Melania and equality

I enjoyed the one about your hubby charging ahead.
he got a bit better when I had my leg in a plaster, even opened the car door for me and walked solicitously by my side
However, back to nearly normal now, he does look over his shoulder occasionally and say 'are you with me??'

I think it was inevitable you would have a backlash after the result and inauguration. People are just so shocked that he is in power and have to vent. It remains to be seen how he will treat his wife and other women long term. I am not holding out much hope. Most of the power moments I have seen since he has been sworn in show men, men and more men. Occasional glimpse of a female in the background. But it is early days. Now is the time to start planning to reverse the decision next time.

jalima, ditto re your comments.

I enjoyed the one about your hubby charging ahead. I have one like that. He's not a boor, just socially awkward. Something tells me (politics aside) The Donald is too.

Which comment has hit on another thought: don't the pettiness warriors ever separate people from their politics? I don't think I've expressed that very well. What I'm trying to say is along the lines of it being perfectly possible to 'like' and be friends with someone with whom you profoundly disagree on politics or religion. I think it's important to remember that.

Box o' chocs.

Glad it wasn't just me, merlot, who was a bit surprised by Michelle Obama's... what can I call it?... fluttery awkwardness (I should say apparent fluttery awkwardness) when Melania handed her the gift.

gillybob, I think your comments are sensible and non-judgmental. Just think what a song and dance there is when the gutter press, or whoever, is judgmental about a woman the trendy 'meeja' like/approve of.

I thought it was a pizza box and then when told it was a Tiffany box( who am I to know these things) I decided it was a bejewelled pizza. And yes I think our own dear Queen would simply have held it out for a lady in waiting to take#americanscantrunashowcanthey

merlot probably. But in the scheme of things..........

I felt sorry for Melania when they were received by the Obamas. I don't think Michelle Obama put herself in a very good light with a kind of 'What am I supposed to do with this?' expression on her face when Melania handed her a gift.

Accepting a gift in a gracious manner is surely something that should come naturally after eight years as First Lady?

I was answering suzied and MaizieD

and I think it was meant to be a bit of lighthearted repartee
ha ha ha lol

Who knows? I don't and I don't care.

As Paul and Debbie's was a love match perhaps theirs is too (it has lasted for 12 years!!).

We can but wonder what attracted the young Melania to the billionaire Trump.

Oh, suzied, I had to

Do you remember Mrs Merton interviewing Debbie McGee, by any chance...

This is what Laura Pennie has written about Melania:

"Attacking any woman in order to hurt her husband is lazy sexism, and doing it by way of her figure or fashion choices is lazier and more sexist still. This puts me and any other writer with feminist principles at a disadvantage, because at first glance there’s nothing else to Melania: over the years, she has been systematically stripped of all personality signifiers whatsoever beyond her body and what she puts on it. This is how Trump wants his women: as “pieces of ass”, to use a favourite phrase. She drifts in the Donald's wake like a fibreglass mannequin, a woman commentators regularly declare “a mystery”, despite the fact that her background, private life and, indeed, most of her body are available to inspect at the click of a button.

None of which, incidentally, speaks less of her. It is galling to watch left-wing men, in particular, muster to fling mud at a woman who clearly has, in her own way, very few choices, and is very publicly starring in the reality-television adaptation of American Psycho. We should be better than this."

www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2016/12/we-should-be-kind-americas-first-victim-melania-trump

Pennie sometimes makes me squirm a bit, but in this case, I agree with her.

I once discovered that the mother of one of my pupils was a 'Russian wife' who had met her future husband on a dating site. My pupil was her son and had been adopted by her British husband. Over the years, the son let slip some details of his parents' relationship. My initial reaction was that I couldn't understand why the wife stayed with her husband - I certainly wouldn't have done. However, I had more choices than she did. She had escaped a repressive regime and was undoubtedly better off financially than she would have been and her son was getting a decent education. Who knows?

And 'just wait till I get you home to The White House'

Storms in tea cups when there is so much more to worry about.

Usually accompanied by a hissed 'BE QUIET!'

gillybob

I wonder if there are any swans in the White House!

We can but wonder what attracted the young Melania to the billionaire Trump. I agree horrible sniping comments about her are as bad as all the hateful misogyny , death and rape threats directed at femaleMPs, lawyers etc who have the audacity to open their mouths.

It is obvious what she is doing from the clip.

I have used that expression on DC who are about to say something loudly at an inopportune time!

Jalima
Exactly though, this silly petty stuff should stop, it's boring tittle tattle .The only things that matter are his policies.

dd, I think it was grannyknot who first coined Fussbook on Gransnet

I very much recommend the radio hour with Ham and Payton. It's not all heavy. It is the last third that is about the press and social media silliness. The first third is about the fashion choices of female politicians. It's good listening to me because it challenges my world view. I don't want to get into a rut of stupidity. One has to understand what one disagrees with to fight it.

Well you raised it in the first place thatbags

Fussbook?! Love it!

I think the same about so many issues (not just Trump). There is so much exaggeration (lies?), which distracts from real issues.

Who knows what Melania is thinking? Maybe she had an ingrown toenail or period pains and adopted a 'wooden' expression to cover up what she was really thinking and feeling. I expect she's been given some kind of advice on the protocols of being First Lady.

Slightly off topic but I have a photo of my wedding day (taken in our local park) and my DH is pulling a weird face. He looks like he is saying something nasty or very rude to me and my face looks quite shocked. In fact what he was saying is "don't look now, but there is a huge swan about to peck your dress" and there was!

So you really don't know anything by just a photograph taken in a split second.

X post (slow typing)