Latest news with #FreeMelania
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Was Le Slap a love tap or an assault? France's first couple offer a distraction from bad news
Not that you asked, but yes, I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the bad news out of Washington: Pardons for tax cheats who line President Trump's pockets. Talk of pardons for the violent criminals who conspired to kidnap and kill Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Dinners for crypto moguls who shower him with money. His monomaniacal quest to extinguish the light of the country's most prestigious university. His budget that will deprive millions of their healthcare coverage, while slashing taxes for the rich and swelling the $36 trillion national debt by an estimated $3.8 trillion. And don't get me started on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s inane move that could make it harder for pregnant women to get COVID-19 shots, thus depriving their infants of protection against the virus when they are vulnerable and not yet eligible for vaccination. Good heavens, I needed a distraction. Happily, it arrived in the form of an unexpected video. You may have seen it: Last Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte, got tongues wagging when she did something that seemed entirely out of character for the painfully elegant first lady. She was caught on camera squishing her hands right into his handsome face. It looked like an act of hostility. I was intrigued. I know, I know. It's hardly world-shattering news. But who doesn't perk up a bit when the scrim of perfection that shields the private lives of high-profile, perfectly turned-out couples is torn, even for one brief moment? Who can forget the sight of First Lady Melania Trump swatting away her husband's hand during a 2017 visit to Tel Aviv? Or the way her smile faded during his first inauguration the moment he looked away from her, inspiring the #FreeMelania hashtag? For all the drama and rumor that swirled around the Clintons' marriage, I can't think of any public moment when they did not appear civil with one another, even after his disastrous relationship with a White House intern. And the Obamas? Is there any other intensely scrutinized political couple who seem so downright normal? Not that anyone ever really knows what's going on in anyone else's marriage. Which brings us back to the Macrons. His plane was on the tarmac in Hanoi, where he was kicking off a tour to strengthen ties with countries in Southeast Asia. As the plane door opened, the couple were caught unawares. A startled-looking Macron backed up as disembodied hands smushed his face. He instantly collected himself, and his wife appeared at his side. As they began to descend the staircase, he offered her his arm, which she did not take. The bizarre clip went viral, and sent the French government, known as the Élysée Palace, into what one headline described as 'chaos.' Part of the chaos stemmed from the government first claiming that the clip was not real but was possibly a deep fake created by AI and exploited by Russia to make Macron seem weak. After the Associated Press authenticated the video, the French government changed its tune, describing the moment as merely a playful interaction between the couple. Unsurprisingly, given their back story, the Macrons have been the subject of intense fascination for years. They met in 1993 at a Catholic high school in northern France when he was 15. She, nearly 40 at the time, and a married mother of three, was his drama teacher. His parents were so concerned about the impropriety of their relationship that they sent him away to Paris for his senior year. In 2006, she divorced her husband, and married Macron the following year. He was 29. She was 54. 'Of course, we have breakfast together, me and my wrinkles, him with his youth, but it's like that,' Macron told Elle France in 2017. 'If I did not make that choice, I would have missed out on my life.' Unfortunately, Le Slapgate threatened to overshadow the Macrons' trip. 'We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife,' he told reporters, complaining that the incident was being overblown into 'a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.' A few days later, though, he was making light of the incident. Or at least trying to. On Tuesday in Jakarta, Indonesia, as his plane door opened, another disembodied hand appeared, this time waving before Macron stepped into the camera frame smiling before he walked down the stairs arm in arm with his wife. Ha ha. For a brief moment, the squabbling of one of the world's most interesting couples gave us a much needed break from the actual geo-planetary catastrophe unfolding around us. For that, the Macrons have my gratitude. Merci, you crazy lovebirds. @ @rabcarian
Mint
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
What makes Melania Trump the first First Lady of her kind
Melania Trump, First Lady of the US, began her first term in the White House with #FreeMelania trending online, as observers imagined that she was held hostage to her husband's ideology rather than a true believer. The saying also captured the peculiar job of the First Lady as a sort of compulsory plus-one to the president. Now, months into her second term, there is a different phrase that will likely dominate her tenure: Where's Melania? Also Read: Dani Rodrik: Mercantilism isn't always bad but Trump's trade policy is This is progress. In not showing up as expected, Melania Trump, 55, has both freed herself and continued to transform the role. Few first ladies actually fully enjoy the unforgiving and unpaid job. Martha Washington famously described feeling 'more like a state prisoner than anything else." But unlike first ladies before her, Trump will not be bound by the confines of what has become an antiquated position. She is leaving the 'women's work' to others, namely her husband. It is reportedly the president, not the first lady, who is choosing the gaudy style updates to the White House, from paving the Rose Garden to adding gold tchotchkes to the Oval Office mantel. According to the New York Times, Melania Trump has spent just 14 days at the White House out of the 108 her husband has been in office. 'The corner of the residence long used by first ladies remains dark, because this first lady does not really live in Washington," the paper notes. This should come as no surprise, as Trump said in an interview with Fox News in January that she would split her time between the White House, Palm Beach, Florida, and New York City, where her son is in college. Also Read: Manu Joseph: A right that women don't have is the right to mediocrity Recently at the White House, she unveiled a postage stamp honouring former first lady Barbara Bush and attended a ceremony for military mothers. Her most high-profile move has been championing the Take It Down Act, which implements strict penalties for posting explicit images of someone without their consent. (Trump launched 'Be Best' in her first term, which aimed to stop cyberbullying, an ironic choice given her husband's social media habits. That campaign will continue in her second term.) The post of first lady has always been odd, particularly in modern times. Some first ladies have been highly educated women, successful in their own right, who have had to fold themselves into being the White House hostess. Others have had little interest in being in the national spotlight—or little aptitude for presidential Christmas decor. Nevertheless, the job was compulsory. And unpaid. Each first lady has worked for free, heading up the East Wing of the White House—where every other person draws a salary for their work. Jill Biden was the first to have a full-time job outside of the White House, modernizing the position in a way that ideally continues beyond her term. Democratic first ladies have often been less traditional than Republican first ladies, though all typically pick platforms that have to do with children—like Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' or Laura Bush's 'Ready to Read, Ready to Learn.' 'It's a blank slate for each person and how they want to define it is really up to them. With Mrs. Trump, you have to look at the quality, not the quantity," said Anita McBride, who was Laura Bush's chief of staff and co-author of the book Remember the First Ladies. 'She has shown us consistently that she will always chart her own course." Indeed, she has. In her first term, that was often communicated through fashion, including a memorable $39 jacket she wore emblazoned with the words, 'I really don't care, do u?" Also Read: The page didn't turn but American women aren't going back This time around, she sent an early signal in her official White House portrait, for which she wore a dark suit, indicating that she is approaching her role as a businesswoman intent on cashing in. In this way, she seems like her husband, profiting off of the White House even as she's hardly there. agreed to produce a documentary about her (limited) time in the East Wing, a deal reportedly worth $40 million. And on the eve of her husband's inauguration, she launched her very own cryptocurrency, netting millions, following in his footsteps. This level of grift is an unfortunate departure from other first ladies, who often donated the proceeds of whatever other work they did, such as writing books. In a 2020 survey of historians and scholars, Melania Trump ranked as the least popular first lady and topped the list of modern first ladies who could have done more with the role. This time, she will do much less and get paid much more, continuing the evolution of the position for better or for worse. ©Bloomberg The author is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion.
Bloomberg
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Where Is Melania Trump? Right Where She Wants to Be
Melania Trump began her first term in the White House with #FreeMelania trending online, as observers imagined that she was held hostage to her husband's ideology, rather than a true believer. The saying also captured the peculiar job of the First Lady as a sort of compulsory plus-one to the president. Now, months into her second term, there is a different phrase that will likely dominate her tenure: Where's Melania?
