Melania Trump completely changed her take on the jacket from "I really don't care."
In June, the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, made a trip to McAllen, Texas, one of the epicenters of the crisis due to the separation of families caused by the policies of the government of her husband. As she got on and off the plane, she was wearing an olive green jacket with these words written on the back in white: “I really don't care. To you?".
The sentiment triggered a media circus. Was she trying to get a message to President Donald Trump about his policies on the border? A message to the media about how they cover her? To the Democrats who publicly wondered how she had been able to marry her husband?
It was NONE of those things, insisted Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's spokeswoman. "It's a jacket," she said in response to questions from the media. There was no hidden message.
Grisham reiterated that nothing to see message in a subsequent tweet. "Today's visit with the children in Texas greatly impacted @FLOTUS," she tweeted, mentioning the first lady's official account. "If the media were to spend her time and energy on her actions and efforts to help children - instead of speculating and focusing on her wardrobe - we could do a lot for children."
That, of course, was never true. (The headline of the article I wrote about the jacket read: "Melania Trump's jacket from 'I really don't care. You?' Was not a mistake.")
And now we know that the idea that Grisham was trying to sell was just wrong. How? Melania Trump told us!
She told ABC News's Tom Llamas that she put the jacket on “for the people and the left-wing media that are criticizing me. And I want to show them that I don't care. (The ABC interview occurred during Melania Trump's trip to Africa but aired Friday night.)
That matches the way the president described his wife's decision to wear that jacket at the time. "'I DON'T REALLY CARE, YOU?' Written on the back of Melania's jacket refers to fake news outlets," Trump tweeted. "Melania already knows how dishonest they are, and she really doesn't care about her anymore!"
So Melania and Donald Trump are now on the same page. But June's Melania Trump and October's Melania Trump are not.
On some level, this is all silly. Who cares what jacket the first lady put on? Did it have any significant impact on her interactions with children separated from her parents at the border or on her husband's immigration policies? Almost certainly not.
At the same time, why not just tell the truth? Why lie about something so much? Not that the Trumps had a great media relationship in June that she was worried about jeopardizing. Literally nothing has changed between June and now in terms of how the Trumps interact with the press. They despised the media then, and they despise them now.
This thoughtful response is the kind of thing that has become commonplace in this administration. Whatever the media (or "haters") say, say the opposite. The truth is not the important thing.
