The Handmaid's Christmas

When I saw Melania's Christmas display at the White House, I once again had the sense that this woman is way smarter than most people give her credit for. 

Those red trees are pretty scary. What do they represent? Primal fear? Pain? Menstruation? Afterbirth....or abortion? 

Before I could even begin doctoring that picture, lots of people did it for me. This construction was so clearly homage to The Handmaid's Tale that you have to be living in an alternative universe not to see it. The color, the line-up, the slightly bowed trunks....none of this is random. And the intent was for everyone to see the obvious.

Melania, a model and media savvy woman, did not miss the cultural implication of this scene. The rest of the White House could be decorated like the Nutcracker Suite, but this corridor is a veritable birth canal. She wants everyone to get the picture. But it's the picture she wants us to get, not the one her husband thinks she broadcasting. 

Face it, folks, Melania is admitting she is married to a monster. She recognizes the self-inflicted aspect as fully as she understands that her husband is a hate-mongering neo-fascist. The selection of red is not lost on her audience. Most will get it. The others will be repulsed, but I'm thinking that's okay, too. Those are the Wives and Aunts of Gilead who do not want to see what is in front of them. I would be you a buck Melania has watched the series and totally gets it. 

The messages aren't particularly subtle. She sent one with the "I don't care" coat. She did it in a Valentino dress by designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, a well-known critic of her husband. She did it with a spanking white pith helmet in Africa, a fashion symbol of colonialism and oppression. She did it with the white outfit at the State of the Union, the color worn by Suffragettes. The woman is a fashion model. She knows how to use clothes to get the message out there. She doesn't have to talk; she just has to pose.

At the same time, Melania has no Beauty and the Beast scenario going down. Her monster is not going to transform into a kind, handsome prince at the end of the story. Nor is she is Andromeda chained to a rock awaiting her fate in the jaws of Cetus; there is no Perseus racing to her rescue. She has scripted this horror story herself and she knows it. She's too far in to escape now. All she can do is telegraph to the world that she has no hope.

Christmas is such a visible time for a stunt like this. White House decorations are usually a national love-fest for the first family, when politics are set aside in favor of holiday spirit. The president does not know how to do this. His thankfulness statement from his Thanksgiving dinner makes you wonder what the guy really thinks:

...For having a great family, and for having made a tremendous difference in this country. I’ve made a tremendous difference in the country. This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office that you wouldn’t believe it

He shoulda stopped at "great family" and left it at that. 

Meanwhile, back at the border,  U.S. Army Lieutenant General Jeffrey Buchanan, the guy heading up troop placement down there says his guys are just about done with their mission, scheduled to end December 15th anyway. Gen. Buchanan confirmed the military rejected a request from the Department of Homeland Security for an armed force to back up Border Patrol agents. 

That's a law enforcement task and the Secretary of Defense does not have that the authority to approve that inside the homeland.

Can it be any clearer? He expects the troops to be home by Christmas. Of course, that could change if the Mexican government attacks the US. ...

Or Feckless Leader attacks them first.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

It appears to be open season on Jews.

Be careful out there.