Have you ever seen Melania smiling with such sincerity when she's next to DT ?

[syringis]

[Horse with no Name]

1. I think we want to project our feelings on Melania

I personally do not believe she is a victim of DT but instead a participant in his world. She is as complicit as any of them.

[FraDon]

4. My Father-in-Law shared a phrase

decades ago, when I visited him at his work. At the time he was a bartender in a casino along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

"How do you like this job, Bill?"

With his slow drawl, he said,

"I'm just here, honing my nose on this velvet grindstone."

Poor Melania.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. Yep. She was a birther.

[syringis]

7. Hi Horse with no name

I don't see Melania as victim. Not at all. She knew what she signed for...

What this pic shows me, or at least what I perceived, is that Melania probably disdain her husband, as much as almost the whole world...

[jrthin]

11. Thank you. She is a birther, and

I am always puzzled, inspite of her actions, that people want to see her as a victim.

[Caliman73]

31. Life is complicated. You can be a victim and perpetrator at the same time.

She may not be a very good person, with her participation in the birtherism and her acceptance of Donald Trump as a spouse, but that doesn't mean that she can't still be a victim. People are complex and her motives for being with Trump and participating in his world can stem from a difficult upbringing where she thought that her decisions would provide her different opportunities.

It doesn't mean that we shouldn't hold her accountable for her participation, just that we understand that she may also feel trapped into something that she miscalculated.

[no_hypocrisy]

32. THIS

I'm not convinced that Melania was an enthusiastic and independent birther.

My father constantly bullied me to do the wrong thing but I stood up to him.

[Caliman73]

33. Seeing people as flawed human beings can be difficult.

It is often easier to see a person as "just evil" and not worth putting time into understanding where they are coming from. I admit freely that I often fall into that pattern of thinking, and I am a mental health professional.

I see Trump and I think that he is just a despicable human being with no redemption. I am not saying that I am totally off base in that assignation, but ultimately it is intellectually lazy and it provides nothing to me or to humanity, other than maybe a few moments of schadenfreude at considering his impending fate.

The reality is that Trump is a very flawed person who likely did not receive any emotional support, acceptance, or approval from his parents (especially his father). He likely never developed a sense of his own self worth which is why he places so much importance on the appearance of wealth and competence. He protests so loudly on how he is so successful, rich, smart, and knows more than anyone about everything. People who are truly confident never have to trumpet their accomplishments. Trump rarely if ever smiles and his pleasure appears to be linked to puffing himself up or tearing others down. He is not a genuinely happy person. He is suffering, despite his protestations of his greatness.

Again, part of me says, "good", he should suffer for the horrible things that he does to other people. That is a normal reaction. I also see him as a cautionary tale about the damage that can be done when people's humanity is not acknowledged and they are not offered opportunities for safe, secure attachment to other people.

Understanding is not about accepting and condoning destructive behavior. Destructive behavior must be stopped. Instead, understanding is about what you said, being able to see and choose a different path so that inter-generational patterns of maladaptive behavior are interrupted and eliminated.

[jrthin]

37. I understand that life is complicated. But as a person

of color I do not have the luxury of complication when a bigot has got his/her foot on my neck. When that bigot has got their foot on my neck it does not matter to me that they are a victim or that they are being forced to put their foot on my neck. And make no mistake, her actions define her as a bigot. Further, I feel no sympathy for this woman who has means and access to not be victim, if indeed she is one. There a millions of poor women who are truly victims, being beaten upside their heads physically and verbally on a daily basis, who would love to be able to have the financial means and access to leave their condition, but cannot, because they have no where to go.

[dflprincess]

34. Thank you

Women with far fewer resources than she has have managed to get out of bad marriages. She stays because she wants to or, perhaps, for whatever payout she's been promised.

But she is no victim.

[Achilleaze]

2. Michelle is thinking things over

[Chemisse]

3. Obama is a kind man.

Making Melania feel welcome and comfortable.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. Especially considering her birther statements.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Obama forgives & thus obtains peace & serenity. Trump is the opposite in all ways. He is fuming. .nt

[padah513]

24. If tRump isn't now

he will be when he sees that picture.

[blake2012]

14. Lol

[applegrove]

9. Bet you Obama is making her feel great about her role.

[onethatcares]

10. the grilling she will face when

she goes back to merry go land is gonna cost her.

do you think the orange conman will just let her smile be forgotten?

I don't. He's just to vindictive.

[DesertRat]

21. He's too busy golfing and rage tweeting during the funeral

He probably won't even see the picture.

Link to tweet

[smirkymonkey]

12. The thing that strikes me most is that she looks relaxed and content.

She NEVER looks that way when she is with Donald. I think this is the first time I have ever seen her face where she is not in an uptight pose for the camera.

[syringis]

17. Me too

I bet the pic will go viral...

[Motley13]

13. Obama "he is a real asshole", Melania "you got that right"

[erlewyne]

15. Geoge Jones 'he stopped loving her today'

I haven't seen her smile in years ...

Arguably the greatest country and western song of all time!!


I can't help it ... that's what I think about with this
picture I have seen dozens of time in the last 24 hours!

[tenisfin]

16. It occurred to me. . . .

As I watched the Barbara Bush Memorial that as hostile as I am toward Republicanism, our world as Americans largely looks the way it does because of people like Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama and Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson and FDR, including many others. Our world looks the way it does in spite of what their political opponents have thrown at us and I feel grateful as a result.

[rainin]

18. Hillary is a strong woman. It's bad enough she must sit near this social x-ray. Thankfully,

the jackass husband isn't there.

[spooky3]

28. She and Bill look great in that photo. It was good of them

and the Obamas to attend.

It completely blows my mind that such a large % of the population cannot see the vast difference in quality between their orange blob and our couples.

[mobeau69]

19. I've made my share of mistakes in life. I've too many woulda, shoulda, coulda moments but

one think I can say with satisfaction, until the day I die, is that I supported and voted for Barack H. Obama twice. There, I fell better now.

[DallasNE]

20. I Think Back To What Cohen Disclosed To Her

When he said he apologized to her for the pain he caused her when he paid Stormy Daniel's $130,000. It should have been priceless, as well as her thoughts. Hint, it wasn't the $130,000 payment that was the problem. It was the behavior that led to the payment and Cohen had nothing to do with that meaning the apology came from the wrong person so this was just rubbing salt in the wound.

And don't lose sight that Meliana was a Birthed to the end.

[oberliner]

22. Yes

She is an awful person and in league with the worst of the Trump clan.

[Sophia4]

25. Obama has a beautiful soul. It must be an honor and a joy to be in the same

room with him.

Obama the angel - Trump the devil.

That's where we are.

[Iliyah]

26. President Obama showed her respect,

something she probably doesn't get too often.

[MaryMagdaline]

27. The Clintons attending the funeral of the family they

Removed from office, sitting next to the family who defeated them in the primary, 2 people away from the family who defeated them in the general election and whose family defeated the grieving family in the latest republican primary.

[First Speaker]

29. Melania hates Trump. Her body language alone makes that clear...

[cilla4progress]

30. Obamas

Trolling them. Clearly.

[LeftInTX]

35. Can you blame any woman?

I wonder what they're talking about: "Melania, do you think Donald plays too much golf?", or "Melania, does this staff person still do a crazy dance?" etc etc.

[ailsagirl]

38. She probably has never been treated like that

Not when her boor of a husband is around, anyway

[Algernon Moncrieff]

36. Barack is still an attorney

Perhaps he's advising her on what kind of settlement to demand.