Melania Trump has taken a stance on the controversy surrounding the infamous ‘I don’t care’ jacket that she wore during a visit to migrant children separated from their parents at the southern border. In her newly released memoir, the former First Lady attributes the real purpose of the jacket, which had the slogan “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?”, to challenging what she perceives as “false narratives” propagated by the media about her. Melania also expressed that the jacket was her way of protesting against news reports based on anonymous sources.
The throwaway Zara jacket, priced at $39, caused a significant stir and quickly spread across social media, with critics labelling Melania as “unempathetic” and “tone-deaf” following her visit to a migrant child detention centre in Texas back in 2018. Melania has taken a swipe at the media, blaming what she deems as their “irresponsible behaviour” for blowing up the situation into a scandal.
According to The Guardian, Melania shared in her memoir, “I was determined… not to let the media’s false narratives affect my mission to help the children and families at the border. In fact, I decided to let them know that their criticism would never stop me from doing what I feel is right. To make the point, I wore a particular jacket as I boarded the plane, a jacket that quickly became famous.” Despite her intentions, the move ultimately backfired.
Melania recounted in her memoir how her press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, received a deluge of urgent emails from top media outlets seeking clarification on the jacket. Melania maintained that the message was intended for the media, to demonstrate her indifference to their opinions of her. However, Grisham reportedly downplayed the incident, suggesting it was merely a fashion choice with no underlying message, contrary to Melania’s viewpoint.
In a surprising revelation, Stephanie Grisham, in her book ‘I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House’, disclosed that it was actually Donald Trump’s idea to deflect attention onto the media following the jacket incident. Trump reportedly instructed Melania to attribute the message on the jacket to the “Fake News Media”. Trump even