First lady Melania Trump’s ‘I don’t care’ jacket causes a stir

She was on a compassion mission. “It’s a jacket. There was no hidden message”, she said of the olive-colored item, which is already sold out. One who has meticulously minded her public image for decades – not just since her husband started running for president. “Melania, how could you?”

“I’d also like to ask you how I can help these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible.”

This does not fall in line with any of the fashion choices that we have ever seen Melania Trump pick, so it is very weird. While that’s the impression you may get from dozens of headlines, it’s wrong. But she has lots and lots of jackets.

“There was her husband’s interpretation, as expressed via his favorite communication method, Twitter: “‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?’ written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media.

But when she landed in McAllen, Texas, she was in a cream, double-pocket shirt with no words on the back. And the only thing you could really conclude from that, since it’s so out of the realm of what she’s done in the past, is that this jacket was chosen intentionally.

She popped into a class where children were learning about angles and lines, and then an English Language Arts class where the kids were learning how to celebrate the Fourth of July.

That last point can’t be overstated.

New Hope staff reassured Mrs. Trump, who was accompanied by Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar, that the children are assessed for physical and mental health issues when they enter the facility and are often distraught.

Melania Trump has faced growing criticism for her failure to step in as the destructive policy separated more than 2,000 children from their parents.

The jacket demonstrates a consistent truth about Melania Trump: She is an enigma onto whom people project their pre-existing beliefs, hopes and fears.

It stretches credulity that the First Lady would make the effort to fly down to Texas, visit children, talk to staff and engage in this heartbreaking story only to deliberately undermine it with a callous choice of clothing.

But #stiletto-gate, much like #jacket-gate, didn’t technically happen. At the G7 summit previous year, she wore a floral coat worth $51,000. Underneath she wore white jeans, a white trench-style shirt and white sneakers. This Melania jacket thing can not be real.

Helping is the opposite of not caring.

“She told him, “I am headed down to Texas”, and he was supportive”.

This should be the focus. This is a first lady, after all, who chose to wear a $1,380 Balmain plaid shirt during a White House gardening initiative. She might be your only bet. She wants nothing to do with any of it.

Whatever her intentions were with the jacket, it’s clear that Trump has to learn that all of her actions have consequences-even if she doesn’t care. She looks good in clothes and lets the audience imagine whatever meanings they prefer.