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Tag: melania trump

Melania Touts Return To White House -- And Grudge Over 'Vogue' Snub

Melania Trump teased a return to the White House in her first interview since Trump vacated the Oval Office for Joe Biden, echoing her husband’s repeated suggestions of a 2024 return to the political scene.

In a sit-down with Fox Nation’s Pete Hegseth, an interview that aired Sunday morning, the former first lady discussed her post-White House activities, said she believed the White House could be her home again, and lashed out at Vogue for putting Jill Biden on its cover.

“I like Washington, D.C. I know it operates completely different[ly] than any other city. To be the First Lady of the United States was my greatest honor, and I think we achieved a lot in the four years of the Trump administration,” she said, responding to Hegseth’s question about the possibility of her becoming the First Lady again.

“Never say never,” Trump added.

The former first lady said she enjoyed her time in the White House despite the wave of criticism she faced, especially in one instance in 2018 when she visited immigrant kids at a border detention center with a jacket emblazoned with the words “I really don't care, do u?”

Trump also discussed at length her NFT projects, which have been subject to controversy since their inception last year. Trump’s items can only be purchased with cryptocurrency, and nothing in her first lot of items, which was put up for sale earlier this year, met the $250,000 opening bid threshold, according to CNN.

In January, Trump held an auction for her “Head of State Collection, 2022,” with a minimum opening bid of $250,000 on the Solana blockchain. A portion of the proceeds, according to her website, would go towards securing “educational opportunities and scholarships” in the foster care system.

Things quickly went south when Vice, soon followed by other news outlets, reviewed the blockchain records and reported that the auction winner received funds for their winning bid from the auction’s creators themselves. “The winner of Melania Trump’s first NFT auction appears to be the former first lady herself,” according to Fortune.

Trump denied the allegations in a statement. “The nature of Blockchain protocol is entirely transparent. Accordingly, the public can view each transaction on the blockchain. The transaction was facilitated on behalf of a third-party buyer."

However, Trump declined to say who bought the NFT or why the NFT creator gave the auction winner crypto for the winning bid and seemingly got the funds back, per Vice. The former first lady has also refused to elaborate on what portion of her NFT proceeds has gone to charities, nor did she say which charities received the donations. “They need our resources, support, [and] empowerment to achieve that American dream,” Trump told Fox Nation, referring to purported contributions.

Trump also attacked Vogue for not featuring her on its cover during her husband’s tenure as president of the United States, a grudge she’s held onto tightly, despite exiting the White House over a year and a half ago.

“They’re biased and they have likes and dislikes, and it’s so obvious,” Trump said. “And I think American people, and everyone sees it.”

“I have much more important things to do—and I did in the White House—than being on the cover of Vogue,” she added, feigning indifference over the apparent snub.

However, in a tell-all book, Trump’s former senior adviser and BFF, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, detailed how Trump rejected a Vogue shoot shortly after her husband took office because the magazine couldn’t guarantee her a spot on the cover.

All I Want For Christmas Is Melania’s Non-Fungible Token: A One-Act Play

Melania Trump is speaking on her cell phone from her bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.

MELANIA: I love it, Marc-Antoine. Love is the only word. You are the master, the artist. Your work, your oeuvre, should have its own room at the Louvre. Your Elizabeth Taylor, your Ava Gardner, and this—perfection!

MARC-ANTOINE COULON: Ma chère. Melania, but one has only to paint a few strokes—suddenly, it is your cobalt blue eyes, your eyelashes, your mascara, your eyebrows. It is only you. What do they say? The eyes are the windows to the soul. C’est vrai, ma chère Melania.

MELANIA: What are we charging? One SOL, one Solana blockchain for the non-fungible token, which comes to $182.54.

MARC-ANTOINE: I am honored to collaborate with you in this operation, ma chère Melania. You are—what is the word?—a philanthropist!

MELANIA: For the foster children, to train them in the computers when the fostering is finished. My Be Best initiative. Think of all the people who will contribute and be on my list.

MARC-ANTOINE: It is your vision.

MELANIA: You were so brilliant to add the audio to the NFT.

MARC-ANTOINE: It is the vision complete. Your beautiful words in your own beautiful voice.

MELANIA: “My vision is…look forward with inspiration, strength, and courage.”

MARC-ANTOINE: Ideal words. The pause is ideal. Then the inspiration.

MELANIA: My vision is… And on the website, “an amulet to inspire.”

MARC-ANTOINE: You evoke Cleopatra. And now we will paint the next. Like Cleopatra. We have made the eyes famous. Now le nez, your nose, in profile, like an Egyptian queen. Immortelle!

MELANIA: One SOL or two?

MARC-ANTOINE: Let us see how we do on the eyes.

MELANIA: I would love to see you do your watercolor of Ivanka’s nose. Two watercolors. Before and after.

MARC-ANTOINE: For that we could charge four SOLs.

MELANIA: And the breasts, before and after?

MARC-ANTOINE: Je pense, cinq SOLs. So naughty, ma chère.

MELANIA: Have you been watching the new series of Sex in the City?

MARC-ANTOINE: Je sais il est votre favori.

MELANIA: So sad. The husband, he is “Big,” he dies.

MARC-ANTOINE: Quelle surprise!

MELANIA: This Carrie goes to a party instead of to the Hamptons with her husband. This “Big” stays home. He rides a Peloton. She returns home, he is lying on the floor, holding his chest. Il est mort. He is dead from the bicycle.MARC-ANTOINE: Quel dommage! Tragique!

MELANIA: That is not the tragedy. His will leaves one million dollars to his first wife. She did not know.

MARC-ANTOINE: Impossible!

MELANIA: No prenup.

MARC-ANTOINE: Incroyable!

MELANIA: Can you imagine that? And this “Big,” the actor who plays this “Big,” he is now accused of the sexual harassments. Can you imagine that?

MARC-ANTOINE: Scandale!

Donald Trump enters the room.

TRUMP: Can you get off the phone with your girlfriend? We have an event to do.

MELANIA: Another?

TRUMP: We’ve brought in $463,000 already for just nine of these. Republican candidates lined up around the block, can’t wait to give us their money hand over fist. Sliding scale. More for the personal appearance, more for the photo-op. And more for you, sweetheart. So, get off, put on those stilettos and do a runway walk for us.

MELANIA: Who is it tonight?

TRUMP: Can’t remember. Mo Brooks, Marco Rubio, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

MELANIA: I’ll be right there, Donald.

TRUMP: I’m going out to mingle and I’ll give you a big hand when you come in like a million dollars and you give us the big smile.

Trump exits.

MELANIA: I must go, Marc-Antoine, to another of the so dull fundraisers. I will be thinking the whole time of your next portrait of me.

MARC-ANTOINE: Le profil, pour la reine. Notre queen! Je t’aime. Au revoir.

MELANIA: Sarah Huckabee Sanders…

MARC-ANTOINE: What is a Huckabee Sanders?

MELANIA: Carrie should have had the prenup. Love you. Bye.

Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel ,and All the Powers of Earth. His play This Town, about a scandalous White House dog, was produced in 1995 by LA TheatreWorks. This is the twelfth in his "Trump Cycle" series of one-act plays published in The National Memo, including The Pardon, Epstein's Ghost, Ivanka's Choice, Sunset Boulevard, The Exclusive, The Role Model, A Modest Proposal, The Exit Interview, The Hitler Gospel, Father Knows Best, and The Gold Medal Winner.

Will Former Flack Grisham ‘Set Fire’ To Trumpworld In Tell-All Memoir?

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

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Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House press secretary and communications director without ever holding a press briefing, will publish I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House on October 5 under the Harper Collins banner, reported Axios.

"There isn't enough water on earth to contain the fire she could set to all of Trump world, including parts like the first lady's orbit, which not many people are in a position to illuminate," said a former West Wing colleague. "It's hard to articulate how much anxiety this is going to cause."

A source close to the publication said Grisham "has receipts" from her time in the White House because, as the press secretary, her job required her to know what was happening.

"Grisham knows where all the bodies are buried because she buried a lot of them herself," that source said.

She resigned on January 6, after four years in the White House, and is the only person who served under both Donald and Melania Trump, and one of the few who spent time in their private residence.

"When I heard this," the West Wing source said, "all I could think about was Stephanie surrounded by a lake of gasoline, striking a match with a grin on her face."

Former staffer about to 'set fire' to Trump by exposing 'surprising new scandals' in tell-all memoir www.youtube.com

Wing-Nuts Hilariously Triggered By Jill Biden’s Vogue Cover

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Dr. Jill Biden, the First Lady, appears on the cover of the new issue of VOGUE and conservatives are furious.

As First Lady, Melania Trump was never given the same honor, although she did appear on a VOGUE cover in 2005 in her $100,000 bridal gown. First Lady Michelle Obama graced VOGUE's cover three times, and as First Lady Hillary Clinton did once.

So did First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Laura Bush.

On Christmas Day 2020 then-President Donald Trump expressed outrage that Melania Trump, as First Lady, had never been featured on the cover of any of the big four fashion magazines.

But that was, at least in part, her doing.

"To be on the cover of Vogue doesn't define Mrs. Trump," then-First Lady Melania Trump's spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham, said in 2019, "she's been there, done that long before she was first lady. Her role as first lady of the United States and all that she does is much more important than some superficial photo shoot and cover."

InStyle reported that "Grisham added that Melania wouldn't be available for a second cover, even if the invitation was presented to her. Instead, she's focusing on her Be Best campaign."

Here's how some on the right are responding.

Trump And Melania Were Vaccinated At White House But Kept It Secret

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Before leaving the White House as president, Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump chose to be inoculated from the deadly coronavirus, but opted to keep it a secret. Republicans represent the largest group of Americans who say they will not or are unsure if they will get vaccinated.

As head of a very loyal group of supporters, Trump could have gone on national television, as President-elect Joe Biden did, to receive the vaccine, which would have helped convert many opposed to the life-saving shot.

On Monday, the New York Times' Maggie Haberman reported the news that Trump was vaccinated, citing an advisor to the former president.

Some may have noticed that during his Sunday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Trump in a rare move gave lip service to getting the vaccine, although couching it in an attack against President Biden. He told supporters to "go get your shot."

"Remember, we took care of a lot of people, including, I guess on December 21st, we took care of Joe Biden, because he got his shot," Trump told the CPAC crowd in Orlando at his speech that was widely panned. "He got his vaccine. He forgot. It shows you how unpainful that vaccine shot is. So everybody go get your shot. He forgot. So it wasn't very traumatic, obviously. But he got his shot. And it's good that he got his shot."

Axios reported last week that 41 percent of Republicans say they will not get the coronavirus vaccine. That number jumps to 56 percent when including Republicans who say they are unsure. Just one-third of Republicans (33 percent) say they will get vaccinated. Compare that with 70 percent of Democrats who say they will get vaccinated.

"White Americans are now less likely than Black and Latino Americans to say they plan to get the vaccine," Axios notes.

New Report Dishes Trump’s Bizarre Conduct In His Own Hotel

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Former President Donald Trump was very meticulous when it came to the high standards of service he required of his Trump Hotel staff, according to a new report. From recited greetings to memorized, repetitive orders and very specific service requirements, employees' claims suggest Trump wanted nearly the same dining experience each and every time he dined at Table 72 at the center of the Trump Hotel's mezzanine.

Now, many of them are shedding light on the scrupulous staff handbook and some of their bizarre encounters with him and other right-wing elites

A detailed piece published by The Washingtonian offers detailed accounts of hotel employees' interactions with the former president. The employees and former employees, some of whom have opted for anonymity, laid out Trump's mundane meal requests which began with recited instructions similar to a skit in a play.

The publication writes, "As soon as Trump was seated, the server had to 'discreetly present' a mini bottle of Purell hand sanitizer. (This applied long before Covid, mind you.) Next, cue dialogue: "Good (time of day) Mr. President. Would you like your Diet Coke with or without ice?" the server was instructed to recite."

An employee also revealed that there were even instructions for pouring drinks. "Directions for pouring the soda were detailed in a process no fewer than seven steps long—and illustrated with four photo exhibits," the publication wrote. "The beverage had to be opened in front of the germophobe commander in chief, "never beforehand."

It added, "The server was to hold a longneck-bottle opener by the lower third of the handle in one hand and the Diet Coke, also by the lower third, in the other. Once poured, the drink had to be placed at the President's right-hand side. 'Repeat until POTUS departs.'"

As for his meal, Trump reportedly orders the same entrees and dishes each time. However, there is one bizarre request that must be adhered to.

Trump always had the same thing: shrimp cocktail, well-done steak, and fries (plus sometimes apple pie or chocolate cake for dessert). Popovers—make it a double for the President—had to be served within two minutes and the crustaceans "immediately." The manual instructed the server to open mini glass bottles of Heinz ketchup in front of Trump, taking care to ensure he could hear the seal make the "pop" sound.

Former executive chef Bill Williamson shared details about his experience working for the hotel and the former president. He noted that the president always requested a "bone-in rib eye or filet mignon" and very little ever changed about his request. "It was the same steak. Both well done. Maybe it was a half-ounce bigger or something, I don't know."Although Trump's requests were out of the ordinary, one of the hotel employees admitted that the former president's personal attorney Rudy Guiliani was "the biggest pain in my butt." The former general manager of the hotel recounted his experiences with the disgraced attorney."The biggest pain in my butt was Giuliani," the former general manager said. "He was constantly in the restaurant. And I complained about it. The guy would come in, expect a table for ten at a moment's notice at, like, 2 pm, when we're not fully functioning. We don't have the staff. But he's the President's lawyer, and what am I supposed to do?"

However, for some, there were perks. Former bartender Michel Rivera revealed he averaged more than $100,000 annually with tips. "People would literally come up to me and give me $100 bills and be like, 'You must be the best bartender in the world if you work here!' " Rivera said. "A group of three or four guys would come up, have a round of drinks—I could easily sell them over $1,000. You don't see that at too many bars."

Trump may no longer be in the White House but his desire for opulence will likely last forever.

"The Pardon": A Play In One Act


Scene 1: The White House. Oval Office. January 19, 2021. 10 a.m.

President Donald Trump is meeting alone with Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump: You heard Mike Flynn? "Massive landslide."

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Bigger than the last one.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: You take out the swing states and I won. But I won the swing states. Statistically impossible to lose. Tremendous cheating. Stolen, rigged, total fraud. All over by 10 o'clock, massive lead. Then the phony ballots. Illegal mail-ins. Fox News calls Arizona. Stab in the back.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: The Venezuelans, yeah, the Venezuelans. Fixed the voting machines. Flipped the votes. Giant hoax. Hundreds and hundreds of affidavits. Rudy proved it. What was with that cheap hair job? He should have asked me. I would have recommended my guy. Always perfect. Rudy asked me for a pardon, should have asked about the hair.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: You have to look presidential. I'm more presidential than anyone except maybe Abraham Lincoln with the hat. You think I'm going to wear a hat like that? Or a beard? If Rudy had a beard what do you think, good, bad?

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Nobody's been treated worse than Lincoln except me. Nobody since Lincoln did more for black people than me.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: My hand is tired from signing pardons. Every single one of those clients of Alan Dershowitz. Quote "defrauding investors" unquote. Quote "massive government corruption" unquote. Fake and fake. Pardoned!

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Dershowitz used to have a big Mexican moustache when he was with OJ. I forget, does Dershowitz have a beard now?

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Maybe not.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: When you're a president you can pardon anyone. I don't even wait. Roger Stone—loyal, scum, but loyal. Good dresser. He shut up. Mike Flynn—good guy. He shut up. A soldier. Manafort—hardly knew him. He shut up. That Elliott Broidy—putz. A pardon wouldn't shut him up, immunity deal. Michael Cohen even put down my fake name as his fake name on his abortion payoff. Nothing for that traitor Cohen.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Firing squad.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: You have to take care of your family. Family values, right, Mike?

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Hannity said pardon every one of them and myself. Don, Jr. If a pardon is what you say it is, I love it. Ivanka. Could have been my VP. Smart, beautiful, everybody loves her. But stuck with you, Mike.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Jared, too. Package deal. And Melania! Angry woman from the inauguration committee blabbing to a grand jury. Some friend, broke the non-disclosure agreement. Said Melania called Ivanka "Princess." Did you know I called my yacht "Princess?"

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: The lawyers said I couldn't pardon myself during the impeachment. The president… (reading from a piece of paper he's picked up from his desk, words written in bold Sharpie) "…shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Did you know Gerald Ford pardoned Tokyo Rose? Talk about shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. Pearl Harbor. Old man Bush, the first one, he pardoned six officials convicted in the Iran-contra scandal. You know who told him he could do that? His attorney general. That's right, William Barr. And they call him my Roy Cohn. But did he ever indict Obama, Hillary, and Biden? Spied on me. Biggest conspiracy in history. Guilty, guilty, and guilty. Now Barr says he hasn't seen any fraud. He says there's no evidence. In a million years never thought he'd be a sellout to the Deep State. Elliott Abrams, running Iran for me. What goes around comes around. Remind me to talk to Abrams about those Venezuelan voting machines. What do you think I should give Tokyo Rose? Maybe ambassador to Japan. Is she alive? And they say I can't pardon myself. As has been stated by numerous top legal scholars, the best, I have the absolute right to pardon myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? Nixon was a schmuck not to burn the tapes.

Pence: Yes, sir.

(Enter Melania, cell phone in one hand, a piece of paper in the other. She is wearing her jacket: "I Don't Really Care Do U.")

Melania: At least I don't have do another inauguration. And no more Christmas. (Hands Trump the paper. Exits.)

Trump: A pardon's free, not like a prenup.

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: (Reads from the piece of paper.) Section 3, 25th Amendment. "Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President." Even though Ivanka should be the next president, maybe should have been vice president, it's going to be you. Not Biden. You're number 46. I'm going to make you president. Sort of like Queen for a Day, remember that show?

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: I've got the papers right here. (He opens a folder on his desk.) I sign the one about unable to discharge and you sign the pardon for me. Do us a favor, though. Then in a New York minute I'm back as president. I'm able to discharge again.

Pence: Mr. President…

Trump: When you sign I'll call you Mr. President, then you can call me Mr. President back again. We never need to leave the Oval Office. But you'll always be number 46 in the history books. Maybe not a library.

Pence: Mr. President, I've discussed this with Mother.

Trump: How is your wife?

Pence: Mother says it's not the best idea.

Trump: So, you're listening to Mother instead of the father of your country?

Pence: Yes, sir.

Trump: Treat me like a dog!

Scene 2: The White House. January 20, 2021. 11:59 a.m.

Trump is alone in the Oval Office, talking on the telephone.

Trump: Thanks, Alan! (Hangs up the telephone, signs a piece of paper. Speaks aloud to himself.) Dershowitz says Roy had only two books in his law office, neither of them law books, a checkbook and a Rolodex. Roy said Dershowitz was a kibitzer. I got him pro bono. The best. Pardoned myself! Got to call Hannity. Should have done this to begin with. Melania warned me that Pence would double-cross me. But she said he'd take it and let me hang out to dry. He could have been president, but he blew it. Mother!

He hears distant noises, the approaching sound of running, then barking, louder and louder. Major and Champion, Joe Biden's German shepherds, bark and growl and scratch at the door.

Trump: (Shouts) McEntee! McEnany!

12:01 p.m.

A Secret Service agent enters through the French doors leading to the Rose Garden. The whir of a waiting helicopter is heard.

Secret Service Agent: Mr. Trump…

Trump: Don't ever talk to the President of the United States that way.

[End]

Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. His play, This Town, about a scandalous White House dog, was produced in 1995 by LA TheatreWorks.

Danziger Draws

Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.