Melania Trump has been a figure of much discussion throughout this presidential campaign. She unflinchingly believes in her husband, but is also not allowed to speak for herself for much of the campaign. The few times in which she has spoken for herself, like her speech at the Republican convention, she has come off as oblivious, unintelligent, a fraud, and blindly obedient to her husband and his policies. During this interview with Anderson Cooper that happened last night, she labels all of the mainstream media that has reported on her husband's allegations of sexual assault as dishonest and that the media outlets are in a conspiracy with Hillary Clinton to make Trump look bad. Her inclination to disparage and criticize women in a similar way to how her husband does is confusing to consumers of modern media and also unlike other female political figures in the limelight. I watched this whole interview but I thought that this reaction to it was something worth reading.
Melania is such an interesting case to me, particularly the double standards of her role as wife versus Hillary's role as wife. Why is it that Hillary is "responsible" for her husband's affairs and is seen as weak, conservative, or any other number of pejorative terms for actions she had no control over, yet Melania does not face the same criticism, despite the accusations of sexual assault and infidelity against her husband being arguably worse?
ReplyDeleteLike you said, Jo, she herself is also a problematic figure. In her interview with Anderson, I was particularly struck by her comment that Donald was merely "egged on" by Billy Bush and that the two of them were 'just boys being boys' (not a direct quote but she said something similar!). Although she admits that this is 'not how it should be,' she still essentially lets her husband off the hook because that's just what boys do! We all know why this kind of logic is toxic, but that kind of a statement perpetuates rape culture in the same way that Donald's "locker room talk" defense does.
On a side note, this article perfectly shows how Trump often exploits Melania's status as a woman/as his wife, pushing her into whatever direction he feels is most fit (excuse the overt political commentary): http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/27/politics/donald-trump-melania-trump-joint-interview-speeches/