First Lady of the United States Melania Trump has hit out at critics who have excoriated her red Christmas tree decorations at the White House as a “menace” and a “creepy” “circle of hell”.
The First Lady received an exceptional amount of vicious criticism after she installed 40 tress strung with cranberries and red berries in the East Colonnade of the White House. Besides earning the ire of netizens, the President’s wife also drew flak from the media.
Vice said Melania’s decor looks like a “circle of hell Dante could never have dreamed up.” It added, “It’s 2018: It’s well-established that we live in hell. It only makes sense that the first lady’s Christmas decorations would match the bleakness of the Trump era.”
Vanity Fair said the First Lady’s Christmas decor always seem to have “a touch of menace to them,” as it reported: “It wouldn’t be a Trump White House Christmas without, again, a menacing touch to what is otherwise a lavishly and beautifully wrought winter wonderland. This year, crimson red trees dotted a long hallway, dyed with what I assume is liberal blood a-boiling.”
Other publications like Slate and the Cut also criticized the decor while a Funny or Die parody video poked fun at Melania’s accent and made the suggestion that the trees were dipped in blood.
Instead of retreating as the criticism piled up, Melania defended her trees as “fantastic” and a matter of personal preference.
Melania made the comments as she spoke with Fox News’ Eric Bolling on Wednesday. Bolling said: “I’m telling you, I can’t believe this. What are they [the media] hung up on with the First Lady right now? The red Christmas trees in the White House. Now, I will tell you, on the flight over here, my wife said, ‘I want a red Christmas tree in my house now, too. Are we kidding? This is what they worry about?”
The First Lady defended her choice and invited the people to come over and visit what she calls the “people’s house”: “We are in 21st century and everybody has a different taste. I think they look fantastic. I hope everyone will come over and visit it. In real life, they look even more beautiful. You’re all very welcome to visit the White House, the People’s House.”
First lady Melania Trump responds to critiques of her red Christmas trees: "We are in 21st century and everybody has a different taste. I think they look fantastic. I hope everyone will come over and visit it. In real life they look even more beautiful" https://t.co/BXFiQF87NN pic.twitter.com/rLvmYIDwhZ
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 28, 2018
The Media Research Center has noted that the criticism would not have been so cruel had the decor been installed by former First Lady Michelle Obama. The group’s vice president Dan Gainor said: “The War on Christmas has evolved into more of the media’s War on Trump. According to the juvenile style mavens that dominate the lefty media, Melania’s Christmas style is somehow ‘spooky’ or ‘deeply haunted.’
“Compare that to how The Washington Post described Michelle Obama as a ‘pro in dressing up the place’ whose decorations delivered her own ‘steady recognition of military service.'”