"Here, Melania is a victim of her husband’s brutishness; she is passive and silent, has no political opinions but instead is a sort of tabula rasa for America’s women, on which her treatment is proof of President Trump’s innate misogyny. President Trump’s casual misuse of his wife is a domestic tragedy with national implications. But that narrative only works if, in fact, you believe that Melania is a blank slate or, at least, a woman simply acted on rather than a woman actively collaborating with her husband’s ideologies."
Realizing that it's probably not a good idea to be lulled into sympathy around Melania, I can so easily imagine her turning around and revealing herself to truly be Trump's partner in his delusions and gaslighting.
FB: a good reminder - it's seductive to imagine her as a victim/captive who secretly disagrees with her husband as much as we do, but the evidence swings the other way "Melania Trump is hardly a stand-in for American women, she is neither a victim nor she is lacking agency. Rather she’s an active participant working to construct Donald Trump’s narrative readily available to put a gauzy domestic veil on his racism and misogyny."
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