Melania Trump:Looking for a platform, and a stylist.

[fraurosena]

Has anyone ever heard of Melania actually doing something for her 'be best' campaign, other than promoting it? Does the campaign actually have any programs, aimed at helping kids 'be best'?

 

 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Has anyone ever heard of Melania actually doing something for her 'be best' campaign, other than promoting it? Does the campaign actually have any programs, aimed at helping kids 'be best'?

 

 

Magic 8 Ball says "Don't bet on it".

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, AnywhereButHere said:

Seriously. What is up with the "Be Best" golf balls used as decorations? And yeah, the hallway of blood red trees is creepy as hell. Holy crap do these decorations suck, but I guess if you're going to symbolize your administration through Christmas decorations - they're on point!

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-white-house-continues-its-tradition-of-turning-chri-1830653485

 

There has to be balls in the White House somewhere, even if the President doesn't have any!

[formergothardite]

What happens to the blood trees when Christmas is over? Do they go into storage to haunt future generations? Are they sold? Donated? Are past decorations ever used when decorating the White House? 

[thoughtful]

[AmericanRose]

The red trees just kind of drives home to me that Melania either has no taste, or no imagination.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Um, they focus on the trivial and superficial because Melania is trivial and superficial: "Melania Trump spox slams critical op-ed, says media focus on 'trivial and superficial'"

Spoiler

Melania Trump’s spokeswoman said Saturday that “absurdity abounds in the media's coverage of our first lady,” offering the type of vehement public defense President Donald Trump has grown to expect of his most loyal aides.

“Reports focus on the trivial and superficial, rather than the deeper issues facing our country that she has tirelessly worked to address,” Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s director of communications, wrote in an op-ed published on CNN.com.

Grisham’s roughly 1,300-word entry was written as a rebuttal to an opinion piece published earlier Saturday on CNN.com by network contributor Kate Andersen Brower, titled: “Melania shows she's a Trump through and through.”

Brower, who has authored a book on the history of America’s first ladies, argued that Melania Trump’s interview Wednesday with Sean Hannity of Fox News “proved that she doesn't understand what it means to be first lady.”

In that conversation, Melania Trump slammed “opportunists” including journalists, comedians and performers who use “my name or my family name to advance themselves.”

The first lady added: “The problem is they’re writing the history and it’s not correct.”

Brower took aim at the remark, writing in her op-ed Saturday: “Really? Is her family's legacy the thing that worries her most? After all the pain she has witnessed as first lady, from meeting with a survivor of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting to visiting with children separated from their parents at the border, has the media really been the most difficult part of her job?”

Grisham accused Brower and the media-at-large of unfairly exaggerating Melania Trump’s interview with Hannity, as well as the results of a CNN poll released last week showing that the first lady’s approval rating has dropped 11 points since October.

“When Brower claims Mrs. Trump has no understanding of what it means to be first lady, she intentionally ignores all the effort the first lady has put into fulfilling the traditional responsibilities of the role,” Grisham wrote, citing the state dinner Melania Trump organized in April for French President Emmanuel Macron, her various holiday events at the White House and other official duties.

Grisham also lamented that Melania Trump “is still characterized as a ‘reluctant’ first lady,” and claimed she is routinely attacked for giving “honest answers” in interviews.

“I could continue with examples, but will inevitably be attacked for having a ‘woe-is-me attitude’ -- it couldn't possibly be that we are defending ourselves,” Grisham wrote. “The simple fact is that Mrs. Trump deserves honest reporting and media coverage that focuses on the substance of her message: the importance of helping children grow up to be happy, healthy and socially responsible adults.”

In her most forceful indictment of the media, Grisham wrote that journalists have “the opportunity and responsibility to report fairly, accurately and without bias,” adding: “They are, in fact, writing the first draft of our nation's history. In many ways, they are failing to measure up to this responsibility. This failure must be addressed.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[hoipolloi]

Reviving this topic to share a very interesting Twitter thread:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Melania Trump defends her husband by lecturing the media on their ‘trivial stories’"

Spoiler

The first lady doesn’t speak publicly very often. And when she does make public appearances, the moment is carefully crafted. Unlike her husband, Melania Trump doesn’t stray from the script.

So at a town hall event Tuesday in Las Vegas on the nation’s raging opioid crisis, she and her aides must have known that this one line would get attention.

“I challenge the press to devote as much time to the lives lost — and the potential lives that could be saved — by dedicating the same amount of coverage that you do to idle gossip or trivial stories,” Melania Trump said.

It was a not-so-subtle dig at her husband’s favorite punching bag.

The first lady is right that there is a public health emergency regarding overdose deaths that deserves more attention from everyone.

Each year, drug overdoses kill more people than gun violence or car crashes in the United States. More people die of drug overdoses than died during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid addiction and deaths are one reason life expectancy has dropped in the United States for the past three years.

And yet, there’s been little sense of urgency.

Trump declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency in 2017 and then put Kellyanne Conway in charge of the effort. In October, he signed into law legislation to curb the crisis, but it was widely panned by public health advocates for not making a significant, long-term financial investment.

After the bill passed, Daniel Raymond of the Harm Reduction Coalition told The Post, “When you drill down into it, it’s not that there aren’t good ideas, but it doesn’t reach the level of, this is what our nation needs right now.”

Meanwhile, the president has spent most of his time linking the opioid crisis to building a wall along the U. S-Mexico border, even though researchers say most drugs are smuggled through ports of entry, not illegal crossings.

Indeed, the country should be focused on the opioid crisis.

One could also easily say: “I challenge the president to devote as much time to the lives lost ... by dedicating the same amount of tweets that you do to idle gossip or trivial stories.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Color me unsurprised, since they lie about everything: "Donald and Melania Trump Allegedly Lied About How They First Met"

Spoiler

We all have stories of how we originally met our significant others.  Most people are relatively proud to tell others about their first meeting, first date, first kiss, and so on.  With President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, however, this doesn’t appear to be the case.

In ‘Episode 7 of KrassenCast: Donald Trump’s History With Women & QAnon’s Troll Against Us Fails Miserably,’ author of the book ‘Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump’s Women,‘ Nina Burleigh extensively discussed Donald Trump’s relationships with the women who have surrounded him from birth to present day, and dropped several major bombshells.

During the interview, which is now available on iTunes and Youtube, Burleigh made a claim that Donald Trump and Melania Trump have actually lied about how they first met, and in fact they appear to have known each other much longer than they claim.  The entire episode, including the 30-minute interview with Burleigh, can be heard below:

The story of how Donald and Melania Trump met is well documented.  There are articles in several major publications, including the New York Times, which state that the Trumps originally met in 1998, but according to Nina Burleigh, this is not the case.

“So you know the story that they tell and that Paolo Zampolli, who was Melania’s model agent tell, is that they met at the Kit Kat Club at a party for a Victoria’s Secret model,” Burleigh told KrassenCast. “And in 1998, Trump was there with another woman and Melania was alone. He wanted her number and she refused but took his number and then called him later.”

This is the story that both Melania and Donald Trump have told others, but according to Burleigh the two actually appear to have met in 1996, while Trump was still very much married to Marla Maples (they didn’t divorce until 1999).

“But if you’ll recall, Melania arrives (in the U.S.) in 1995 and around the end of that year, or early ’96, is when she poses for the infamous lesbian soft core nude photographs that were leaked to the New York Post,” Burleigh explained. “But the photographer for that shoot, Ale de Basseville, a French guy, is on the record with a 100% backing that he and everyone at that shoot knew (of a relationship between the two in 1996) because she told them that her boyfriend was Donald Trump and he remembers it specifically. He thought that it would increase the value of his photoshoot to this French magazine that was going to print them. And he wanted to tell the editor, you know, this is Donald’s girlfriend and it was ’96. He says that Paolo Zampolli said to him, ‘you can’t do that because he’s still not untethered from his wife.'”

Burleigh tells KrassenCast that the Trumps are not pleased with the fact that Ale de Basseville claims that they actually met earlier than the public has been told.

“I don’t think they like it because they don’t really want people looking into her history,” Burleigh explained. “The official story is she was this great model, she met him, and she was on her way to stardom. And he likes to call her a supermodel. Everybody knows that she was not anything close to a supermodel when he first hooked up with her.”

The entire interview with Nina Burleigh, which includes many other bombshells, is now available on iTunes and Youtube, and her book, ‘Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump’s Women,’ is now available on Amazon.

There are lots of links in the article.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[formergothardite]

On 3/5/2019 at 11:51 PM, hoipolloi said:

Reviving this topic to share a very interesting Twitter thread:

 

I never realized that there is no evidence she was a big model. I just assumed she was. I also would have never recognized the younger pictures as being her. 

[AnywhereButHere]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/melania-trump-responds-to-anna-wintours-comments-about-her-vogue-cover/ar-BBVVIeD?ocid=ientp

Quote

Don't expect first lady Melania Trump on the cover of Vogue anytime soon. The Daily Mail reports that Anna Wintour, the fashion bible's notorious editor-in-chief, implied that the magazine wouldn't be featuring the current first lady soon. During an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, it was mentioned that Wintour hasn't kept the magazine exactly nonpartisan. It didn't take long for the White House to react, however. A Trump spokesperson, surprisingly, weighed in on the issue.

During her tenure as first lady, Michelle Obama snagged three covers. Wintour stated that the choice was easy, noting that Obama "redefined" what the role meant through her own activism. Wintour has also featured Senator Kamala Harris, making the magazine's political leanings very clear. Hillary Clinton was on the cover of Vogue back in 1998, halfway through her husband's second term. The magazine even endorsed the former presidential nominee during her run for the White House in 2016. It was the first time in the magazine's illustrious history that such an overt political statement was made. In the magazine's declaration, it was mentioned that the Trump family, including Ivana, Marla, Melania, and Ivanka, had been featured in the past.

"Obviously these are women that we feel are icons and inspiring to women from a global perspective," Wintour told Amanpour of those that she does choose to feature. "I also feel even more strongly now that this is not a time to try — and I think one has to be fair, one has to look at all sides — but I don't think it's a moment not to take a stand."

Melania's team retorted with a statement saying that she wouldn't be defined by something like a magazine cover. Back in 2005, shortly after her wedding to now-President Donald Trump, Melania appeared on the cover in her heavily embellished wedding gown, which was designed by John Galliano during his time at Christian Dior.

"To be on the cover of Vogue doesn't define Mrs. Trump, she's been there, done that long before she was first lady," Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's spokesperson, said. "Her role as first lady of the United States and all that she does is much more important than some superficial photo shoot and cover."

Of course, at the time of her first cover, Melania had no public political agenda or endorsements. And though she and her husband were once chummy with Wintour as members of a certain sect of New York society, the unearthing of Donald's Access Hollywood tape and the revelation of his misogynistic behavior — not to mention his inflammatory remarks about the media — have, unsurprisingly, made him unwelcome in that sphere in the years since his rise to power.

Grisham added that Melania wouldn't be available for a second cover, even if the invitation was presented to her. Instead, she's focusing on her Be Best campaign.

How's that "Be Best" thing working out for her anyway? Obviously not "Best" enough to be featured in Vouge...

[GreyhoundFan]

What an awkward picture:

 

[Audrey2]

But she got the best present- Donald is not in the picture!

[fraurosena]

On 4/29/2019 at 4:06 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

What an awkward picture:

 

It's not even her husband wishing her a happy birthday, but he official White House account. 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

Is she really that dumb or is she trolling? Cos it feels like trolling.

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

The real question is, what Bible verse does the "Be Best" program recommend sending along with the unsolicited dick pics?

[GreyhoundFan]

"One year into Melania Trump’s Be Best program, she continues her miscalculation of the first lady role"

Spoiler

To celebrate the White House’s newly renovated bowling alley, first lady Melania Trump hosted children of Secret Service members for an afternoon of strikes and gutters last week. “Be Best” branded shirts — a reference to her East Wing initiative — were hard to miss in the released photos. But the one thing missing from the happy images? Mrs. Trump’s face.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these photos were a near-perfect metaphor for Melania Trump’s time in “office.” The third Mrs. Trump is private and reserved, and seems to like it that way. The expertly crafted photos, ostensibly edited to protect the privacy of the minors, thoroughly encapsulate how Trump has defined the undefinable role of first lady thus far: She’s there. But, like, not really.

It’s not just a missed photo opportunity, say experts; it’s a complete miscalculation of the role. First ladies are the closest thing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has to an in-house celebrity. They are most often beloved, relatable and able to deploy charm offensives when politically necessary.

“The odd thing is it is so hard to get things done in American government. So you use every advantage that you possibly have,” says Lauren A. Wright, author of “On Behalf of the President: Presidential Spouses and White House Communications Strategy Today.” The public interest in Melania Trump is huge. When she wore a large brimmed white hat to greet visiting French President Emmanuel Macron, her name was Googled more than searches related to James Comey and his memos released the same week, says Wright, who was doing online research on the first lady at the time.

First ladies, Wright continues, can be an administration’s “single most valuable messaging tool.” And their programs “are typically used really strategically. There’s a lot of targeted intention behind it,” she points out. Former first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign represented a hard-to-argue-with olive branch of her husband’s Affordable Care Act. Laura Bush’s Ready to Read, Ready to Learn initiative had a direct correlation to her husband’s No Child Left Behind policy. Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No campaign was the softer side of President Reagan’s mandatory minimum sentence policy.

Be Best’s original three pillars — combating cyberbullying, promoting children’s social and emotional well-being, and fighting opioid abuse — don’t have cohesive messaging or a clear link to her husband’s policies, other than maybe the opioid element. On Tuesday, while celebrating the first anniversary of the program at the White House, Trump announced the expansion of the cyberbullying pillar to online safety for children. Yet the whole thing still seems nebulous.

First lady historian Katherine Jellison thinks Trump’s approach has been difficult to understand: “I think the jury’s still out on the current first lady. She’s sometimes very high-profile, but most of the times she’s not. She still is a mystery to me.” While Be Best was finding its footing, there were several aspects of Trump’s personal story that could have helped to smooth out her husband’s rough policy edges. Jellison points specifically to the Trump administration’s “America First” philosophy. She is an immigrant, speaks several languages and has worked abroad as a model. “She could have been deployed as the kinder, gentler face of America staying connected to the world as opposed to withdrawing from it,” Jellison notes.

One question that pops up around Trump is whether her arm’s-length handling of the first lady role is her own doing or a consequence of circumstance. The Trump administration has certainly seen its fair share of chaos and upheaval, which could be part of the explanation. But Jellison has another theory: Unlike past first ladies of the modern era, Trump did not have a hand in building her husband’s political career. “That was never a role she played and therefore may not be a role she’s comfortable with and even resists,” says Jellison.

At some point, explains Wright, every first lady comes face to face with the fact that she is, for better or worse, in the public eye. It appears that Trump, however, still hasn’t had this realization. “I don’t doubt she has amazing intention,” Wright says, “but I just don’t think she sees her role as strategic” — even though, as Wright puts it, the role of first lady “could not possibly be more important.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[JMarie]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mueller-testimony-lady-melania-trump-tweeted-christmas/story?id=64541640

Priorities, Melania. Priorities,

[fraurosena]

13 hours ago, JMarie said:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mueller-testimony-lady-melania-trump-tweeted-christmas/story?id=64541640

Priorities, Melania. Priorities,

Last year she had red trees. Will this year's be blue or white, for the other parts of the Russian flag?

Edited July 25, 2019 by fraurosena