The great Melania Trump mystery. Does she really care?
A day after Trump ended family separations, the first lady visited migrant children after wearing a coat saying ‘I really don’t care’. So ... which is it?
For about two hours on Thursday, the optics were just the way the White House wanted them. Melania Trump made an unannounced trip to McAllen, Texas to get a first-hand look at the border crisis and the media was filled with pictures of the first lady looking caring and concerned, while she asked officials how she could help reunite children with their families. Melania was even sitting in front of the words ‘acts of kindness’ in the press photos, which one imagines was no happy accident.
A few hours later, however, rather different pictures of Melania started to circulate. The first lady, it was discovered, had worn a $39 Zara jacket which said “I really don’t care” on it on her way to Texas. The internet was immediately filled with speculation as to the significance of her outerwear. Had it been an unfortunate oversight? Or had it been deliberately chosen, either to send a message to Trump’s base or distract the media? “It’s a jacket. There was no hidden message,” the first lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. “After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn’t going to choose to focus on her wardrobe.”
The debate about whether Melania’s jacket was inadvertent or intentional, is about far more than a one-off wardrobe decision, however. Over the last week, Melania, who normally shies from the spotlight, has started to play a more prominent part in the controversy around the Trump administration’s border separation policy. When the president signed an executive order reversing family separation, the first lady got a lot of credit for persuading him to do so.
“From the start Mrs Trump has been encouraging the president to do all he can to keep families together,” a White House official said. The anonymous official told CNN that the first lady has been working behind the scenes for days trying to persuade the president to change his policy. Trump also name-checked his wife after signing the order. “My wife feels very strongly about it,” he said on Wednesday afternoon.
But has Melania, who has made children the center of her formal ‘Be Best’ platform, really been exerting a good influence on her husband? Or is she simply being used as a pawn in the White House’s PR strategy and strategically being positioned as good cop to Trump’s bad cop? Does she really care or not?
There is, understandably, a strong desire amongst many liberals to believe that Melania Trump does genuinely care; that she is a force for good. It would be comforting, after all, to think that there is a moral compass of sorts within the White House. At the beginning of the Trump presidency, it was hoped that Ivanka Trump would play that role, but there seems to have been a shift in attitude towards Ivanka in the mainstream media lately. She’s now largely seen as “complicit” rather than a positive influence.
With Ivanka’s brand tarnished, Melania seems to have stepped out of the sidelines and positioned herself—or been positioned— as a counterbalance for Trump. On Sunday, for example, the first lady issued a rare public statement. “Mrs Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” her spokeswoman told CNN. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”
The White House has been careful to stress that Melania’s new-found voice is entirely hers. On Thursday, before jacket-gate, the first lady’s spokeswoman stressed to the press that the trip to Texas “was 100% [Melania’s] idea.” However, even before the incident with the jacket it is far from clear whether that’s the case. Even commentators on the right seem to think Melania’s presence is simply PR.
Fox News contributor Guy Benson said on Thursday that Melania’s trip to a Texas detention center was the “first competent, non-stupid thing” that administration has done when it came to managing the PR around the zero tolerance border policy. Benson also said that an appearance by Melania earlier on could have helped the president. It’s very clear that conservatives are very much of the mind that Melania, who is three time more popular than her husband amongst Democrats, can be a useful tool for the president.
So does Melania really care? It’s certainly possible but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
