Melania Sees Being First Lady As A Business Opportunity

Melania Trump has filed suit against the Mail Online, and its print version The Daily Mail, for publishing an article last August that said she had worked as a prostitute. The article was later retracted, but had already been read by millions of people.

I can understand the lawsuit. If the article was wrong (and I'm sure it was), then she probably has a good case for defamation. What bothers me is that she has filed the lawsuit because it could hurt her business opportunities as First Lady. Here is a statement from the filing by her attorney (Charles Harder).

Plaintiff had the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person…to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world.

These product categories would have included, among other things, apparel, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, hair care, skin care and fragrance.

Yes. You read that right. She's suing because the article could have hurt her chance to turn being First Lady into a very lucrative money-making venture. This represents a radical departure from First Ladies of the past. Those First Ladies, of both parties, dedicated them selves to causes that would benefit the people of this country -- not themselves.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. The original posting on the White House website about Melania touted her jewelry line on QVC. Evidently someone pointed out how tacky that was, because the reference to QVC has since been deleted.

She is just following the lead of her husband. Donald Trump has refused to separate himself from his many businesses, making it more than likely that his presidential decisions will benefit those businesses (and further enrich Trump). If her husband sees the presidency as a business opportunity, why shouldn't see see being First Lady the same way?

It seems obvious that the Trumps simply don't have the ethics the public has a right to expect of occupants of the people's White House.