Melania Trump revealed on Friday that her “I really don’t care” jacket, which she wore during a June visit to migrant children being held in U.S. detention centers, had in fact been part of an effort to troll her liberal critics.
Melania Trump tells @TomLlamasABC she wore the ‘I really don’t care’ jacket “for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. And I want to show them that I don’t care.” #MelaniaTrump https://t.co/EqEyfZkJvZ pic.twitter.com/2EWeCKB0de
— ABC News (@ABC) October 13, 2018
“It was for the people and the left-wing media who are criticizing me and I want to show them, that I don’t care,” she told ABC’s Tom Llamas, noting she specifically elected to wear the jacket in response to media outrage about it.
“It was kind of a message. After the visit I put it back on because I [saw] how the media got obsessed about it,” she said. “I would prefer they focus on what I do and my initiatives [rather] than what I wear.”
The first lady also said it was “obvious” she didn’t wear the jacket to make light of the detained children. Anyone looking to relive the outcry and analysis over the H&M piece Trump wore can can do so here.
New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman pointed out, The first lady’s answer to Llamas contradicts much of what what her office and the White House said at the time.
White House had claimed this was not a message and faulted people for asking about it. https://t.co/yJR21cqMP5
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 13, 2018
At times during her talk with Llamas, Trump sounded like Hillary Clinton, who frequently blasted critics for focusing on her clothes throughout her political career. Many in the press have now moved seamlessly to picking apart Trump’s clothing whenever she emerges in public.
“I know she said that she doesn’t like the fact that people talk about her clothes, but it was like a costume drama,” said NBC host Andrea Mitchell of the first lady’s outfit in Egypt. “It looked like ‘Death on the Nile,’” she added, referencing the 1978 Agatha Christie film starring Mia Farrow and Peter Ustinov.
Melania Trump’s shoes have also been the subject of fascination by much of the press, like this time she helped plan a tree in a pair of ferocious pink Christian Louboutin stiletto heels.
