Flippancy or provocation? We know why Melania Trump wore her "I don’t really care" jacket
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the American First Lady's ex-best friend, explained the reason for the dress choice in her book Melania and Me, published this Tuesday, September 1.
"Melania and I: The rise and fall of my friendship with the First Lady." This is the title of the book by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, ex-best friend of Melania Trump, published this Tuesday, September 1 by Gallery Books editions. In her book, the author returns in particular to a landmark episode, which occurred on June 21, 2018, during a visit by the First Lady to undocumented children on the border between the United States and Mexico. Donald Trump's wife was sporting a khaki-colored Zara jacket at the time, with the words, "I don't care. And you ?"
Hidden message to the US president, flippancy or provocation to media attention? Theories were rife on the reasons for this dress choice. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff has since provided some answers in her work. Former advisor to Melania Trump (2017-2018) says that when discussing the media fallout of the event with the First Lady, the latter allegedly burst out laughing. Before retorting: "I decide for myself what to wear." According to Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Melania Trump would have worn this jacket for political reasons - which the first lady had already said, by putting more forms on it.
"I'm driving them crazy!"
"I'm driving the Liberals crazy!" she would have confided. You know what ? They deserve it !" A little later, Melania Trump reportedly continued: “Some people are doing too much on this. They interpret my outfit choices, but they don't really know me. They think so much that their heads will eventually explode. I don't care what they think. They are always negative. ” Melania Trump's $ 39 (32.5 euros) jacket had fueled various theories at the time of this event.
Among them, that of Kate Bennett, CNN correspondent at the White House, according to which this choice would be directly related ... to Ivanka Trump. By way of explanation, she indicates in her own book Free Melania that at the time, the first lady was fulminating that her daughter-in-law would benefit from the relaxation of the president's position on immigration, while it was obviously she who had made her husband go back.
"It won't stop me from doing what I think is right"
Zac Petkanas, a communicator affiliated with the Democratic Party, interpreted the choice of this jacket as a form of contempt for the children whom Melania Trump visited. “It's not a joke,” he tweeted. Melania Trump wore a jacket saying, "I don't care, do you?" to go to child detention centers. I am left speechless. ”
Daily Mail reports that Melania Trump boarded her plane to Texas wearing a jacket that said on the back, "I really don't care, do u?"https://t.co/SeNGeux5jB pic.twitter.com/owHqTAyPdO
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) June 21, 2018
Melania Trump subsequently reacted to the controversy on ABC News. “Obviously I didn't wear this jacket for the kids,” she said. I only wore it to get on and off the plane. It was a message for the people and the media on the left who criticize me. I want to show them that I don't care. You can criticize as much as you want, that won't stop me from doing what I think is right. ”
Fifteen years of friendship
For its part, the White House would take a dim view of the publication of the book Melania and Me. Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for Melania Trump, claimed in Hollywood Life columns that the book was "not only very megalomaniac, but did not tell the truth." "This is a bizarre operation to distort the truth (...)", she added. The author says she had a fifteen-year friendship with the First Lady.
Their relationship is said to have deteriorated in February 2018, after the publication of a New York Times article. The daily revealed that the inaugural committee of Donald Trump had paid Stephanie Winston Wolkoff $ 26 million (21.7 million euros) for her contribution to the organization of the investiture ceremony of January 2017. What the main one interested firmly denies, received in support. She also blames Melania Trump, her lifelong friend, for not having taken her defense. "A Trump remains a Trump", she concludes, concisely, in Melania and me.
