Why Did Melania Make Her Speech About Epstein?

 

On Thursday, Melania Trump gave a six minute (and very self-serving) speech in which she denied being friends with Epstein or his girlfriend (Ghislaine Maxwell) - in spite of the many photos of her with both. I doubt that anyone but die-hard MAGA cult members believed her.

She also called on Congress to question Epstein's victims under oath. But she did not offer to testify under oath herself, or ask that her husband be questioned under oath. She also did NOT demand the release of all the Epstein files.

It seems that the only thing she accomplished with her strange speech was to put the Epstein scandal back on the from pages - something her husband had been trying to prevent.

The question now - Why did she make that speech?

Here is some of what Robert Reich had to say on that question:

Why did Melania Trump hold a news conference today? Standing at a lectern in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the first lady labeled as “lies” unspecified allegations linking her to Epstein, and said they “need to end today.”. . .

But who’s even been thinking about Melania and her potential relationship with Epstein or Maxwell in the midst of Melania’s husband’s threat to obliterate 90 million Iranians? Who cares about Melania and Maxwell when the price of gas is through the roof? Why would anyone be interested in such “unspecified allegations” when Iran still possesses 970 pounds of highly-enriched uranium and now has more motive than ever to turn it into nuclear weapons?

 

Besides, there hasn’t been the faintest whiff of scandal about the relationship between Melania and Maxwell, let alone Epstein. . . .

Why, then, did Melania hold today’s news conference?

 

I can think of three possible reasons:

1. She was urged to do it as a way to revive interest in the Epstein scandal. You heard me right. The White House figures that Epstein is easier to handle right now than the fallout from the catastrophe of Trump’s war in Iran. Plus, Pam Bondi is gone and won’t be testifying, and the emerging regime at the Justice Department — Todd Blanche and Harmeet Dhillon — can more reliably be counted on to bury anything in the Epstein files that might incriminate Trump. In other words, a great way to change the subject.

 

2. Amazon is now in negotiations over streaming rights to Melania’s 2026 documentary Melania, which has been a box office bomb, grossing only $16.6 million worldwide against a massive $40 million production budget and $35 million in marketing, and leaving Amazon with a significant financial loss. Amazon and Bezos urged Melania to stir up publicity for herself, and what better way to get attention than to deny any relationship with Epstein?

3. Melania is pissed off at Trump for any number of things, and today’s news conference was a way of letting him know she’s capable of making his life miserable.

"Melania" Movie Is An Obscenity Perpetuating The Myth Of The Good Immigrant

The following is by Inae Oh in Mother Jones:

Melania is more revelatory in its world-historical vapidness than it might seem. Consider that Melania appears to go out of her way to foreground her journey from Slovenian immigrant to American first lady, a story she says serves as “a reminder of why I respect this nation so deeply.” Similarly, the film gives rare space to the immigrants in Melania’s inner circle, including her chief interior designer, Tham Kannalikham, who opens up about her journey from Laos to now decorating the White House, as well as Melania’s father, who is seen beaming with pride in his American daughter. Absent in Viktor Knavs’ film debut is the context of the “chain migration” pathway through which he and his late wife became US citizens, the very same policy targeted by their son-in-law.

“Everyone should do what they can to protect our individual rights,” Melania says at one point. “Never take them for granted, because in the end, no matter where we come from, we are bound by the same humanity.”

What an obscenity to hear this woman employ the language of shared humanity, as the Trump administration kills Americans and systematically kidnaps immigrants and their children. But as galling as they were, the remarks were instructive of both how Melania views her American story and the same anti-immigrant sentiments with which some, in order to prove that they belong here, yank the ladder up from newcomers seeking the same opportunities. Such immigrants, like Melania, cast themselves as the “good immigrant” who came here the “right way.” But the first lady appears to do this despite reports, including our own, that she may have initially been working here without a visa. In other words, she may have violated immigration law. Meanwhile, the immigrants Melania now surrounds herself with, like Tham, are props for that very narrative—with zero mention of her husband’s endless cruelty. But why would there be in a piece of abject propaganda—backed by one of the richest men in the world as he prepares to gut the Washington Post—that many crew members asked not to be credited on?

As a purely cinematic experience, Melania, a ghastly parade of fun-house mirror herstory, will certainly be relegated to the footnotes of her family’s deeper atrocities.

Reviews Of Movie Critics For "Melania" Are Universally Brutal

 

From Rottentomatoes.com

"Mocking Melania Trump's Documentary Is An Act Of Patriotism"

Melania Trump's movie is in theaters now, and it looks like it's going to be a huge dud. I found this post by Rex Huppke (in USA Today) to be humorous (and true), and thought you might like it: 

Like most Americans, I’m over-the-moon excited to not see “Melania,” an unrequested documentary about first lady Melania Trump that was produced by first lady Melania Trump and stars first lady Melania Trump.

Did I mention it’s called “Melania”? A better title might have been “A Turducken of Narcissism,” but that’s splitting hairs.

The documentary opens Jan. 30 in an almost hilarious number of theatersnationwide. Amazon MGM Studios paid the first lady’s production company a whopping $40 million for the rights to the film and has shelled out an additional $35 million promoting the nearly two-hour celebration of meh. I'm sure that investment has nothing to do with a huge corporation trying to curry favor with an administration helmed by the most attention-thirsty political family in history. Total coincidence.

Setting aside Amazon’s intentions, the release of this unprecedented bit of first-lady puffery in a moment when America is in absolute chaos – with horrific immigrant roundups happening daily and masked federal agents gunning down U.S. citizens – provides a convenient chance for patriotic mockery.

And there is plenty to mock, none of which requires you to shell out money to see whatever bloviating bilge Amazon is foisting on the American public.

For starters, there’s the question of why. Why do we need this documentary? Who asked for it, aside from the film’s namesake? And who cares?

Melania Trump has been a largely invisible figure in both Trump administrations and is rarely seen in the company of her husband, perhaps the most relatable thing about her. Her approval ratings are low compared with first ladies throughout history. In fact, she is consistently ranked the least popular.

And as the wife of the world’s biggest bully, she made, without a whiff of irony, an anti-bullying campaign her signature first-term initiative, but “Be Best” was an inconsequential flop.

To be the subject of a documentary, one would think you’d have to accomplish something beyond being a complicit grifter in two of the most cruel, dishonest and dangerous presidential terms in American history.

That might be why the first lady had to bring in Brett Ratner, a director who was run out of Hollywood over sexual assault allegations, to make the film. Given President Donald Trump’s sordid past and the many allegations he has faced, Ratner seems like a real cherry-on-the-sundae pick.

USA TODAY asked Jeff Bock, senior media analyst for Exhibitor Relations, if “Melania” would mark a comeback for Ratner.

“I don't think so,” Bock said. “I think it's the only job he could get.”

Ouch.

Assuming this new documentary flops, as predicted – and even if it doesn’t – we have a patriotic duty to make fun of it and the film’s subject.

Trump lied and continues to lie about the results of the 2020 presidential election, and he fomented an attack on the U.S. Capitol then pardoned all the convicted attackers. Melania remained silent.

Trump has put lawmakers and other American citizens at risk with myriad dishonest and wildly inflammatory social media posts and public comments. Melania has remained silent.

Trump has separated migrant children from their parents, bombed fishing boats at sea under specious claims that they are carrying drugs and spouted racist lies about Haitian immigrants, Somali immigrants, Mexican immigrants and Venezuelan immigrants. And Melania, herself an immigrant, has remained silent.

In response to the killing of Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis, Melania Trump offered a tepid call for peace on Fox News, putting the onus entirely on the protesters: “I'm against the violence. So, please, if you protest, protest in peace. We need to unify in these times.”

The “we” in that statement means anyone who opposes her husband’s violent overreach. WE have to maintain the peace. As if the first lady is doing all she possibly can to keep things cool on her side.

You couldn’t pay me enough to see “Melania,” unlike Melania, who apparently can be paid $40 million to film a celebration of herself. If I wanted to watch someone inconsequential doing nothing for two hours, I could make popcorn at home and stare at myself in the mirror.

People who’ve done nothing to deserve the power they have certainly don’t deserve to make movies about how inspiring they are. And people who would do such a thing tend to viscerally hate being made fun of.

So, with that, you know what to do. This weekend, a film nobody wanted will be seen by a relative handful of lackeys and MAGA diehards while Amazon eats its $40 million investment in ... whatever.

Let laughter fill the air.

The Narcissist-In-Chief Is Not Going To Like This Poll

The YouGov Poll surveyed the citizens of 35 different countries on who they admire the most. Here is the methodology they used:

In December YouGov gathered open-ended nominations from panellists across 35 countries, asking them simply: “Thinking about people alive in the world today, which [man or woman] do you most admire?” These nominations were then used to compile a list of the 20 men and 20 women who received the most nominations and were nominated in at least four countries. An additional 10 popular local figures were added to the lists for individual countries. 

Over the beginning of the year we then used the lists to poll each of the 35 countries asking two questions: “who do you truly admire?”, where respondents could make multiple selections, and “who do you MOST admire?”, where they could only pick one. These two numbers were combined into a percentage share of admiration, displayed to the right of each name in the first graphic and table below, which shows the full results for every country including local celebrities and public figures.

The results for those countries is shown in the charts above. Bill gates was the most admired man because he finished in the top four in every country, while Barack Obama finished low in China and Russia. Obama actually was most admired in 19 countries, while Gates finished first in 6 countries.

Note that Donald Trump did not do well in the survey. While Obama finished second with 9.7%, Trump was far behind in 17th place with 2.1%. Perhaps even more embarrassing for Trump is the fact that he finished behind Obama in 34 of the 35 countries -- and in most he was far behind (seee second chart).

The only country that rated Trump higher than Obama was Russia, and that was only one place better (Trump finished in 11th and Obama in 12th there).

Among women, Michelle Obama finished in second place with 8.0%. Angelina Jolie was first with 8.2%. Melania Trump did not finish in the top 20.

The chart below shows the rankings in the United States. Trump's supporters were able to get him up to second place (10.7%) -- but he was still 13.3 points behind Obama (24%). Michelle Obama finished first among women with 13.2%). Oprah Winfrey was second with 6.9%. Melania Trump finished in 10th with 3.6%.

Trump has done his best to destroy the legacy of the Obama's, but they remain far more popular than he is -- both in the United States and in the world.

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.

Bill Is The Most Popular Presidential Candidate Spouse

I doubt that this survey means anything, but I thought it was interesting. It is the recent Gallup Poll regarding the popularity of the spouses of the presidential candidates. It was done between August 3rd and 7th of a random national sample of 1,032 adults, with a margin of error of 4 points.

It seems that Bill Clinton is 11 points more popular than Melania Trump. But what I found more interesting is the difference shown among the age groups. Those 18-29 give Bill a 34 margin and the 30-49 group gives Bill a 29 point margin. But older Americans like Melania slightly better -- with the 50-64 group giving her a 6 point edge and those 64 and over giving her a 7 point edge.

Also interesting is that Republicans don't like Melania as well as Democrats like Bill. She gets 69% among Republicans, while he gets 84% among Democrats -- a 15 point difference.