How much more humiliation can Melania Trump take?
The United States asks a lot of its presidential partners. Fair or not, these become national marital role models. We don't really care if they have separate rooms, but we do expect them to show some respect and affection for one another.
We all like it when they seem to be in love, like George and Laura Bush, or Barack and Michelle Obama. Even Bill and Hillary Clinton, despite all their problems, seem to enjoy each other's intellect and accomplishments. We also want them to be devoted parents.
We don't get good vibes from the Trump marriage.
The worship-demanding president would no doubt love Melania to look at him as Nancy Reagan watched Ronnie. But Ronnie didn't cheat on Nancy with pornstars and playmates.
What's distressing to many Americans is that Melania appears to be a prop on her husband's reality show. During the inauguration last year, when the new president turned to say something to her wife, her face lit up for a second. As soon as he was away from her, her happy mask of hers disappeared. Months later, she rejected the president's hand as they walked down the runway in Israel.
"These people are under constant scrutiny," said University of Washington sociologist Pepper Schwartz, an expert on relationships and sexuality. "Has anyone ever seen a loving gesture between them?"
Our first lady seems not to be having a good time. Only in the last month, amid the daily chaos that is the White House with Trump at the helm, the president's womanizing stories and his techniques to censor them have become a source of daily information.
Pornstar Stormy Daniels claimed she was paid to keep quiet about an affair she claims she had with Trump shortly after Melania gave birth to her son, Barron. Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney and self-described "fix boy" for the president, announced that he had paid $ 130,000 to the actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, but he did not elaborate on why.
Last week, The New Yorker reported that former Playboy bunny Karen McDougal kept a diary of her affair with Trump, which began in 2006 and lasted for nine months, around the same time she was seeing Clifford. McDougal revealed that the National Enquirer, whose publisher is a friend and protector of Trump, paid him $ 150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story, then never published the article (Trump has denied both).
Melania had already dodged the conspiracy in Davos, after news of the payment to Stormy Daniels broke. Bunny McDougal followed, and there was more passive aggression from the wife: on Friday, Melania's office, citing a scheduling problem, announced that she would drive alone to Andrews Air Force Base instead of going by helicopter. with her husband from the White House.
Perhaps Melania passed the helicopter because she is getting tired of walking across the White House lawn in her heels, but there was also an absence at a dinner in Mar-a-Lago, which her husband organized with Geraldo Rivera and his stepchildren, according to to the Washington Post.
Melania seems to be punishing Donald, but why?
"I don't think she ever imagined that she was going to be faithful to him," Schwartz said. “This is a man who has never stopped putting pressure on women. The preponderance of the evidence, as they say, is quite compelling. "
Punishment, in that case, may be due to relentless humiliation.
Surely, Melania Trump knew what she was getting into by marrying the man who would become our 45th president.
Twenty-four years her senior, Donald Trump had already been divorced twice. He was a notorious adulterer, womanizer, and sexist, and a regular guest on the Howard Stern radio show, where he proclaimed about his then-girlfriend Melania's breasts, the attractiveness of his own daughter, and his belief that when a woman turns 35, it is "time to retire."
Melania defended her husband after the infamous "Access Hollywood" video came to light during the 2016 presidential campaign. The future first lady of the United States dismissed her husband's boast about being able to grab female genitalia. women as "a talk of men", and considered that her husband had been "goaded" by presenter Billy Bush.
Then, when more than a dozen women declared that Trump had sexually harassed or assaulted them over a period of four decades, the former model attacked them. His stories, he said, were "lies." "This was all organized by the opposition," Melania Trump, 47, told CNN. "Have you ever checked the backgrounds of these women? They don't have any facts."
Well, you certainly can't blame a wife for supporting her husband. Unless, of course, she's a Democrat, like Hillary Clinton. In that case, she will be vilified for supporting him.
Last year, there was a lot of speculation about the durability of the Trump marriage, which focused mainly on Melania's tolerance levels. Ironic memes include the famous hashtag "#FreeMelania" (free Melania).
Thirteen months ago, at the first Women's March, there were numerous hand-made posters ridiculing the expression of the first lady, usually with a fearless face, with captions such as: "Melania, blink twice if you need help!" It was long before new details emerged about the porn star and the playmate.
A Marist poll released on Valentine's Day (!) Found that 43% of Americans believe the Trumps should stick together; 34% stated that Melania should go and 23% were unsure. We cannot imagine what it feels like to put one's marriage to a popular vote.
Over the past year, Melania's approval has risen. She is now much more popular than her husband. It is not a big surprise; most first ladies are dearer than her companions. In Melania's case, the bar was pretty low given Trump's poor rating ratings, but it's a good thing for her.
Last fall, during a dinner at the White House, the president acknowledged the popularity of her wife and called her "the star of the Trump family," according to news reports. “They love her out there, I tell you. We walked all over Florida. We toured all of Texas, everyone loves Melania. "
As the president has a history of trampling on his marriages, it is good to know that at least someone currently loves Melania.
