What is behind the media’s and liberals’ obsession with Melania Trump? What has she done to invoke their extreme mockery and rancor? Heck if I know. As far as I can see, her only “crime” was to marry Donald Trump. Below please find a few examples:
- After President Trump’s inauguration she was criticized for remaining in NY while he moved into the White House. In point of fact, she had determined that it would better for her young son to complete the school term in NY, then move to D. C. To me, prioritizing her son’s interests and well-being like that was good parenting. No more, no less.
- Vanity Fair criticized her for “poor fashion choices,” citing the fact that she wore high heels while touring a hurricane disaster site. Wow! Lock her up!
- Vanity Fair also mocked her launching a campaign against bullying children. I say, what is wrong with focusing on such an issue, which happens to be one of the chief issues regarding children and which Melania had identified as her “cause” as early as 2016? Well, apparently, in the minds of some people (Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC, Jake Tapper, CNN, and Meghan McCain, Fox News, the fact that some of Donald Trump’s tweets are perceived as bullying (though not towards kids) disqualifies Melania from speaking out about the issue. Moreover, actress Meryl Streep, when questioned about her silence on the issue deflected it with the same skill she routinely demonstrates in her “day” job, acting, retorting “I don’t want to hear about the silence of me. I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump.” In point of fact, we all know that neither Melania nor anyone else for that matter can control the President consistently. Melania has denoted that, on more than one occasion, she has “rebuked” Trump (for his tweets) but “he will do what he wants to do in the end.” Anyone who knows the President would have to agree.
- In 2016 the Daily Mail published a blatantly false story alleging that Melania had moonlighted as an escort during her modeling days. She sued them for $150 million. The newspaper was forced to apologize and retract the article.
- Recently, late night entertainer Jimmy Kimmel spent several minutes mocking her accent. He is not the only person who has done so. Jimmy, she speaks six languages fluently, and English is not her native tongue. How many can you speak?
- The latest and most ridiculous criticism was centered around her absence following a kidney procedure. The media speculated wildly that she was seriously ill, had a facelift, left the White House, or, perhaps, had been physically abused by the president. The wild, unsubstantiated speculation continued even after reporter Eamon Javers tweeted that he had seen Melania walking in the White House with some of her aides. Fake news at its best (or worst). If it doesn’t fit “the narrative,” ignore it.
It wasn’t until she appeared with the president at a FEMA hurricane briefing that the inane sniping stopped.
Melania Knavs was born on April 26, 1970 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, which, at the time, was part of Yugoslavia. Her father managed a car dealership. Her mother was a patternmaker for a children’s clothing manufacturer. She has an older sister and an older step-brother whom she has never even met.
Melania began modeling at the age of five years old, and by sixteen she was doing commercials and posing for fashion magazines. At 18 she signed with a modeling agency in Milan. Along the way she changed her last name to its German equivalent, Knauss. In 1995 she met Paolo Zampolli, co-owner of Metropolitan Models and a friend of Trump’s. At Zampolli’s suggestion she emigrated to NY, where he represented her. In 1998 she met Trump at a party hosted by Zampolli. They began to date and were married in 2005.
Melania is the second foreign-born First Lady. [Who was the first? See below.] In addition, she is the first First Lady to be a naturalized citizen and the first whose native language is not English. As I said above, she is fluent in six languages – Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, French, English, German and Italian.
She has been very supportive of her husband’s political ambitions, even though she is not very comfortable in the limelight. She told one reporter “I encouraged him because I know what he will do and what he can do for America. He loves the American people and wants to help them.”
CONCLUSION
Ask yourself, if Melania were a Democrat, if she were not married to Donald Trump, would she be subjected to all of this abuse? Or, would she be praised for how far she has come in her life. Her critics should do a little research. What were the odds that someone born in a small city in Slovenia would become the First lady of the US? Long enough, that if you had bet a dollar, you would be set for life.
Predictably, all this criticism has produced a backlash. Remember, she did not seek the limelight. She was not an experienced politician. English is not her native language.
One does not campaign to be First Lady. She gets there by being married to the person who is elected president. Voters do not consider the “qualifications” of the prospective First Lady (or even the VP, most of the time for that matter).
Therefore, she should be given the benefit of the doubt, not the back of the hand. The president is fair game. He sought the limelight. Melania should be left alone.
Quiz answer: Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, who was born in 1775 in London to an English mother.
We Built It Blog by Larry Jacob 
Have you found any source (other than Trump’s tweets about it) that published: “The media speculated wildly that she was seriously ill, had a facelift, left the White House, or, perhaps, had been physically abused by the president.” I’ve done a pretty deep dive and can find nothing. Certainly nothing like that appeared in the NY Times, Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN. To what specific source was Trump referring?