English Project – Phase II

Malenia Trump’s RNC Fashion: A scary statement

Annotations:

Attached along the folder in a separate document.

Outline:
 Written by Elizabeth wellington from the Philadelphia Inquirer publications.
 She addressed the Appearance of Melania Trump’s outfit at the RNC.
 Masks her intent behind momentary praise for Melania’s outfit.
 Numerous judgments and assumptions made about her fashion.
 Related her arguments in the context of Trump’s controversial political views.
 Made some bold claims on a platform as public and professional as this about
the couple (Melania and Trump) that were bigoted in nature.
 Compares Melania with Michelle Obama.
 Contradicts her claims in an article she publishes in the future that exposes her
bias.

Critical Analysis:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) convention of 2016 saw many

political figures campaigning from USA for the elections including Donald Trump and his
spouse, Melania Trump. The season of political campaigns is a season of content for
the media around the globe, for it attracts a lot of eyes throughout its entirety. From
being one of the highly touted candidates for the presidency of America to commenting
boldly on matters of sensitive character, Donald Trump can be seen as a prime target
for the critics. Truth be told, his critics do not just stop at him, but they drag his close
ones into the crossfire as well. Consequently, Melania Trump finds herself under the
limelight of a denigrator. One of the columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer publications
seems to let her sentiments cloud her judgment, as she voices an unforeseen take on a
rather insignificant feature in the fashion of Melania Trump.

Elizabeth Wellington, a well-seasoned writer, publishes opinion-heavy articles for the

Philadelphia Inquirer newsletter. Given her track record, she is quite vocal as far as her
ideologies are concerned and she is not afraid of letting her audiences know what she
thinks regardless of the fact that it may as well be contrary to the popular belief. With
such a trait, dangling about the fine line of sensitive discussion, it is inevitable for one to
topple over to the uglier side. Accordingly, Wellington writes a piece on Melania trump
due to which she receives quite the backlash because of her very apparent partiality
towards Melania. “Melania Trump’s RNC Fashion: A scary statement” discusses the
appearance of the Trump couple at the RNC convention. Having a history of fashion
critique, Wellington focuses on Melania’s get-up for the evening, stating that she looked
‘flawless’ and that she was a ‘stylish high political profile’ (Wellington, Malenia Trump’s
RNC Fashion: A scary statement, 2016). Melania Trump wore an all-white dress to the
event which is exactly what seemed to have bothered Wellington. Initially, there was
only praise for the ex-First Lady; however, as it unfolds further, the words of kindness
only appeared to be veiling an intent far more hostile.

Donald Trump’s ideals are notoriously explicit, since they undoubtedly contain strong
sense of discrimination, racism and favoritism. He has expressed racist remarks
towards the Muslim community, immigrant community and especially the black lives
matter community. Under this circumstance, it is relevant to add that this specific author
is a member of the black community in America. Therefore, this gives another
reasonable perspective to our case. The columnist’s argument stems from the
questionable views of Donald trump, and it is under this context that she hints at
Melania’s outfit to show off principles of white supremacy, that is, given she was
wearing an all-white sheathe (Wellington, Malenia Trump’s RNC Fashion: A scary
statement, 2016). She thinks Malenia’s dress complimented her husband’s views that
are, in all things, pro-white as well. Nevertheless, her dress symbolized how white was
always right at the G.O.P, as stated by the writer. Previously described as the “angelic”
phrase, however, now only seems to come across as a massive taunt under the set
theme (Wellington, Malenia Trump’s RNC Fashion: A scary statement, 2016).

Furthermore, the addressing speech of Melania is brought into context where she is
allegedly accused of copying it completely off of Michelle Obama, former First Lady’s
speech at an earlier RNC convention. Here, the article reads as follows “That is, unless
you have a speech to write, First lady Michelle Obama is clearly your girl” shows
significant bias, as comparison is being done and one is favored over the other.
Michelle Obama is of black complexion as well which can also be one of the reasons as
to why she is briefly backed by our writer against Melania Trump in this specific case of
their speeches. Is the writer solely acting on the urge of her grudges held against the
Trumps because of their prejudice, and does the fact that she herself is a person of
black complexion fuel her vengeful spite? I personally think so.

Elizabeth gives simultaneous nods at Malenia’s support for anti ‘all things brown’,
although that cannot be the case, since there is no solid evidence of her sharing similar
thoughts with Donald trump about the different societies of people in America. To further
widen the frame of reference, let us dive into an article that is published by the same
author just 10 days apart which was the “DNC Fashion: Hilary Clinton looked
presidential in an all-white pantsuit” (Wellington, DNC Fashion: Hilary Clinton looked
Presidential in an all white pant-suit, 2016). In this article, there was nothing but praise
for another prominent political figure in USA, Hilary Clinton. She perceived Hilary
wearing white as a sign of acceptance and empowerment, unlike in the case of Mrs.
Trump (Wellington, DNC Fashion: Hilary Clinton looked Presidential in an all white pant-
suit, 2016). The difference of her opinion in analyzing two people wearing the same
color was unsettling to see, especially following how it only changed because it was a
different person behind the same color scheme. So, was she biased towards Melania
trump? The previously mentioned point potentially acts as a nail in the coffin for my
case. (Wellington, Malenia Trump’s RNC Fashion: A scary statement, 2016)

Elizabeth Wellington, although a decorated writer, let her emotions get the better of her
in this article. Being a person of color, she was right to call out Donald Trump, for he
has a history of being a chauvinist, however he was not the one being targeted. A
person’s attire has little to do with their ideals. Thus, making tonnes of assumptions
about Melania Trump’s demeanor through her ensemble was fairly trivial and uncalled
for.