches". The author tries to isolate the violence and protect the protesters. Yet when Trump is involved journalists try to remove the distinction between opposing groups (rather than just allies) to taint Trump with the actions of his opponents. We've seen many instances of this media protection such as Ferguson where gunshots and Molotov cocktails were described as coming after 'mostly/otherwise peaceful protests'.
And note this is from the Daily Mail, tabloidy but not MSNBC.
Althouse, many of your commentors seem to be ignorant of the fact that it was Jacqueline Kennedy who brought the "imperial" fashion attitude to the White House in the 1960s.
Was their ever a presidential family who thought of themselves as being "royalty" than the Kennedys.
Jackie insisted on a POET LAUREATE for Jack's inauguration (Robert Frost), something that was never part of the ceremony and considered pretentious at the time.
As first lady, she redecorated and put the White House on display in a famous television special to flaunt her good taste.
Scores of the social and entertainment elite attended lavish affairs that the president and first lady hosted.
Vaunting their riches, the president was the first not to take a salary for his time in office. (Bootleg money, schrewdly invested by father Joe through the decades, provided "the jack" Jackie and Jack spent on their high living.)
Jackie Bouvier Kennedy was the daughter of a well-heeled Wall Street stockbroker. Her mother was a well known socialite.
So, we could reasonably make the statement, "Jackie Kennedy was as imperial as her husband supposed himself to be, if not more so."
Flaunt it baby! Flaunt it!
At least with Melania there won't be the low rent bimbo eruptions and other Bubba nonsense.
" many of your commentors seem to be ignorant of the fact that it was Jacqueline Kennedy who brought the "imperial" fashion attitude to the White House in the 1960s. "
Yes, but there are not many of us left who remember. "First Ladies" were not a media event until Jackie.
You know, it really doesn`t matter what (the media) write as long as you`ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.
"Smizing?"
The tone is rather different from Collins 2008 article about Michelle Obama when Michelle was the "aspiring" First Lady.
Poor Girl from Uncool European Country Uses Her Beauty, Charm, Intelligence, Determination, Talent, Restraint and Moral Outlook to Succeed in Competitive and Nasty Modeling World, Marries Billionaire and Does Not Suck Up to American Press.
What's not to like? Collins found plenty.
"Who writes this stuff?"
A childless, insanely jealous, 35 y.o. Lefty named Lauren Collins, that's who.
But she's cool with Melinda Gates spending 200 million or so of her husband's dough to use women in Africa as guinea pigs for their (and Warren Buffet's) debilitating long-acting synthetic hormone laced contraceptives that make their pharmaceutical holdings shares soar.
Melinda has more wealth as a result of her husband than Melania ever will, but for Ms. Collins, since Melinda shares the same political mentality, she's not a "kept" woman. See http://www.newyorker.com/news/lauren-collins/melinda-gates-takes-on-the-vatican
A couple other samples of her writings: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/kate-and-ross
http://www.newyorker.com/news/lauren-collins/france-discovers-callista
It's women like Ms. Collins that seek to limit women's true freedom of choice in how they live their lives--the shaming of stay at home Mom's by non-moms seems to be a psychological salve to keep their subconscious desire to be one kept under an ugly, festering scab.
Seeing her name in print reminds me of skin cancer
compare and try not to gag,
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/03/10/the-other-obama
It didn't start with Jackie O'Kennedy. Funny how some think history starts with their personal conscious life.
Eleanor Roosevelt Media Whore for the Poor
I think it's way past time that the US has itself a total smokeshow as First Lady.
That'll show those Frogs trying to show off with Carla Bruni a thing or two!
"At least with Melania there won't be the low rent bimbo eruptions and other Bubba nonsense."
Right. Trump is an old school hush money type.
"So, The New Yorker is anti-immigrant and anti-native" When they have to be. Anything to boost the cause.
But "nativist" Trump? Sure, he's got the wall and America First, but the guy favors amnesty and is "changing" on H1B visas. Somebody tell Jeff Sessions.
Collins went to Princeton. Mommy and Daddy are from Duke. Mommy and Daddy grew up in Manhattan, Long Island and the Philly suburbs. They settled in Wilmighton, N.C. (Wrightsville Beach) a nice American place where Daddy was a successful lawyer. They produced a very pretty (she shows a lot of leg on stage) and reasonably smart daughter who started out working for Vogue and got a gig at the New Yorker. She once did a long piece on Donatella Versace. During one of the interviews she threw up on her subject but the project went on.
It's hard to see how Collins could have much insight into a private woman with Melania's background. No experience and no empathy.
Big Mike quoted..
"If we take the office of First Lady seriously ..."
I think we should elect a First Lady separately from the President and require the two to get married and have sexual intercourse unless the President is female, in which case she has sexual intercourse with Webb Hubbell.
I am still trying to figure out why no one questions Michelle Obama's ability to manage the menus at public schools. She has no relevant training or experience in nutrition or economics, and her own children have never attended public school.
Yet journalists cover Michelle Obama's 'school lunch' vocation as though it is a normal, rational thing.
I suppose that it is good she did not decide to redesign the International Space Station.
"I am still trying to figure out why no one questions Michelle Obama's ability to manage the menus at public schools. She has no relevant training or experience in nutrition or economics, ..."
Ah, but she was on the Board of a huge food manufacturing company. (I can't remeber the name of it, sorry.) I wonder if that co. (or its subsidiaries) just happens to be a major supplier of the school lunches.
It will take a woman president for people to seriously question the unelected, undefined position and power of 1st lady/spouse.
"It didn't start with Jackie O'Kennedy. Funny how some think history starts with their personal conscious life.
Eleanor Roosevelt Media Whore for the Poor"
No, I almost added Eleanor but she was so homely that she did not begin the celebrity culture of politics.
The first really powerful First Lady was Edith Wilson who ran the country while Woodrow was non compos mentis.
They were not even married when he was elected.
@Meeeeea, it was Treehouse Foods. They're a conglomerate that owns Flagstone Foods, a maker of healthy snack products. However Michelle Obama severed all ties to Treehouse because one of their major customers is WalMart, and like all good members of the Left wing her husband is publicly opposed to WalMart.
This article offers some insight into how a New Yorker writer distinguishes between legal and illegal immigrants.
Hiring a lawyer, as anyone who has settled in a foreign country can attest, is often the larger part of being legal. Melania has expressed little solidarity with less fortunate newcomers.
According to Wikipedia, Michelle Obama has undergrad degrees in sociology and black studies. Her academic career seems to have been unremarkable. She complained that the French language course she took at Princeton wasn't conversational enough. Her professional career after graduating from Harvard is unremarkable as well. She excelled at fundraising for Mayor Daley.
Apparently her greatest accomplishment is realizing that she could be "both brilliant and Black."
How about we just make Kate Upton First Lady, regardless of who the President is?
She's not the most beautiful model, but she's very pretty in an all-American sort of way. Plus she has a couple of other great attributes.
In 2008 we had an opportunity to vote for a man married to busty blonde beer heiress, and this country selected Michelle Obama's husband instead. Terrible. Just. Terrible.
If Trump is the nominee we'll have the chance to elect a man married to an international-class model. Let's not screw it up this time, folks.
This writer hates Trump too much to write a good article about his wife. This read like listening to someone gossip about someone else. More emotional distance from subject needed.
This is all about getting Bill Clinton elected as First Lady.
Here's the thing: there is no "office of the First Lady".
"Melania Trump ... would be 'the least experienced and the least prepared First Lady in history.' "
Cf Bill Clinton.
The wall on the Mexican border is actually designed to keep Americans in. No fleeing from his Lordship's estate! You damn vassals, who do you think you are?!
In 2020, there's another "election" and his royal highness wins that one, too. His platform is to build a new wall on the Canadian border, to keep all those damn Detroit people from trying to swim away. "How dare you try to escape my beautiful home!" Trump loves us all.
The Supreme Court would have called this unconstitutional, but his Lordship forgot to nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia. So they vote, 4-4, in perpetuity. When Trump runs in 2024, and people complain, he says, "I need to show Barron how to rule! Later on there will be a royal wedding and you can smile obediently." All hail Trump!
I hope that, if Trump is elected, Melania decides to champion nutritious and calorie-conscious public school lunches, just so we can see the Times editorial board condemn her for getting involved in a public policy matter about which she has no education or experience, even as a parent.
All, of course, without mentioning Michelle Obama.
What does it say about Michelle Obama that she got involved in public school lunch menus? Her training is as a lawyer, not a parent. When she was first lady, Hillary designed a healthcare reform proposal. Michelle gives your kids carrot sticks. Jesus.
I'm not predisposed toward admiring Melania but this article made me like her a whole lot more.
"Bill is as corrupt as his wife, if not more so."
Hitler's wife dissed by press.
Film at eleven.
They can't help it. They don't even see it.
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