On Thursday afternoon, the spokesperson for First Lady Melania Trump issued a clarification: a statement earlier in the day indicating Melania supported her husband’s criticism of Mika Brzezinski was an error.
Let’s break this down.
On Thursday morning, President Trump issued two tweets criticising the morning Joe team, specifically tarteting Brzezinski who he said was “bleeding badly” from a face-lift on New Years Eve, a crime for which he denied her entrance to Mar-A-Lago. Trump’s intent with this tweet was clear: he wanted to humiliate Brzezinski, targeting her vanity to tear her down the same way he has torn down many other women in past years.
Seeking to defend Trump, many surrounding him said he was just “hitting back,” since Brzezinski had been so critical of the President in recent months. One of these defenders appeared to be his own wife Melania.
Shortly after the tweets, Melania’s office was reached for comment. In response to the question, Melania’s Communication Director issued this statement:
Statement from the First Lady’s Communications Director @StephGrisham45 pic.twitter.com/N8Sz0bobL4
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 29, 2017
That seemed to settle it. Melania Trump, a woman who has publicly advocated against cyberbullying, was seemingly standing behind her own bully husband.
That is, until that same Communication Director issued a correction. As Bloomberg White House Reporter Jennifer Jacobs later noted, the representative for Melania said that the statement she issued was an old quote, and not applicable to today’s scandal.
1st lady’s spokeswoman clarifies this is something Melania said in past. It’s who he is. Shouldn’t be assumed she stands by today’s tweets. https://t.co/CRpfx5hHRk
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 29, 2017
While the clarification may seem innocent, where would it have come from if not from the First Lady herself? And what does it mean when the First Lady wants the public to know that her statement defending Trump doesn’t include his remarks from today?
Could it be that Melania Trump was so utterly disgusted by the comments her husband made on Twitter this morning against a woman with whom she has likely spent some time? Could she have been moved to indicate that disgust through a small action, going mostly unnoticed?
As many have suggested in the past, it seems clear that Melania cannot stand her husband. She is miserable to be moving in with him, and she wants to stay as far from the public eye as she can. One might even be tempted to feel bad for her, until one remembers how complacent and complicit she is in all of this.
