Politics - News Analysis

MAGAs Go Berserk After Don Lemon Says Michelle Obama is More Accomplished and Better Looking than Melania Trump

Okay, this is an older story. Don Lemon doesn’t even have a show anymore, and was fired from CNN for…reasons. But I saw some tweets about this and figured I would rerun it, because Melania Trump has been getting on my nerves lately. Heck, she’s always gotten on my nerves, but I am so sick of Republicans claiming Melania was the classiest and most beautiful First Lady when she literally did nothing. She is most known for the cruel jacket she wore to visit migrant children separated from their parents.

So yeah, let’s run this article again, because even three years later, every bit of what Lemon said was 100% correct, and has only proven to be more correct as time goes by.

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Don Lemon didn’t just get Trump angry this time, he has the entire Right Wing all up in arms, calling him out, calling him names, telling him why he’s just an awful person and journalist. The problem here is that they “sorta” miss the entire point, and then get off on tangents that they’d probably best leave alone. It is just a wee-bit hypocritical. After all, their boy – Donnie, leads the way in all of this, and I guess now they’re saying that there is a higher calling for journalists than the president of the United States.

We could probably use just about any source from the right – they’re all the same, but we’ll just use the Washington Examiner:

This isn’t just sophomoric and incorrect. It’s sexist to its core. It pits against each other two women who, to all appearances, have gotten along just fine, against one another, and on the basis of physical appearances, and for the sole purpose of jabbing at a man.

This checks all the boxes. It is the most sexist and misogynistic means possible of objectifying women: coldly using an unsolicited comparison of their appearances in a matter that has nothing to do with them.

You know what? I will give them that. I will simply say that yes, I would’ve left the appearance of each woman alone.

The one thing that I would say back on that? Are they calling Trump out? Did they mention what Trump had done with respect to Ted Cruz’s wife? It was far worse than what Lemon did, and this didn’t come from the Washington Examiner, but back from the Daily Beast way back in the day:

 Trump then manually retweeted a supporter’s message showing side-by-side images of Heidi and Melania, with the caption, “No need to ‘spill the beans,’ the images are worth a thousand words.

Trump retweeted something awful about Cruz’s wife, side by side’s with a highly unflattering picture versus a highly flattering one. Never mind that Ted Cruz’s wife was also an Ivy-League grad, a Goldman Sachs partner and mother of his three children.

What about going after the only woman candidate in the primary? “Look at that face!”

So how can the Right’s press get so outraged when Trump has already done much worse? They call Lemon “sophomoric!” I mean, how! It is absurd that they will cover anything for that man, but then jump some journalist, as opposed to presidential candidate turned president. Do they not read HIS stuff?

With respect to Michelle Obama’s two Ivy League degrees? Fair game to just ask? Maybe. Don Lemon didn’t come out and say that it mattered, he asked if the degrees mattered. It is one hell of an accomplishment, especially considering society’s barriers to black women who don’t come from big money.

And then Washington Examiner veers into fiction:

 But Trump also speaks five languages and became a successful supermodel in her own right. It’s not only offensive to try and pit their appearances and accomplishments against each other. It’s also plainly dumb.

Trump is the one that has pumped Melania up as some supermodel, and what does that get back to? Someone’s look! Moreover, she was not in any way a “supermodel.” Come on. Someone can be a super person without being a supermodel, but there are about 10 supermodels on earth at any given time and she wasn’t one of them.

Speaking five languages? If we simply count saying “hello” (which is about all she’s got beyond two) is just bullshit and they know it. It is a fable on the Right. In some ways, even counting English is a stretch. She has lived here for over 20 years and it is extremely hard to tell. Most people would be more than conversant, and it’s obvious that she struggles with it.

The true irony is they go after Lemon for simply asking the questions, which is all it was, when Trump is busy viciously attacking everyone, everywhere, that opposes him. His wife is not busy, and when she does something it is usually her “be best” thing. It would be almost the perfect cause to take on for Melania if the irony didn’t melt everyone’s brain! Kids have long supposed to be able to model their behavior on the president’s actions. I am positive that some high school kids – seeing Trump’s tweets – truly believe it is all fair game now, even though most schools have put up a mountainous effort to crack down on bullying.

The whole thing is a mess, and it starts and ends, with the president of the United States, Trump. But the Right-wing media can’t critique him because he’s the god, the cult-leader. So they go after the media questioning him.

Amazing way to “Be Best.”

meet the author

Nicole Hickman James is a lifelong Democrat and political activist who first cut her teeth as a teenager volunteering for Mike Dukakis’ presidential campaign. She has worked and volunteered for John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, HFA (Hillary For America), and Organizing For Action. She’s passionate about liberal and progressive causes and considers President Obama her favorite president ever. She holds her Bachelor’s from Boston College in Economics and her Master's from Columbia, also in Economics. When not working as a writer, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her three college-aged children.

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