Where In The World Is Melania Trump?

Melania Trump has not been seen in public in more than three weeks and her disappearance is fueling speculation. This is especially true after the Trump Administration announced that Melania will not be attending the North Korea summit in Singapore or the G7meeting in Quebec. The Huffington Post even posted picture of a milk carton with Melania’s picture on the side. Theories range from Melania simply staying out of sight to take care of Barron to the tinfoil hat idea that she is being imprisoned to prevent her from testifying for Robert Mueller.

The First Lady last appeared in public at an event on May 10 greeting three returned prisoners from North Korea. A few days later, Melania checked into Walter Reed National Medical Center on May 14 for a kidney procedure. CNN reported at the time that she was expected to remain in the hospital for “the rest of the week.” Even though Melania was reportedly recovering well, she has not appeared in public, either with the president or by herself, since.

Perhaps most curious, the First Lady did travel with the family to Camp David for a weekend trip on June 1. Donald, Jr., Tiffany, Ivanka and Jared Kushner visited the presidential retreat with President Trump over the weekend without Melania.

On May 30, just prior to the Camp David weekend, Melania’s twitter account did post the message, “I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I'm doing.  Rest assured, I'm here at the @WhiteHouse w [sic] my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!”

Mrs. Trump is scheduled to attend a reception Monday night for Gold Star families, but the event is not open to the public or press. The closed nature of the reception means that it is unlikely that it will erase speculation about why Melania is avoiding the spotlight.

While no one seriously claims that Melania’s disappearance is the result of foul play, there is speculation that her absence may be the result of health problems or marital difficulties. The fact that her absence began after her hospital stay could indicate problems with the recovery.

Melania’s absence from both official and family events may also be related to problems with the president. In the months since the revelation broke about Donald Trump’s affair with stripper Stormy Daniels shortly after Melania gave birth to Trump’s youngest son, Barron, there have been signs that the relationship may be rocky. In April, the First Couple attracted national attention when Melania seemed to resist holding hands with the president. A People report from early May quoted a friend of the family who said, “They [the president and First Lady] spend very little to no time together.”

Melania’s absence and subsequent reports that she will not accompany the president on the big diplomatic trips to Singapore and Quebec lend credence to the reports that the First Lady is not happy with the president. Who could blame her? Dealing with marital infidelity is difficult for any couple, but having the affair and subsequent coverup splashed across national news would make it many times worse. This is especially true for a private person like Melania Trump.

No one outside the Trump family and White House workers knows for sure why Melania is missing or how long her public absence will last. What is certain is that a missing First Lady is very unusual and presents an awkward public relations situation for the Trump Administration.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Relax. Melania Trump Has Not Been Replaced By a Robot

Presidents and parties may come and go in Washington, but conspiracy theories remain. It doesn’t seem to matter if which party is in power, the cottage industry of conspiracy theorists will find something sinister to be alarmed about. George W. Bush allegedly engineered the September 11 attacks. Barack Obama supposedly had secret plans to invade Texas and impose martial law. Now the internet’s self-appointed guardians against the New World Order have uncovered a conspiracy that involves President Trump.

This conspiracy doesn’t involve Russian meddling in the 2016 elections or claim that the Trump Administration is covering up second shooter in Las Vegas. The armchair warriors against “Them” are worried that – wait for it –Melania Trump is robot.

Seriously.

To be fair, not everyone thinks that Melania is robot. Some just think that she has been replaced by a flesh and blood body double.

The claim that Melania is not Melania seems to have begun with Joe Vargas, a Twitter user whose handle is “BuyLegalMeds.com.” If you need further clues as to Vargas’ credibility, his Twitter page prominently features the green cross used to identify marijuana dispensaries.

Vargas posted a CNN video clip of the president and First Lady with the caption, “This is not Melania. To think they would go this far & try & make us think its [sic] her on TV is mind blowing. Makes me wonder what else is a lie.”

Trump’s often awkward behavior and phrasing fed the conspiracy. The clip that Vargas posted began with the president referring to “my wife, Melania, who happens to be right here,” leading the woke ones to wonder why he had to remind people that Melania was right beside him if it was really Melania.

“I initially didn't notice, but thought it was strange when he said ‘my wife Melania, she's right here’ to try & convince media it was her,” Vargas tweeted. As further proof, the True Believers noted that Melania did not speak.

Others fed the growing conspiracy as they recalled another weird moment from a few weeks ago. Visiting Florida after Hurricane Irma, President Trump said, “I just want to thank everybody, the first responders, on behalf of myself, our vice president. Melania really wanted to be with us. It's really touched her heart what's gone on.”

Sounds normal, right? The only problem [cue spooky music] is that Melania was standing right beside President Trump the whole time. The video of the moment has gone viral.

“Yo they're actually using a fake Melania Trump stunt double,” Treymeister89 tweeted. The laughing emoticons in his tweet suggest that Trey is not treating the crisis with the gravity that it deserves.

In a tweet that has apparently been deleted, “Pumpkinsauce” claimed, “Melania trump was replaced by a very lifelike robot 14 years ago the only giveaway from this remarkable machine is the cold, dead eyes.” Perhaps “They” hacked into his account to delete the tweet.

Strangely enough, Business Insider, not known for conspiracy reporting pointed out that there is a real woman in the Trump entourage, presumably a Secret Service agent, who bears a striking resemblance to Melania. The two have been photographed together on numerous occasions. It isn’t clear whether the mysterious woman was also present when the Vargas video was made or at the press conference in Florida.

There is no evidence that the presumed Secret Service agent has ever acted as a double for Melania. If her purpose was to be a body double, it is unlikely that the Secret Service would put her in place to be photographed with Melania, essentially blowing her cover.

Occam’s Razor holds that the simplest explanation is usually the right one. The simplest explanation in this case is that Melania is Melania and that President Trump is poor public speaker when he doesn’t have prepared remarks. The president has had other gaffes that were plainly not slips that uncovered a sinister conspiracy. For example, it was only last week that Trump said that he met with the president of the Virgin Islands when Trump himself is the president of the Virgin Islands since they are a US territory.

Much of the fuss is satire or people mocking the True Believers, but quite a few seem to seriously believe that Melania is not Melania. As shocking as it may seem, I suspect that Vargas may have crafted the original tweet as a viral marketing tool for his “medicinal” internet business.

The bottom line on the Melania body double conspiracy is a simple one: This is your brain on drugs. Don’t do drugs. 

Originally published on The Resurgent

Trump's election drives left beyond bounds of decency and civility

Twitter post of the "Rape Melania" sign (screenshot by David Thornton)

The election of the Donald Trump seems to have pushed many in the liberal left over the brink of sanity and common decency. First came the protests and violence. Ironically, this was the same sort of violence that some had expected of Trump supporters in the then-likely event that Hillary Clinton won the election. Even as the protests continue, the leftist response among many non-rioting leftists ranges from the irrational to loathsome.

In one bizarre case, Rachel Zarrell of MTV News tweeted a threat to mail Mike Pence a “monthly bag of period blood” if he “tries to regulate my uterus.” The tweet, posted on Daily Wire, was an apparent reference to Pence’s pro-life views, although another Twitter user answered Zarrell and pointed out her confusion. “Clearly you're ignorant of biology,” DC MCallister wrote. “A uterus and a fetus are two different entities. Saving the latter isn't ‘regulating’ the former.”

Zarrell may also be confused about Mike Pence’s role in the federal government. Laws are passed by Congress and Mike Pence, as the incoming vice president, will have a primarily ceremonial role in Congress. The vice president has very little control over anything. John Nance Garner, vice president to Franklin Roosevelt, famously observed that “the vice presidency is not worth a bucket of warm spit.”

Speaking of containers of bodily fluids, Zarrell might also want check into the Post Office regulations on shipping organic matter. Blood can be considered a biohazard and subject to hazardous materials regulations.

If Zarrell’s tweet was bizarre and disgusting, another anti-Trump protester’s message was, well, deplorable. The message on a protest sign spotted at a Washington, DC rally read, “Rape Melania.” This sign was all the more ironic and reprehensible in light of the campaign issue of Donald Trump and Bill Clinton’s treatment of women.

As the husband of a victim of sexual assault, let me just say that any call to rape or sexually assault anyone has no place in civilized discourse. Even in jest, the suggestion that someone would think that raping a candidate’s wife is an appropriate response to the democratic will of the people is morally bankrupt and indefensible.

Thankfully, as Heat Street pointed out, an associated #RapeMelania hashtag on Twitter was primarily used to condemn the sign.

If rape weren’t bad enough, some online leftists have openly called for and speculated about the assassination of Trump. The New York Post reported that the CEO of a California cybersecurity firm was forced to resign after tweeting a “flawed joke” about killing Trump with a sniper rifle. WCSH News reported that an Ohio man had actually been arrested for tweeting his intention to kill Donald Trump.

Opponents of Donald Trump have the freedom to criticize and protest his election, but should remember that words have meaning. Some words go beyond the bounds of civility and decency and cross the line to criminal behavior.

Voice your opposition, but watch what you say. The Secret Service will.      

Originally published on The Resurgent