First lady Melania Trump in a new interview says she was sending a message to the media when she wore a jacket that said “I really don’t care. Do U?” to the border when she visited migrant children in Texas over the summer.
The jacket was criticized by some who saw it as insensitive given the fact that Trump was visiting children separated from their parents at the border.
Trump, a former model, told ABC News that it was meant to troll reporters who she said pay too much attention to what she wears.
{mosads}“I would prefer that they focus on what I do, and my initiatives, than what I wear,” she said. “You know I often asking myself, I would not wear that if I would have so much media coverage. It’s obvious I didn’t wear the jacket for the children. I wore the jacket to go on the plane and off the plane. And it was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me.”
“I want to show them that I don’t care,” she continued. “You could criticize whatever you want to say, but it will not stop me to do what I feel is right.”
She said her point was proven because by the time she put the jacket back on for her return flight, she could see “how the media got obsessed by it.”
First ladies and other political figures are often watched closely for what they wear, given the potential for sending messages and signals with fashion choices.
Trump’s choices, if anything, have prompted even more speculation than past first ladies.
Trump has criticized her husband’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that separated families, and in the interview she said she was blindsided by it.
Her comments about the jacket in the ABC interview were in contrast with those of her spokeswoman, who at the time said the jacket had “no hidden message”.
President Trump, however, said the jacket was meant to be a hit at the media.
The president eventually halted the policy following widespread criticism from both parties, but The Washington Post reported on Friday that new options are being considered that could again separate families as officials deal with a new surge of immigrants at the border.