Melania Trump: Attacks on the first lady by the mainstream media in 2018
Coverage of First Lady Melania Trump has been subjected to harsh treatment at the hands of everyone from late-night comedians to mainstream news organizations. From mocking her accent, to slamming her choices of Christmas décor, Melania is constantly mocked and attacked by prominent liberals and media members. Here are some of the most over-the-top attacks on the first lady of 2018.
First lady Melania Trump has blasted “opportunists” in the media who use her name to advance themselves, but 2018 had no shortage of attacks on the president’s wife. She said earlier this year during an interview with ABC News that she is “the most bullied person in the world.”
While Melania has thick skin, she said she takes issue with false and overwhelmingly negative coverage.
“It doesn’t hurt, the problem is they’re writing history and it’s not correct,” she recently told Sean Hannity.
The coverage of Melania has been subjected to harsh treatment at the hands of everyone from late-night comedians to mainstream news organizations. Here are some of the most over-the-top attacks on the first lady of 2018:
Jimmy Kimmel mocks Melania’s Slovenian accent
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel didn't hold back against Melania while mocking the 140th annual White House Easter Egg Roll, which she hosted in April. At one point, Kimmel directed the audience's attention to a clip of Melania reading the children's book to a group of young kids.
After playing about 10 seconds of footage, Kimmel chuckled and mocked the first lady's accent, repeating the last words she read.
“Dees and dat,” Kimmel joked, of her pronunciation of “this or that.”
He then turned to his sidekick on the show, “Guillermo, you know what this means? You could be first lady of the United States.”
CNN’s April Ryan says Melania isn’t “culturally American”
Critics slammed CNN’s April Ryan back in May when she suggested that Melania is "not culturally American" when discussing the “Be Best” campaign to combat cyberbullying.
“This is a first lady who is not culturally American, but she is learning the ways and this is not just an American issue. These are not just American issues,” Ryan told “OutFront” host Erin Burnett. “These are international issues. Cyberbullying is an international issue. Social media is international and also the opioid addiction issue, so it’s not just here, but it’s abroad as well.”
The first lady was born in Slovenia but has been an American citizen since 2006 and has lived in the country since 1996.
MELANIA: TALK ABOUT MY ACTIONS, NOT MY FASHION
Media ponders whereabouts during kidney treatment recovery
The notoriously private Melania didn’t make a public appearance for a few weeks following a five-day hospital stay in May for treatment of a kidney condition, but she had been seen around the White House and wasn’t exactly “missing in action.”
However, several media members and influencers floated conspiracy theories regarding Melania Trump’s absence. Some even speculated that she was a victim of domestic abuse.
CNN reporter Brian Stelter's “Reliable Sources” newsletter even led a June edition with a giant graphic of a calendar, placing question marks on each date since Melanie was “last seen” on May 10. The headline referred to her as "M.I.A." Beneath the graphic, the newsletter specifically stated that she was expected to attend an event to honor Gold Star families. Before the event, which the first lady attended as planned, Stelter implied that it wouldn’t count as an appearance in his eyes.
“BUT BUT: The event is closed to the press, so Monday evening may not resolve the mystery,” Stelter wrote. He made a similar argument on Twitter, writing “if the event is closed press, it means the ‘Melania hasn't been seen in public’ issue will linger.”
MSNBC anchor asks if Melania is “dead inside” or “paid off”
MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace came under fire in June for making a derogatory comment about the first lady and first daughter Ivanka, asking if they are “dead inside” or simply being “paid off.”
On her show "Deadline: White House" Wallace pondered how women close to the president cope with the allegations of the president’s infidelity.
“Are they just the most stoic human beings, are they numb, are they dead inside, are they paid off, I mean, what’s their deal?” Wallace asked.
CNN BASHES MELANIATRUMP, SAYS SHE “CONTINUES TO WHINE” ABOUT BEING FIRST LADY
Joy Behar says the first lady “was in Slovenia doing nothing” before coming to America
During a September appearance on CNN, Behar mocked first lady Melania Trump, saying, “OK, she was a model, now she’s the first lady. I mean, come on.”
“She is now enjoying the fruits of the American country,” Behar said, before commenting on the first lady’s parents. “They’re enjoying chain migration, which a lot of people in this country unfortunately are not enjoying because her husband wants to stop it. Why shouldn’t she go along with it? You know, she was in Slovenia doing nothing. I don't know what she was doing there.”
First lady look-alike mocks Melania in rap video
Rapper T.I. released a video in October featuring a first lady look-alike stripping in the White House. In a promotional video for his album, a woman resembling the first lady strips in the Oval Office.
In a statement to Fox News Grisham said: "Like it or not, she is the First Lady and this is the White House. It’s disrespectful and disgusting to portray her this way simply because of politics. These kinds of vulgar attacks only further the divisiveness and bias in our country - it needs to stop."
TRUMP SLAMS ‘VICIOUS’ MEDIA COVERAGE OF MELANIA
“Ellen” producer says he’s scared of “another Melania” entering America
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” executive producer Andy Lassner declared in October he’s more afraid of “another Melania” entering the United States than the caravan of thousands of immigrants marching from Central America.
The far-left Lassner isn’t technically a member of the media, but he oversees one of the most popular talk shows in America and has a large following. He took to social media for a jab at the first lady, tweeting: "I'm way more afraid of another Melania getting in to this country than I am of any caravan of human beings seeking asylum."
The first lady's spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham took the high road and responded to Lassner by inviting him to an event the first lady was hosting for children at the White House to discuss kindness.
“The View” guest host suggests first lady could have been a mistress
ABC News’ “The View” guest host Yvette Nicole Brown suggested in October that Melania may have once been one of her husband’s “mistresses.”
The hosts were discussing the first lady downplaying reports about the “alleged infidelities” of her husband when Brown raised the question: “Is it possible that she’s not concerned with his mistresses because she was one of them?”
Melania’s critics even find an issue with Christmas decorations
When Melania unveiled the White House’s Christmas décor last month – for the second year in a row – she was attacked, mocked and even vilified for the people's house’s holiday furnishings. Mainstream media outlets such as The Washington Post, USA Today, Time, HuffPost, San Francisco Chronicle and Vice all mocked the decorations, often masking their disdain by focusing on the backlash of trolls on social media.
The decorations include more than 20,000 feet of lights, 14,000 ornaments, 12,000 bows, wreaths made from pencils, an enormous gingerbread house, 40 topiary trees and a lot of red – which the first lady’s office called “a symbol of valor and bravery.”
The first lady -- who has said the media needs to focus on important things -- brushed off criticism and invited everyone to check the decorations out in person.
MELANIA BRISHES OFF CHRISTMAS DÉCOR CRITICISM: “I THINK THEY LOOK FANTASTIC”
Vogue magazine attacks White House Christmas portrait
The photo, which the first lady shared on Instagram, features the president and his wife looking happy amid a room filled with Christmas decorations. The Struggling Vogue attacked the portrait in an article posted on magazine's website that says the image “feels so strangely off.”
The hit piece, which ran without a byline, was headlined, “What’s Up With This Year’s Surreal White House Christmas Portrait?” It accused “FLOTUS and POTUS of looking almost like cardboard cutout versions of themselves” and declared they shouldn’t smile amid negative news that is currently in the headlines.
Vogue even rolled out so-called “art experts” to criticize everything from the president’s outfit to the lighting.
Melania Trump visited troops in Iraq. (White House)
MEDIA SNEER AT MELANIA TRUMP’S FASHION CHOICES, FAWN OVER MICHELLE OBAMA’S
Media sneer at Melania Trump’s fashion choices
When first lady Melania Trump accompanied her husband to visit the troops in Iraq on Christmas Day, the media -- in the style of the 2004 movie “Mean Girls" -- went from “that is so fetch” to “you can’t sit with us!”
Melania has been ridiculed over her footwear in the past, and wore a simple shirt, pants and Timberland boots to visit the troops. But this raised some eyebrows in the media, including Yahoo News, where an article appeared: "Melania Trump gets mocked for wearing Timberland boots while visiting the troops.”
The mocking in this instance came from a handful of Twitter users, with Yahoo noting that “one person even suggested that putting on Timberlands was a last-ditch effort by FLOTUS after getting critiqued for her other shoe choices -- including the infamous “storm stilettos.”
“However, it wouldn’t be the first time that Melania wore a pair of the brand’s boots, and similarly got mocked for them,” the article said, linking to an article in 2017 when Yahoo last reported on Melania being mocked for wearing Timberlands.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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