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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:
HashiAsLarry · 21/01/2017 02:20

She may have chosen who to marry, but at that point he wasn't even entertaining being president. I feel sorry for every first lady. None of them chose that.

However there's is something a lot different with her than other first ladies. Most of them beam with pride at their husbands, she was strangely stoic. Even the best supermodels convey emotion. It's not even that she's not had practice, she genuinely looked uncomfortable.

NeedaFanjob · 21/01/2017 02:35

He's probably blackmailed her to stay by him. Nauseating man - I'm fascinated how so many think he is about to change the world LMAO. Melania knows he is nothing more than a ferret faced bloater wearing a toupee. When he prods her she thinks he is just happy... likely gets a tiny prod with his probe quite often.

Crispmonster1 · 21/01/2017 02:40

Sheba loved your comment Grin
I felt uncomfortable that he made her speak and clearly so did she. It was unkind.

lemonpoppyseed · 21/01/2017 02:42

She looks a lot more relaxed and happier now (at the Inauguration Ball).

Gingernaut · 21/01/2017 03:54

She may have married for money, but she clearly didn't sign up for this whole First Lady lark. There isn't a political bone in her body.

I do feel sorry for her and really wouldn't want to be her. Hmm

Ivanka, OTOH, she's ambitious. She's very intelligent and very 'savvy'.

I've a feeling that she's one to watch and may even run for president on day herself.

mathanxiety · 21/01/2017 05:06

I would like to see what happened next. He seemed to have been directing her to sit next to someone but she was clearly trying to leave the venue. Based on that confusion, I do not think this was staged, and my opinion is also based on Melania's facial expressions after she had finished speaking and was being manhandled off the stage with clearly no idea where she was supposed to go at that point.

Just on the question of First Ladies adopting a cause and being role models - imo it's akin to the section in Miss USA where each contestant has to present some 'passion' of hers. I think it also smacks of giving the little woman something to keep her busy all day. I think there is a lot of condescension to the whole idea.

ForalltheSaints · 21/01/2017 06:34

I am glad that largely in the Uk the wife or husband of the Prime Minister is given only a little press coverage. Most people are not judged by who they are married to.

Baylisiana · 21/01/2017 07:05

Watch her face while Trump is taking the oath. She is loving this.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 21/01/2017 07:39

Love the idea that a woman who had no problem posing naked several times is uncomfortable with the spotlight Grin

Collaborate · 21/01/2017 07:51

People should appreciate the sacrifice she has made, ensuring that no other woman has to be married to Trump.

Jaagojaago · 21/01/2017 08:06

No other woman has to be married to Trump for the moment

hippyhippyshake · 21/01/2017 08:44

Omg that can't be a wig! No one in their right mind would buy that! I've always thought it was an Amazon 2-for-1 matching hair dye/foundation product. You live and learn.

Peregrina · 21/01/2017 09:09

I thought she looked fed up, and so did her son. Contrast that with the way the Obama family looked when Barack was being sworn in, or going further back to how the Clinton and Gore children looked - a little overwhelmed maybe, but happy and proud. Not edgy and nervous.

Julia2016 · 21/01/2017 09:22

Melania and Trump are a tale as old as time, model marries billionaire, they both get something out of it.

I don't think British people who have an un-elected Royal Family can talk about Melania, at least her husband was democratically elected and she was part of that package.

While she isn't someone I'd like my DD to aspire to, she is democratically there, she is very poised and elegant and she'll carve her own role I'm sure.

SirChenjin · 21/01/2017 10:10

Why can't British people (or at other nationality with a monarchy) talk about Melania? Does that extend to those of us who have a great deal of sympathy for her and who are republicans in their views on the monarchy?

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 21/01/2017 10:15

She isn't democratically there - he is. They didn't elect her and whomever he was married to would be First Lady.

I'm sure many conservative republicans would prefer that the First Lady was someone with a little dignity and not someone who had posed nude on several occasions!

Julia2016 · 21/01/2017 10:25

Americans vote for a president who generally comes with a happy family, that's the way of it. Whether it is a real happy family or not, look at the Kennedys, they called it Camelot but it clearly wasn't in reality. Melania was part of the election process.

What I meant re British people is, we can't exactly talk much about the family that are head of state given they weren't democratically elected and are hardly role models.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 21/01/2017 10:27

The queen is only there to advise and sign stuff though - she's a figurehead.

A better comparison to the White House is Downing Street.

SirChenjin · 21/01/2017 10:30

Agree with Livia - and to be fair, our royal family are far from immune to criticism of a personal nature.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 21/01/2017 10:32

Yes - you don't have to look far for a royal bashing thread or indeed a government bashing one - that is our right, just as we have the right to criticise other foreign leaders

MitzyLeFrouf · 21/01/2017 10:38

Ivanka, OTOH, she's ambitious. She's very intelligent and very 'savvy'.

I've a feeling that she's one to watch and may even run for president on day herself.

Jumping the gun a bit there! Ivanka is poised and intelligent but she has done nothing so far to indicate that she is in any way suited to political office. Also, let's see how daddy dearest does during his term. The Trump name may well become a by word for disaster and abject failure. There'd be no future political career for Ivanka in that case.

Bestthingever · 21/01/2017 11:03

Has anyone seen the footage of them dancing at the inauguration ball? It's really fucking painful. They both look so awkward. There's no warmth between them.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 21/01/2017 11:08

I also think Ivanka will heading towards politics and maybe eventually run for president

Trump has had no experience of political office it didn't stop him his ego and desire for a political dynasty will im sure open doors for her she has already been sitting in meetings with heads of state ffs she had no business being there

UnexplainedOnHerCollar · 21/01/2017 11:09

Yes I thought she looked like she was trying to avoid her body or face touching him. I haven't seen her do a genuine smile at any point.

I remember at Obama's first inauguration he said "How good looking is my wife?!" in a speech at the ball. It was maybe an unusual thing to say but it came across like he really was bowled over with how stunning she looked and that they were in it together. It was similar recently when he paid tribute to her in a farewell speech. The vibe from the Trumps is completely unlike that - there's no indication of love or being a functioning team.

I do agree the whole first lady concept is dubious and it would be better if the first spouse could just be minimally involved and get on with their life - however it is how it is for the moment at least, so there is a lot of pressure on her.

Bestthingever · 21/01/2017 12:19

Tbh having to dance on a stage in front of hundred of people isn't a very enjoyable situation but it hasn't been a problem for past presidents. They don't seem a very happy couple.