Melania Trump's Softcore Porn Photos
Falsehood Is Trump's Baseline: Two Days, Six Lies And Devious Donald's Third Wife
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/07/falsehood-is-trumps-baseline-two-days.html
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/07/falsehood-is-trumps-baseline-two-days.html
White privilege and why Melania Trump gets a pass, Michelle Obama doesn't
Melania Trump's speech was littered with plagiarism. We all know what we heard.
The fact that the words were stolen from Michelle Obama — one of the most demonized first ladies in the history of America — isn't what bothers me most. It's that many people have refused to hold her accountable.
It is one more example of white privilege that explains why Melania Trump has been treated so delicately while Michelle Obama has had to spend the past eight years on the defensive.
When Melania Trump appeared to be in trouble during her debut in the national arena, people quickly rushed to her defense. She was presumed innocent and easily given the benefit of the doubt. Though Twitter had some lighthearted fun with it, even some television pundits were convinced that it wasn't her fault. It was the work of some careless speechwriter, they surmised, who would surely be fired.
Never mind that Melania Trump told the "Today" show's Matt Lauer hours before giving the speech that she had largely written it herself.
The public was quick to attribute the "misstep" to Donald Trump's unorganized campaign. If anybody is to blame, some said, it was Donald Trump for putting his timid wife out there in the first place.
At first, Trump denied that any plagiarism had occurred, and his people spent all day Tuesday telling us it was trivial. The head of the Republican National Committee even claimed she was quoting Twilight Sparkle from "My Little Pony."
The whole thing would have gone away quietly if the Trumps had just told the truth and apologized. The fact that they didn't seemed to indicate a warped sense of entitlement.
The whole thing would have gone away quietly if the Trumps had just told the truth and apologized. The fact that they didn't seemed to indicate a warped sense of entitlement.
Then on Wednesday, the Trump campaign gave the public what it needed — a sacrificial lamb. An "in-house staff writer" Trump Organization conveniently came forward to say that she was to blame. According to her statement, Melania Trump had read to her over the phone some passages from Michelle Obama's speech as examples. She wrote them down and included some of the phrasing in the draft that later became the final speech. She offered her resignation, but the Trumps refused to accept it, saying it was an "innocent mistake."
Clearly, this is just another attempt to further deflect scrutiny from Melania Trump. If that is what happened, why didn't Melania Trump notice the problematic wording when she looked at the final version? Better yet, why didn't she notice the familiarity of the phrases when she was speaking them?
Either way, the would-be first lady is ultimately responsible for the words that came out of her mouth that evening. That's how it is once you make it to the big leagues.
Either way, the would-be first lady is ultimately responsible for the words that came out of her mouth that evening. That's how it is once you make it to the big leagues.
Just as it is hard to overlook the similarities in the two speeches, it is difficult to ignore the disparities in how Melania Trump was received in her public debut, compared to Michelle Obama in hers.
Like Melania Trump, Michelle Obama never asked to be in the public spotlight. The first time she appeared at a political convention, she didn't feel comfortable speaking to the nation either. But she has never been able to garner the empathy and patience people were willing to immediately bestow upon Melania Trump.
A month before Michelle Obama was to give her speech in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, The New Yorker magazine used a caricature of her dressed in military fatigues and carrying a machine gun on its cover. The drawing, which also portrayed Barack Obama as a flag-burning Muslim, played into stereotypes the candidate and his wife had been fighting throughout the campaign. Though it was satirical, it seemed insensitive given sentiment among the right wing that she was anti-American.
Once the first lady moved into the White House, the criticism didn't let up. She has been hammered for everything from wearing shorts on a family vacation to traveling to Spain with her daughter.
During a speech to graduates last spring at Tuskegee University, the first lady talked openly about the challenges she faced early in her husband's campaign. Everyone wanted to know what kind of first lady she would be. What kinds of issues would she take on? Would she be more like Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton or Nancy Reagan? The first lady acknowledged that these kinds of questions are to be expected.
So far, the public has not demanded any substance from Melania Trump. People have been too preoccupied with her beauty — how stunning she looked in that white designer dress she wore on stage at the convention.
Based on her plagiarism, perhaps we can assume that she admires Michelle Obama and would like to be more like her. Beyond that, we don't have a clue.
Michelle Obama also spoke about other questions she faced — conversations that she said were rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others.
"Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating?" she said. "Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?"
The New Yorker magazine cover knocked her back a bit, she said. "It made me wonder just how are people seeing me?"
Soon it became clear. Everything she did from then on was suspect.
When she and Obama did a fist bump on stage after he won a primary, some people called it a "terrorist fist jab." She's been called "uppity," one of Obama's "cronies of color" and "Obama's baby mama."
No first lady should have to endure eight years of nonstop criticism pouring down on her. Particularly not one as accomplished as Michelle Obama.
Indeed, there are many who admire her for her education and career path, how she fearlessly speaks out on everything from childhood obesity to gun violence and how she has infused the White House with a sense of coolness and classiness it hasn't had in decades. But sometimes, that gets lost in the ugliness.
Perhaps Melania Trump would have a lot to offer as first lady as well. But we'll never know until we start asking the questions.
And if she's smart, she'll answer in her own words and not somebody else's.
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