A tale of two First Ladies
“I’m driving liberals crazy, that’s for sure.” And with those words, then First Lady Melania Trump, who was frequently referred to as “classy” and “just like Jackie Kennedy” by her Republican idolaters, explained why she wore a jacket that said “I really don’t care, do u?” while on her way to a migrant detention center in 2018. Yeah, classy. Just like Jackie.
I hate to break it to her, but we liberals weren’t driven crazy, we were simply baffled and disgusted. Baffled because the message was clearly inappropriate and her choice to wear the jacket was an act of embarrassingly masochistic self-immolating exhibitionism. Disgusted because it diminished the gravitas and dignity of the office of First Lady, and the wearer was too stupid to know how pathetic and small it made her look for wearing it in the first place.
Contrast that with the single word “Love” that Dr. Jill Biden wore on the back of her jacket while visiting the gorgeous coastline of Cornwall in the southwest of England. “I think that we’re bringing love from America, I think that this is a global conference and we’re trying to bring unity across the globe and I think that’s important right now.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the message on Melania’s jacket was bizarrely intended to troll the “libs” and send a message of ridicule and hate. The message on Dr. Jill Biden’s jacket was intended to offer unity in the spirit of global cooperation and universal love. “I really don’t care, do u?” is a message that draws a line and divides a people. “Love” requires neither explanation nor justification.
If anyone is wondering, this is yet another reason why a recent Pew Research Center poll measuring America’s image abroad shows how that image has rebounded in the transition from Trump to Biden. The reason can be captured in microcosm between the wardrobe choices of the two First Ladies.
This isn’t a partisan opinion, it’s a statement of objective fact. Had the messages been reversed and had Dr. Biden worn an obscene graffito of hate and division on her back, I would have nothing good to say about it. Had Melania worn the word “Love” on her back I would have nothing bad to say about that. It has nothing to do with partisan politics. It has everything to do with what is appropriate and what is not.
Notwithstanding, I’m sure Fox News and the conservative media will have something horrible to say about Dr. Biden’s sartorial choice and her message of unity through the single word “Love.” And they will say it without a shred or irony, because they are a deeply partisan and disgustingly biased pile of journalistic hacks.
You have to pity such people because they have their work cut out for them. I’m reminded of the vicious attacks on Dr. Biden’s PhD thesis. One conservative “pundit” writes of it that “People assume that because Mrs.[sic] Biden received a doctorate, her paper must have been a ‘dissertation.’ But it wasn’t; in reality, it was a mere ‘executive position paper.’” When he wrote that the critic, Eugene Volokh, was hoping (correctly) that most Americans wouldn’t bother to read Dr. Biden’s thesis and notice he’s actually plagiarising it by making such a claim! Well I have read it. It states quite clearly in the introduction, “This Executive Position Paper (EPP) will look at the needs of students in order to ensure a higher rate of student retention.” It’s a strong piece of writing, by the way, and well-reasoned. Dr. Biden earned her PhD.
The “classy” and “Jackie Kennedy-like” Melania Trump, on the other hand, lied under oath about her academic qualifications in order to gain citizenship in America. Her citizenship should be reviewed and revoked, just as soon as her idiot husband is sent to prison.
Thank goodness we have someone with real class and actual dignity and demonstrable intelligence as America’s First Lady again, and not that cold, android-like witch that we had to endure for four miserable years. Yes, Dr. Jill Biden is a woman of intelligence, warmth and class. She even gives Jackie Kennedy a run for her money. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.