Melania and equality

As a former model, I cannot imagine that she would feel in the slightest bit awkward walking up those stairs alone. without the strong arm of a man to keep her up

What will affect the American people and more importantly us are his policies.

So far climate change denier is a major worry.

Protectionism - if he really means it - means a closed door after Brexit.

If I was a Muslim I wouldn't feel very comfortable either.

No idea if anyone here knows him Gillybob, I think people can judge fairly a man after hearing his views on torture etc

Ham and Payton then go on to give more examples of Fussbook level made up 'news' that has no corroboration, not even anonymous corroboration. Essentially, the shouters of "Love trumps hate!", are spewing out a vomit of hate. A little more reflection wouldn't go amiss, especially as this media vomit is, in part, exactly what made previous voters for Obama turn around and vote for Trump.

I looked at the clip yggdrasil posted and I didn't see the same thing at all. I saw her nod and smile at Donald then look down to pray then look sideways and downwards at someone next to her with a frown. Perhaps Barron (out of shot) was saying something to her and she was giving him a 'mother's look' to warn him to be quiet.

Or is it just me.

I agree with gillybob

It's not that I'm defending Trump, ww, more that I'm criticising the hate-mongers. I'm as worried as anyone (well, worried, anyway) about What He Might Do but the stupidity and pettiness of much of the press and social media outpouring is ridiculous.

So there's your answer, not defending anything but criticising something. The "goodies" in the media war on Trump are being idiots.

Tricia
But perhaps I am used to eastern European names so it seems quite normal to me.

Which is just as worrying as the man they hate.

I want the press to challenge Trump and Trumpism in a responsible way. Even the New York Times is going in for Fussbook level non-reporting, not supported, tittle-tattle about Trump and his administration. It's not good enough.

I agree thatbags - and the more the media concentrate on pettiness the less they will concentrate on what really does matter to the world.

I must warn DH to stop charging off ahead of me in case people consider him to be a boor and ungentlemanly.

X post (slow typing)

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.

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.

Well you raised it in the first place thatbags

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.

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

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

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!

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.

gillybob

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

Usually accompanied by a hissed 'BE QUIET!'

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.

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?

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...

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