Yes, I’m posting about Melania Trump. And I guess I’m about to become guilty of what I’m hoping will stop. There seems to be a lot of criticism that she’s not doing what a “First Lady should do”. First, I don’t know what the spouse of a president is supposed to do. There’s nothing in the Constitution. I don’t think there are any laws defining a role either. But second, and perhaps more importantly, I don’t get the criticism. She’s made a decision to stay in New York so that her twelve year-old son can finish his school year there. I don’t see that as being something that is so bad. Had Michelle Obama, in 2009, remained in Chicago so Malia and Sasha could finish their school years we’d have applauded her and respected her decision. So, I’m hoping that the media will stop reporting on this and people will expend energy on other things, like protecting the ACA. And? I’m hoping I never write a post like this again…
I think it’s fair to say that even though her rights and powers don’t appear in the Constitution, there is a societal expectation about what the First Lady is “supposed to do”. We can take a page from the traditional conservative playbook and say that we first, above all, expect her to be her husband’s wife. And not only that, to have it actually look like she is. Though it’s not likely they are separated, the Trumps certainly don’t look very married. She’s the PoMo First Lady, bunking down at an alternate location, managing her own social affairs, not interacting with the interested citizens of this country, not looking adoringly at her husband for the cameras, not offering her humor or intelligence or passion, no serving him (or, by extension, us) in any obvious way. She does walk the Washington runway from time to time in her haute couture, and pick at her state dinners or her Mar-A-Lago canapes, but other than that, she’s serving no one but herself (and her son.) There’s nothing wrong with prioritizing your child’s needs, but surely she’s capable enough to spread the joy (and he Botox) around a bit, and pick up a worthy cause or two.
I would be willing to bet that many people hold her isolation against her. I myself couldn’t care less what she does for The Donald or for his constituents. The thing I hold against her is that frozen face and the piercing, heavily-lined eyes that seem to bore maliciously into the whole Presidential affair. I hold tehse things against her because it all looks so inauthentic to me. She’s not a Slovenian princess made of ice. She’s a human woman who would be better off, and better regarded, if she just admitted it. Where is the real Melania? We can only hope that sometime in the next four years, she will get a time scheduled into her DayPlanner to show us.
I don’t disagree at all. I think you may have heard me refer to her as a “Stepford Wife”.