Tag: Melania Trump

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Melania Dragged For Maskless White House Christmas Tour

First Lady Melania Trump with children wearing face masks at the White House
First Lady Melania Trump is probably very happy to be done with her last Christmas in the White House. Yesterday, her official Twitter account shared a short video showing her showing the White House decorations to young children (all wearing face masks) while she didn’t bother to wear a mask even though that’s the official position of the CDC. That, plus the leaked audio of a conversation with a former aide where she complained about having to oversee the holiday decor of the White House (“Who gives a f*ck about Christmas stuff and decoration…?”), is probably the most transparent perspective we’ll have of the soon-to-be-former First Lady. Twitter wasn’t amused.

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Podcast: LGBTQs Named For Biden White House, New Holiday Music & More

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • The Biden/Harris transition team has named LGBTQ White House veterans to prominent roles in the incoming administration • The murderer of a transgender teen has been sentenced to life in prison • Homophobic high school teachers in New Jersey were caught dissing a queer colleague during a Zoom class • Award-winning singer/songwriter Justin Utley released his first holiday single, “All is Bright” • First Lady Melania Trump planned to light the White House in rainbow colors during Pride Month but the idea was shut down • A new poll shows LGBTQ voters did NOT turn out in record numbers for Donald Trump after all All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report podcast

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Melania Trump Wanted To Light Up White House In Rainbow Colors For Pride

First Lady Melania Trump (photo: Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
The Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson reports that First Lady Melania Trump wanted to light up the White House in rainbow colors this past June in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month, but with Donald Trump’s homophobic Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the mix, the idea was never carried out.

Meadows had a significant role, one Republican source said on condition of anonymity, in ensuring the Trump White House ignored Pride Month, which is why President Trump didn’t send out a tweet to recognize the annual LGBTQ celebration as he did in 2019. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Meadows weighed in specifically on shutting down the rainbow lighting proposal at the White House.

Earlier this year, in an article on the Trump campaign’s plan to engage in unprecedented LGBTQ outreach for a Republican presidential nominee, the New York Times reported several aides suggested he send out a tweet this year recognizing June as Pride Month. That didn’t happen.

In contrast, Trump in 2019 tweeted out a message recognizing Pride Month, becoming the first Republican U.S. president to recognize the annual LGBTQ celebration. But 2019 was before Meadows came to the White House.

The First Lady later recorded a video message for the Log Cabin Republicans wherein she declared she was “shocked to discover” that folks perceived “my husband as anti-gay or against equality.” Prior to joining the White House in March 2020, Meadows represented North Carolina’s 11th congressional district where he accrued a consistently anti-LGBTQ record. In addition to voting against the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal civil rights laws, he voted in favor of prohibiting the U.S. military from paying for transition-related care for transgender service members. Meadows was also a vocal opponent of legalizing same-sex marriage. In a 2013 interview, he hysterically declared marriage equality would be a ‘constitutional crisis‘ if the U.S. Supreme Court made it a reality (which it did in 2015).

“It’s a huge invasion into state’s rights and the state definition of marriage, whether you call it traditional or natural marriage,” Meadows said at the time. “I call it marriage, you know, it’s between one man and one woman, period.”

Meadows consistently received a rating of “zero” on the Human Rights Campaign’s congressional scorecard during his time in the House.

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News Round-Up: October 2, 2020

Happy World Smile Day from Snoopy
Some news items you might have missed: • World Smile Day: Talk about ‘who can turn the world on with his smile?’ Snoopy (above) sends TGIF greetings to all. #HandsomeDog #DogsRule • The Advocate: A man was dancing with a female friend recording a TikTok video in Lower Manhattan on Saturday when an unknown assailant called him a homophobic slur and punched him repeatedly in the head. The assailant fled on foot, and the New York Police Department’s hate-crimes unit is investigating the incident as a bias crime. • Pink News: In a letter to USA Today’s political reporter Susan Page, who will serve as moderator for the upcoming vice presidential debate, 13 LGBT+ rights groups asked her to address queer rights, as it would “do our nation and community a disservice to exclude these issues as a part of the conversation.” • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s lastest round-up of LGBTQ publications including DNA Magazine’s latest issue (below) featuring Ian Utterback on the cover.
Ian Utterback covers DNA Magazine (photo: James Franklin)
• USA Today: Newly revealed secretly recorded conversations with Melania Trump show the first lady expressing dismay at her role in decorating and promoting the White House during Christmas time, while she was being criticized for not doing more meaningful work. “I’m working my a– off with the Christmas stuff that, you know, who gives a f— about Christmas stuff and decorations but I need to do it, right?” Trump is heard saying. • Washington Post: Amazon said Thursday that nearly 20,000 of its U.S. employees had tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began. The retailer has faced harsh criticism as hundreds of workers and critics have said it hasn’t done enough to keep employees safe as they work in its warehouses amid a surge in demand to send items to shoppers across the country. • Twitter: File this clip of Donald Trump mocking Joe Biden for wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic under “Didn’t age well.”

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The Trumps, 9/11 And The Pledge Of Allegiance

Umm… On one of the most solemn occasions in the history of the United States, the First Lady can’t say the Pledge of Allegiance? I usually leave political spouses out of things, but this is really quite odd. p.s. it looks like the Donald forgot half of the Pledge including the “under God” part, which is ironic since he accused Democrats of leaving that out of the pledge during their convention last month.

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Melania Trolled For Lackluster Renovation Of WH Rose Garden

(images via the official Twitter account of the First Lady)
First Lady Melania Trump proudly tweeted photos of the White House Rose Garden today. From NBC News:

The White House Rose Garden has been spruced up in time for its moment in the campaign spotlight. First lady Melania Trump will deliver her Republican National Convention speech Tuesday night from the garden, famous for its close proximity to the Oval Office.

The three weeks of work on the garden, which was done in the spirit of its original 1962 design, were showcased to reporters on Saturday. White House officials said the renovations were paid for by private donations. They declined to reveal the cost of the work.

The location of the first lady’s speech will be just one of the ways that the Republican National Convention will break with political norms.

Many folks on Twitter were aghast that the First Lady ripped out all of the color and 12 mature crabapple trees that were planted by First Lady Jackie Kennedy. I’m not one to attack presidential spouses, but the results are less than “better.”

In addition to the first lady’s convention speech, Donald Trump will deliver his address Thursday night from the White House’s South Lawn, where a stage was being constructed over the weekend. Federal rules prohibit the White House from being the setting for expressly political events, but when did Trump ever care about “rules?” NBC News reports that the trees that were removed will, thankfully, be replanted elsewhere.

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Supercut Video Contrasts Fox News Hypocrisy In Treatment Of Michelle Obama Vs Melania Trump

The folks at NowThis share this video compilation contrasting how differently the folks at Fox News treat First Lady Melania Trump versus her predecessor, Michelle Obama.

The folks at NowThis share this video compilation contrasting how differently the folks at Fox News treat First Lady Melania Trump versus her predecessor, Michelle Obama.

Even on similar subjects, the treatment is shockingly different.

When Michelle opted to encourage kids to eat better, it was called the “nanny state.”

But when Melania launched her ‘BeBest’ campaign asking kids to stop bullying, she’s a saint.

There’s much, much more.

Hit the play button – you’ll see.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Asked About Melania Trump’s Fashion, Vogue’s Anna Wintour Gushes About Michelle Obama

First Lady Melania Trump (L), Anna Wintour (R)

In an interview with Anne McElvoy for The Economist’s podcast, legendary fashion guru and editor-in-chief for Vogue Magazine, Anna Wintour, threw serious shade at First Lady Melania Trump in the most finessed manner you can imagine.

Sometimes, not saying anything at all is the purest form of shade.

In a discussion about Donald and Melania Trump’s sense of fashion, McElvoy notes the Donald’s often “ill-fitting suits and strange trousers and red baseball caps,” but then pivoted to Melania.

“Melania is much more put together,” said McElvoy. “She did come to the UK and I think very consciously wanted to see herself as an ambassador for British fashion in this case, or a transatlantic ambassador. Do you value that?”

“Well,” began Wintour, “I think First Lady Michelle Obama was really so incredible in every decision she made about fashion. She supported young American designers. She supported designers, indeed, from all over the world. She was the best ambassador this country could possibly have, in many ways, obviously way beyond fashion…”

And at that point McElvoy interrupted to bring the discussion back to Melania. “But she’s not the First Lady now – what about the one you have now?”

“…beyond fashion, and for me, she is the example I admire,” continued Wintour, putting a period on her thoughts.

Earlier in the chat McElvoy noted that the Trumps don’t seem to make the pages of Vogue Magazine, and the journalist wondered if that might be “a conscious decision?”

Wintour responded, “There’s so many women in politics that deserve celebration, whether it’s Kirsten (Gillibrand) or Senator Harris, or Senator Warren.”

See what she did there?

 “We just recently ran a piece in our current issue about five of the six political female candidates, all of which I felt deserved a place in Vogue,” she continued. “And how wonderful that after a lot of naysayers saying that after (Hillary Clinton) not succeeding that it would be very difficult to find a voice in the current presidential campaigns. How wonderful that that is not the case.”

“I think that both Senator Warren and Senator Harris are among the top candidates right now,” added the woman who provided the inspiration for Meryl Streep’s ‘Miranda Priestly’ in The Devil Wears Prada.

Realizing her question had been sidelined, McElvoy circled back a few minutes later.

“We just glided, or perhaps it’s clear, I don’t know, past the question of Melania and where she features in Vogue world,” said McElvoy. “Do you feel that she’s not the right person to feature in the magazine?”

“I think it’s important for Vogue to support women who are leading change in this country,” answered Wintour.

And, scene.

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Twitter Thought Designer Tom Ford Trolled Melania Trump

Twitter lost its mind this morning when a quote attributed to fashion designer Tom Ford began to circulate wherein he reportedly referred to First Lady Melania Trump as a “glorified escort.” Slow your roll, Twitter - Tom Terrific never threw that shade.
Tom Ford and First Lady Melania Trump

Twitter lost its mind this morning when a quote attributed to fashion designer Tom Ford began to circulate wherein he reportedly referred to First Lady Melania Trump as a “glorified escort.”

Slow your roll, Twitter – Tom Terrific never threw that shade.

The quote that went viral was in reference to the designer refusing to dress the First Lady.

“I have no interest in dressing a glorified escort who steals speeches and has bad taste in men,” is how the quote read, but, no source was attributed.

The comment was probably somewhat believable in that Ford did say during a November 2016 appearance on The View that he had ‘declined’ to dress her some years before explaining, “She’s not necessarily my image.”

He went on to add that he felt his clothes were “too expensive” for a First Lady as he believed the wife of a president has to “relate to everybody.”

But no – Tom didn’t call Melania a “glorified escort.”

But ’Tom Ford’ was trending on Twitter anyway with Trump supporters calling for a boycott of all things Tom Ford.

And that’s where it got pretty funny.

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Melania Trump Has Deputy National Security Adviser Fired

Melania Trump

Have you ever heard the sage advice that you should never get in a spat with the boss’s wife?

Enter Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel, who after a series of run-ins with the First Lady’s office, is now being shown the door.

Apparently, the straw that broke the camel’s back Ricardel getting upset when First Lady’s team didn’t have room for her on the plane for Africa, and tried to block NSC resources for the trip.

Chief of Staff John Kelly eventually intervened on the First Lady’s behalf.

Stephanie Grisham, the First Lady’s communications director, issued a sharply worded statement on Tuesday expressing displeasure.

“It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House,” Grisham said.

It’s an extraordinary move for the First Lady’s office to publicly call for the firing of a National Security Council official.

Ricardel has been on the job since April. So, this was a pretty long tenure for a Trump administration official.

The Washington Post does report that Ricardel has had several clashes with past and current White House officials.