You got to know it’s Advent when American civil religion kicks into gear for Christmas and Hanukkah prep.
Just outside of the White House every December on the Ellipse is a gigantic menorah set up by Jewish groups. Last week, President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, lit the official White House Christmas tree and made Christo-centric remarks about the cross as “a powerful reminder of the meaning of Christmas.”
At least that’s how the conservative LifeSiteNews reported it. CNN reported on the same event, but omitted the remark about the cross.
Inside the White House, things were less serene. Melania Trump has staged holiday displays there for the past three years. Each time, she’s been trashed in the media as a tasteless rich man’s wife who wouldn’t know true decorating sense if she fell over it.
This year reached a new low a few hours after the Christmas décor photos were released to the press at the unfriendly hour of 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 2.
Around noon, Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan released a critique: “Melania Trump’s Christmas decorations are lovely, but that coat looks ridiculous.”
For her tour, Mrs. Trump wears all white: a dress with a simple jewel neckline, white stiletto-heeled pumps and a white coat. The coat is draped over her shoulders as she strolls through the White House.
The coat looks ridiculous.
But more than a silly fashion folly, the coat is a distraction. It’s a discomforting affectation taken to a ludicrous extreme. In a video that is intended to celebrate the warmth and welcoming spirit of the holiday season, that simple flourish exudes cold, dismissive aloofness.
It’s a bit late for Givhan to have a problem with Melania’s off-the-shoulder coat-wearing habit. FLOTUS has been dressing like that for some time.
Within a day, Givhan had been turned into the new Christmas grinch, starting with Fox News calling her out for being a hater. “It has become an annual holiday tradition for the media to attack all the First Lady does,” a White House press secretary told them.
Fox also said that the Post’s tweet promoting the story received nearly 4,000 negative comments compared to only 688 likes as of Tuesday morning. By the following Sunday night, it had 1,600 likes. I couldn’t figure out the number of negative comments but there were a ton.
It wasn’t only the Post trashing FLOTUS, it was also the Daily Kos, Jezebel, Daily Beast, Mother Jones and Refinery 29, according to the helpful list assembled by Charlotte Allen’s always enteraining Stupid Girl blog.
You can understand the fury of some of those responders on the Post’s Twitter account when you compare Givhan’s Melania coverage to her fawning (no other word for it) Michelle Obama fashion coverage in the previous administration.
Other outlets, such as Mashable, even did a retrospective on the Obama White House Christmas decorations. There was some major mourning over what Christmas might look like in a Republican White House.
This year, Bustle.com was restrained when describing the current décor. But last year, the knives were out for Melania’s choice of blood-red trees to line the East Wing hallway, (which did come off as pretty weird).
If you read the comments underneath this YouTube video from the Toronto Star comparing the decorative tastes of Melania and Michelle, you may notice a number of comments noting that the former included a lot more Christian imagery via Nativity scenes than did the latter.
This points to one of the most interesting mysteries linked to the Trump White House, if reporters were interested in FLOTUS — other than her clothes. The question: Is Melania a Roman Catholic and, if so, does her heritage (remember Pope Francis blessing her mother’s rosary) ever affect her life and her actions?
But back to clothing and holiday decorations.
The New York Times had the last word on this year’s l’incident de Melania with its observations about FLOTUS doing everything she could to ignore the viewers.
They include numerous pics relating to the theme, “The Spirit of America” a “tribute to the traditions, customs, and history that make our Nation great,” according to the announcement: close-ups of the “Gold Star Family tree” (decorated by Gold Star families), the stars and stripes ribbons and ornaments trimming the fireplace of the East Room, and the mini-White House Advent calendar in a window of the Green Room (among other sparkly additions).
So far, so festive. They really are.
What they do not include, however: a portrait, or even a quick snap, of the first lady beaming merrily (or not) amid the glittering greenery. Nothing, in other words, like last year’s portrait of Mrs. Trump walking in seeming bedazzlement down the East Colonnade flanked by blood-red topiary trees, the one that spurred a thousand memes and comparisons to “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Instead, the only shot featuring the first lady in this year’s round is a picture of her … back.
The Times notices the empty-sleeved coat, but makes nothing of it, preferring to view the larger picture.
She may have to go through the motions, but she doesn’t have to stay for everyone’s judgment. She is exiting the scene. …
Perhaps it was meant as a way to defuse the situation so that she wouldn’t be caught off guard the way she was last year. Perhaps she didn’t want to draw attention away from the decorations themselves. Perhaps she is feeling, “I just can’t win.”
She should have just built a moat for herself. Because the message is that she cannot win.
Thus, the reason for the season gets lost amidst the sniping of the media and a woman whose artistic sense is constantly called on the carpet and whose only response is to walk away.