...Melania Trump is not just strikingly beautiful. She is worldly, well-traveled and well-read. She speaks English, French, German, Italian and Serbian, in addition to her native Slovenian -- more languages than any other woman who has served as America's first lady. Her devotion to son Barron is exemplary. Her aversion to limelight and lack of political ambition are refreshing. So is her ability to refrain from public grievance-mongering over "sacrifices" and trade-offs made between work and home life (looking at you, Hill and 'Chelle O).
The hostile White House press corps blames Trump's own reticence for the publicity vacuum around her. But I believe there's something deeper at work:
More exposure to this interesting and remarkable woman would mean more familiarity with her. More familiarity with her might mean more popularity. And God forbid there be more Republican women in the public eye who can compete with -- and win against -- the usual parade of militant kvetchers and moaners who pass themselves off as feminist role models....
So Trump, like so many prominent GOP women before her, will continue to be snubbed, humiliated and demonized by narrative control freaks because women on the right threaten the cultural hegemony of the left. Black or white, rich or poor, centrist or "far right," native-born or naturalized, Republican mothers, wives and daughters must be otherized and forced to stay in media-manufactured lanes....
