A new book on America’s first ladies has some delicious dish on Melania Trump’s time in the public eye, where she squatted like a painful stye for four forgettable years.
“American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden” by New York Times reporter Katie Rogers includes a chapter on Trump’s time in the White House … and avoiding the White House … and turning the White House into a garish nightmare factory that imagined Santa Claus as the phlegmatic frontman for an ‘80s German techno-pop group.
As first lady, Trump was perhaps best known for donning an “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” jacket, slapping her husband’s hand away like a herpetic fruit bat, not giving a f--- about Christmas, f---ing up the Rose Garden, and erecting a series of increasingly macabre Christmas decorations that would have been more at home in the Overlook Hotel or a wide-eyed waif’s first holiday bath salts hallucination.
But—you’ll be shocked by this—it looks like married life wasn’t always as tranquil for the Trumps as those frequent hand-slaps might suggest.
RELATED STORY: A perfect couple: The worst president and a wretched first lady
In the book, Rogers writes that the couple often disagreed on issues ranging from which cable news channel to watch to the general (non-Christmas) White House decor.
Melania’s Holiday Horror, 2017
For instance, according to Rogers, Melania preferred to watch CNN, while Donald regularly marinated his mind in a beefy Sean Hannity broth. And in July 2018, their conflicting tastes sparked a row when Donald became “incensed that his wife’s television was tuned to CNN aboard Air Force One during an overseas trip.” He later ordered his underlings to keep all the TVs on Air Force One and in their individual hotel suites tuned to Fox News.
The two also reportedly disagreed on who had the more dreadful taste in home decor. According to Rogers, while Melania was still living in New York and avoiding her husband in the early days of his administration, she picked out some White House furniture, as first ladies tend to do. But instead of working on his White House transition, Trump exercised his first presidential veto, replacing Melania’s choices with “several pieces he liked better.”
Ah, but if Donald’s gold-leafed deep-fat fryer were the only bone of contention between the two, they wouldn’t be the dynamic déclassé duo. Their personal lives were also eyesores, apparently. This was especially apparent in 2018, after adult film star Stormy Daniels said she’d been paid hush money to hide her brief affair with Trump—an encounter that allegedly occurred while Melania was pregnant.
People magazine:
Meanwhile, the fashion mystery of the millennium may have finally been solved.
2004: When the wife was the girlfriend and the daughter was the queen.
According to Rogers’ book, Melania’s infamous “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” jacket was a pointed “fuck you” to Donald’s favorite spawn, Ivanka.
Slate:
In other words—breaking news!—Trump got super angry about something and made up a lie to contain the fallout.
Melania’s Holiday Horror, 2018
But Rogers’ book doesn’t just focus on the Melania-Donald soap opera. As the title makes clear, it’s about every first lady since Hillary Clinton—and fully half the book is about Jill Biden, whom Rogers covers for The Times. Rogers notes how Biden transformed the role in her own way, by continuing to work outside the White House as an educator. That said, no one pushed the boundaries more than Clinton, the 2016 presidential popular-vote winner who, writes Rogers, “permanently and fundamentally shifted how Americans view the [first lady] role.”
Of course, Clinton tried to overhaul our horribly broken health care system and came up short—though she helped move the conversation forward. Whereas Melania tried to decorate the White House for the holidays and left us clawing at our own eyes and speaking in tongues.
So she was transformative in her own way. Though it’s likely no one really cares. Do you?
Campaign Action
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link.
“American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden” by New York Times reporter Katie Rogers includes a chapter on Trump’s time in the White House … and avoiding the White House … and turning the White House into a garish nightmare factory that imagined Santa Claus as the phlegmatic frontman for an ‘80s German techno-pop group.
As first lady, Trump was perhaps best known for donning an “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” jacket, slapping her husband’s hand away like a herpetic fruit bat, not giving a f--- about Christmas, f---ing up the Rose Garden, and erecting a series of increasingly macabre Christmas decorations that would have been more at home in the Overlook Hotel or a wide-eyed waif’s first holiday bath salts hallucination.
But—you’ll be shocked by this—it looks like married life wasn’t always as tranquil for the Trumps as those frequent hand-slaps might suggest.
RELATED STORY: A perfect couple: The worst president and a wretched first lady
In the book, Rogers writes that the couple often disagreed on issues ranging from which cable news channel to watch to the general (non-Christmas) White House decor.
Melania’s Holiday Horror, 2017
For instance, according to Rogers, Melania preferred to watch CNN, while Donald regularly marinated his mind in a beefy Sean Hannity broth. And in July 2018, their conflicting tastes sparked a row when Donald became “incensed that his wife’s television was tuned to CNN aboard Air Force One during an overseas trip.” He later ordered his underlings to keep all the TVs on Air Force One and in their individual hotel suites tuned to Fox News.
The two also reportedly disagreed on who had the more dreadful taste in home decor. According to Rogers, while Melania was still living in New York and avoiding her husband in the early days of his administration, she picked out some White House furniture, as first ladies tend to do. But instead of working on his White House transition, Trump exercised his first presidential veto, replacing Melania’s choices with “several pieces he liked better.”
Ah, but if Donald’s gold-leafed deep-fat fryer were the only bone of contention between the two, they wouldn’t be the dynamic déclassé duo. Their personal lives were also eyesores, apparently. This was especially apparent in 2018, after adult film star Stormy Daniels said she’d been paid hush money to hide her brief affair with Trump—an encounter that allegedly occurred while Melania was pregnant.
People magazine:
Meanwhile, the fashion mystery of the millennium may have finally been solved.
2004: When the wife was the girlfriend and the daughter was the queen.
According to Rogers’ book, Melania’s infamous “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” jacket was a pointed “fuck you” to Donald’s favorite spawn, Ivanka.
Slate:
In other words—breaking news!—Trump got super angry about something and made up a lie to contain the fallout.
Melania’s Holiday Horror, 2018
But Rogers’ book doesn’t just focus on the Melania-Donald soap opera. As the title makes clear, it’s about every first lady since Hillary Clinton—and fully half the book is about Jill Biden, whom Rogers covers for The Times. Rogers notes how Biden transformed the role in her own way, by continuing to work outside the White House as an educator. That said, no one pushed the boundaries more than Clinton, the 2016 presidential popular-vote winner who, writes Rogers, “permanently and fundamentally shifted how Americans view the [first lady] role.”
Of course, Clinton tried to overhaul our horribly broken health care system and came up short—though she helped move the conversation forward. Whereas Melania tried to decorate the White House for the holidays and left us clawing at our own eyes and speaking in tongues.
So she was transformative in her own way. Though it’s likely no one really cares. Do you?
Campaign Action
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link.