Now this is what you call a fashion faux-pas.
Melania Trump has been slammed over an unfortunate choice of jacket on her damage-control mission to visit children displaced by America's immigration crisis.
Arriving at Andrews air force Base in Baltimore, the First Lady wore a US$39 (A$57) Zara coat with graffiti-style writing on the back, which read, 'I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO YOU?'
President Donald Trump offered up his own explanation, saying the jacket's message was intended as an attack on the "Fake News Media". Whatever that means.
“I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2018
Mr Trump has long dismissed any news reports he disagrees with as "Fake News", dating back to his 2016 presidential campaign.
But regardless, people were furious over the jacket:
“I don’t really care, do you?”
— Steve Redmond (@sjredmond) June 21, 2018
Melania Trump launches her husband’s new slogan for the 2020 election campaign.
Somebody please take the matches away from these people.
When I saw coat @FLOTUS wore on her journey to witness heart-wrenching situation w #BorderChildren my 1st thought (after wtf) was: Doesn't she have a staff? How could any high-functioning aide allow his/her boss to undermine the essential goodness of her deed so grotesquely?
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) June 21, 2018
To be fair, Melania’s other option was a cardigan that read “Ideally, everyone is white.”
— Amir (@blumenfeld) June 21, 2018
You know what else? If you are *anyone* and wear a jacket that reads “I really don’t care, do u?” you’re kind of terrible. It’s 2018 and apathy is how we got here.
— sarah maclean (@sarahmaclean) June 21, 2018
Evidently someone alerted her to the cringeworthy style choice, because the coat was soon replaced with a cream safari-style jacket and a demure look of blissful ignorance:
It's also worth noting the offending jacket is an unusual fashion choice for the First Lady, whose expensive designer wardrobe has been well-documented.
Let's face it, the ugly-ass crumpled hoodie falls short of her usual standard:
Considering her usual outfit style, you can only wonder if this was a deliberate snub as opposed to a slip-of-the-mind faux pas.
Several social media users shared this view:
It’s pretty obvious Melania’s jacket was a middle finger to all of the people suddenly pretending to care about the separation of migrant families when it happened under Obama for many years.
— RAM (Richard Armande Mills) (@RAMRANTS) June 21, 2018
A lot of us “really don’t care” about the media and their lies either, @FLOTUS. Preach!
If you think Melania Trump wore a jacket that said “I really don’t care. Do you?” to visit border kids by accident, you’re utterly clueless. I’m willing to bet she takes special care with what she wears. This was an intentional middle finger.
— Melen (@Mindcryme) June 21, 2018
This is a deliberate effort by the Trump administration to shift the news narrative from children and babies being torn from their parents and locked in cages to Melania’s wardrobe. DO NOT FALL FOR IT. https://t.co/0OEBTy2GKJ
— Andrew Wortman (@AmoneyResists) June 21, 2018
But her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said the jacket was not designed to send a message.
"It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope this isn't what the media is going to choose to focus on," she said.
The First Lady left the White House quietly on Thursday morning and flew to Texas for the unannounced visit, a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order keeping intact families who cross into the US illegally from Mexico.
The first lady met with officials and employees at the facility, where 55 children aged 12 to 17 are housed. Six of them were separated from their parents upon crossing the border, authorities told reporters.
Mrs Trump's first stop was the Upbring New Hope Children's Centre, a department of health and human services-overseen facility.
She was greeted by Upbring CEO Dr Kirk Senske, who said: "We treat them like our own children."
Mrs Trump asked many questions, seeking assurances that they are being properly cared for.
She was told the children are "usually distraught" when they arrive, but "when they see the environment they start relaxing", CNN reports.
"I'm glad I'm here and I'm looking forward to seeing and meeting children, but first of all let me begin to recognise each of you and thanking you for all that you do, for your heroic work that you do every day and what you do for those children," Mrs Trump said.
"I'd also like to ask you how I can help these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible," she said.
Later, she toured a section of the facility where the children have bedrooms and was told they maintain their own rooms.
She visited a schoolroom at Upbring and chatted with about 20 young girls and boys who had school folders on their desks. She spoke to many individually through a translator, and as she walked out she told them: "Be kind and nice to each other, OK? Nice to meet you."
Donald Trump has signed an executive order early this morning ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the US border illegally.
"We're going to have strong, very strong borders, but we're going to keep the families together," said Mr Trump yesterday.
He cited his daughter and his wife, saying: "Ivanka feels very strongly, my wife feels very strongly about it, I feel very strongly about it. I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it. We don't like to see families separated."
He said his order would not end the "zero-tolerance" policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. The order aims to keep families together while they are in custody, expedite their cases, and ask the Department of Defence to help house families.
Justice Department lawyers had been working to find a legal workaround for a previous class-action settlement that set policies for the treatment and release of unaccompanied children who are caught at the border.
Still, Mr Trump's order is likely to create a new set of problems involving length of detention of families, and may spark a fresh court fight.
More than 2000 children have been separated from their parents at the border in the past six weeks, and distressing images and audio have emerged of youngsters crying for their mothers and fathers.
World leaders, senior Democrats and Republicans, the United Nations and religious leaders have united to speak out against the damaging policy.
- with wires
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