Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Melania has made a terrible mistake hasn't she?

349 replies

LadyGlitterSparklesSeriously · 20/01/2017 09:36

Trump prods reluctant Melania to speak

She doesn't want to be there.

I feel quite sorry for her.

OP posts:
SirChenjin · 20/01/2017 16:17

We must be - either that or you're not reading the body language from both DT or MT very well. It's painful to watch.

diddl · 20/01/2017 16:31

I agree it's painful-because it's so cringeworthy obviously set up.

She does a slight shake of the head & then launches straight into her obviously rehearsed speech.

OneOrgasmicBirthPlease · 20/01/2017 16:37

Yeah, and then she runs off the stage despite him telling her twice to sit down in front of him next to Phil, so pleased she is with the staging. She is clearly not in on the joke, even if you are, diddl and BertrandRussell.

SirChenjin · 20/01/2017 16:50

Exactly One.

She was put on the spot in front of millions by her husband so simply repeated the same lines she's been saying for months now whilst looking mortified and incredibly uncomfortable, and then her husband shouted across the room at her and told her where to sit as she tried to gather herself. If you find that treatment of another person cringeworthy then that's your issue.

greedygorb · 20/01/2017 17:10

Why would anyone feel sorry for her. She doesn't refute his horrendous words or actions. If he humiliated her than I'm sorry but my sympathy for her is limited because she supported this excuse for a man and helped get him elected. I'll keep my sympathy for all the poor bastards in the US who are going to get fucked over by a Trump presidency.

She willingly made a pact with the devil. Even if she walked away without a penny she would hardly be on the streets. My guess is she puts up with him because she is well rewarded for doing so, brings up their son and lives a separate life. He does what he wants and she doesn't moan. This whole politicians wife thing is probably a nightmare because the great American public are expecting a textbook marriage not a mutually beneficial arrangement.

BertrandRussell · 20/01/2017 18:14

I agree, greedygorb. She is an adult woman. She is there through choice. I refuse to comment or criticize her appearance, but I am also not prepared to think of her as a poor weak woman.

OneOrgasmicBirthPlease · 20/01/2017 18:35

Luckily, sympathy is not a finite resource. I feel sorry for her and for all the people suffering harm because of the divisions stoked by her hateful husband.

I even feel sorry for the hateful husband hinself. How small must he really feel on the inside if he is acting out such a ridiculous caricature of a man? However much people hate him, I rather suspect he has more self-loathing than people imagine. That, naturally, does not make him any less dangerous, particularly as he now appears to have been sworn in as POTUS with the most brittle ego in living memory.

SirChenjin · 20/01/2017 18:40

Rather than poor or weak, I suspect that she is bullied, emotionally abused, and has had much of her self confidence knocked out of her - it would certainly appear that Ivana was treated as such (to be put it rather mildly - the missing files on the rape accusation are most strange, for example) and I refuse to believe that this particular leopard has changed his spots.

UnexplainedOnHerCollar · 20/01/2017 19:13

She is an adult woman. She is there through choice...

Unfortunately we know that in cases of long-term abuse, you can be both of these and still end up in a very controlled and unconfident state, as that is how it works. We don't know that's what's going on, but it's highly possible given his attitude to women and Ivana's accounts.

Baylisiana · 20/01/2017 19:23

Melania could have fallen on her sword and potentially brought his campaign down. She should maybe have done so. There are times when the greater good has to be considered.

He is a horrendous, monstrous man. You marry that, you clearly reap what you sow.

I am staggered that anyone here considers anyone around Trump who did not speak out against him blameless. Or that anyone has sympathy for Melania. I really don't get it. Haven't you realised yet....these people are all evil?

SloanyAnne · 20/01/2017 19:28

I wouldn't want him ferreting round my bins. I can't begin to get my head round the fact that she's happy to have him firtling in her hooha much less start to drum up much sympathy.

Megatherium · 20/01/2017 19:29

I liked the quote in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - something along the lines of "People have been wondering what Melania saw in Donald Trump, but that's easy. Four billion dollars and a sky-high cholesterol count."

blowmybarnacles · 20/01/2017 19:53

I feel very very sorry for her. She didn't sign up for the life she now has. She may have wealth but she has no freedom and will be at the hands of the baying press and media.

UnexplainedOnHerCollar · 20/01/2017 22:18

SloanyAnne! Now my horror of his hands is combined with horrendous firtling images... Thanks for that :o

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 20/01/2017 22:24

She didn't sign up for the life she now has

One could argue that she has. She has married someone who she knew to have ambitions and she knew his character, so she would have expected not to be treated as equal, what with him being a billionaire and her a model. She knew he was going to do whatever he wanted when she married him.

TresDesolee · 20/01/2017 22:35

Total speculation, but from all the awful stuff we know about Trump I've come to the conclusion that he's not remotely interested in sex. It's all a power play, a gauche signalling to other men (who he thinks display their sexuality by assaulting women), a pass to what he believes is the Guy Club. Anyone who was confident about sex/sexuality wouldn't say or do the things he does. It's like watching a chimpanzee pretend to be a Parisian by putting on a beret and shouting 'FROGS' LEGS'

SirChenjin · 20/01/2017 22:39

Of course- but I doubt she thought she'd be doing it on an international stage in front of the world's press, being largely ridiculed for her lack of intellect and compared very unfavourably to other high achieving First Ladies.

I'll bet she imagined a very privileged life in a closed off environment, mixing with other similar women going to charity lunches, shopping and raising her son.

OlennasWimple · 20/01/2017 22:40

She reminds me of Charlene Wittstock on her wedding day - wants to get out of there, but there's nowhere to run and hide Sad

Susiesoop · 20/01/2017 22:58

This 'speech' doesn't look staged at all. The first small shake of her head is so quick it's a reflex, she wasn't expecting him to do that and didn't want him to. He actually forces her up there by leaving the podium so she has no choice! Hats off to her she gives it a good shot but and her discomfort is all over her face and body language. The way he leads her off stage ....shudder.

WorkingBling · 20/01/2017 23:19

She has a son. And he's a president who has managed to somehow take power with massive questions re his legitimacy. Never mind the fact that he has huge conflict of interests.

I assume that a) she has been long term abused and has come t think of her situation as unchangeable and/or b) trump has threatened her son/her access to him etc.

He needs her to remain because all those Americans who voted for him, want to see a happy family in the White House.

derxa · 20/01/2017 23:23

Why don't I see what all of you see? It's a mystery.

PickledCauliflower · 21/01/2017 00:04

There are posts on this thread saying Malania Trump is being abused and had no way out of her marriage.
I think this is mad speculation and totally OTT.

PickledCauliflower · 21/01/2017 00:05

Sorry for typos.
Contacts in and no reading glasses on 🤓🤓🤓

Clnz4fun · 21/01/2017 01:11

It's shocking people are saying she knew and got what she deserves and if she wasn't happy then she can leave easily.

She's married to what was a powerful man to now the most powerful man in US, I imagine she can't just up and leave, money is the carrot and now children and mass media are the stick to beat her with.

lemonpoppyseed · 21/01/2017 02:05

There were a few times today where she was obviously overwhelmed, and tried to take her husband's hand, but he generally wasn't interested in reciprocating. I do feel sorry for her. It seems like there is no way out for her in the immediate future. I hope she surrounds herself with good people in the White House who will help her do valuable work.