Some Revelations: Melania Trump, Her Achievements, and Our Degraded Culture
Born in 1970 in Slovenia, Melanija Knavs, known today as Melania Trump, spent much of her childhood in Sevnica, a city of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. Her father was a member of the Communist Party, but his daughter was secretly baptized by a Catholic priest. From the age of 5, Melania worked as a model, first in Slovenia, then in Milan and Paris, before moving to New York. There she met Donald Trump, a businessman and celebrity 24 years her senior. They married in 2005 and together they had a son, Baron William Trump. Before becoming first lady, Melania founded successful jewelry and skincare companies.
A closer look
Now let's look at some details.
Melania speaks six languages: Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, English, French, Italian and German. She was a very successful model.
She is a good mother. After her husband's inauguration in 2017, Melania kept her son in the Manhattan school for the remainder of the academic year instead of placing him in a new school in Washington.
Despite various reports and speculation in the press, the Trumps appear to be happily married.
She can be tough. When Britain's Daily Mail reported that she had worked for an escort service during her modeling days, Melania sued the newspaper, the Daily Mail admitted her false accusations, and the court settled the case in her favor.
In public, the first lady always appears decked out like the model she once was. Judging from what we know of the state dinner he hosted for French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, Melania's taste for entertainment is as exquisite as her taste for clothing.
Many foreign diplomats and leaders have complimented her on her elegance and education.
As first lady, Melania prefers shadows to spotlights. She seems to be most comfortable visiting children in schools or hospitals. She started the Be Best campaign, advocating against cyberbullying and the use of illegal drugs by young people.
So here we have a first lady who is beautiful and intelligent, a caring mother and a loving wife, and a proud patriot of her adopted country.
Ambush
So why in the past four years has some in the press denigrated her so much? Why attack a woman who brings so many positive attributes to the White House?
Some of them have vilely criticized her Christmas decorations, her accent, her religious faith — she was once attacked for reciting the Lord's Prayer in public. Some consider her a Trump showpiece, "a visual ornament," ignoring her obvious intelligence and behind-the-scenes involvement in White House affairs. This deluge of denigration is what undoubtedly led her to comment, during an interview with ABC News in October 2018, "I could say that I am the most harassed person in the world."
By now, any objective observer knows that the mainstream press as a whole despises Donald Trump. For most of his presidency, major television news stations, with the exception of Fox News, have given Trump 90 percent negative news coverage. During recent impeachment hearings, that negative coverage soared to 96 percent. That same objective observer might assume that the press has been trying to destroy Trump.
But why go after his wife?
Possibilities
Is it because they hate it? That seems unlikely. Melania fits the model of a successful woman. What's there to hate in her unless you don't like her husband's choice?
Could some of these critics be jealous of her? Again, that option should seem unlikely to us. Those in the press and in the general population whose savage hatred of the president has introduced a new disease into our culture, the Trump Insanity Syndrome, could hardly envy his wife.
Or is it that they beat up the first lady because they fear her?
Here we come to firmer ground.
We live in a harsh age. Increasingly, our culture seems to be rotten, our traditions aside, our standards shattered. For the most part, we have removed all mention of our faith in the public square and replaced it with the worship of consumerism.
We place less and less emphasis on the well-being of the family; Some climate change advocates now view children not as a resource to be loved and treasured, but as a carbon footprint on the planet. We promote sexual practices that would have horrified our ancestors. We elevate athletes and movie stars to demigod status, we live to entertain ourselves, we put rights above responsibilities, and we don't teach our young people the classical virtues.
The list of rude vulgarities goes on and on. As C.S. Lewis noted in "The Abolition of Man", "We make men without breasts and expect from them virtue and initiative." We laugh at the honor and are surprised to find traitors among us. "
Melania Trump is a living rebuke to this dark side of our culture. Family oriented, God believer, a classy woman who came out of little Slovenia and rose to fame and prominence, mostly because of her guts, desire and street smarts, she is strong in the face of adversity and apparently happy with his life.
An example
Suppose young women start to take this woman as their role model. Suppose 12-year-old Annie looks at Melania and wants to be a wife and parent like her. Suppose your older sister reads about her or watches her on television and finds her a serene and confident woman who overcame all kinds of obstacles in her life, and decides to emulate her goodness and grace.
Instead of pulling out the big guns and targeting Melania Trump, we should applaud her.
Those who continue to bombard the first lady reveal much more about themselves than about her.
