President Trump joined a White House historian this week in criticizing media outlets over a perceived lack of positive coverage of first lady Melania Trump.
“The greatest of all time,” President Trump tweeted in response to an article from Breitbart calling out “elitist snobs” in the fashion media for snubbing the first lady on magazine covers. “Fake News!”
The greatest of all time. Fake News! https://t.co/jiWjLrynQW
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 25, 2020
Also this week, White House historian Jennifer Pickens wrote an op-ed for Fox News with the headline “Melania Trump hasn’t received appreciation she deserves for achievements as first lady.”
In the piece, Pickens said Trump is only the second first lady born outside of the United States, the only first lady “plucked out of the private sector,” and that she didn’t have the advantage of being married to a prominent political official before entering the White House.
“Melania Trump has excelled in this role, despite her lack of experience in wading through the political world,” Pickens wrote.
Pickens brought up a quote from President Richard Nixon who said his wife, first lady Pat Nixon, was underappreciated because she was married to a Republican.
“If she had been the wife of a liberal, my God, they would have canonized her. But because she was my wife, they had to find ways to knock her, and she never got any credit for the things that she did,” Nixon said. “But I must say, one of the reasons that she didn’t receive it, without any question, was that you can be sure that our friends in the media, whoever they may be, were not going to give her any credit if they thought it might help me. I understand that. That’s part of the game — not right, but that’s the way the world, real world is, political world.”
Pickens wrote that Nixon’s comment “applies just as appropriately to Mrs. Trump” and that “there’s no doubt that her many achievements as an outstanding first lady will be more appreciated in the years ahead.”
