The First Lady's response about her husbands behavior sounds like the response of a

[boston bean]

battered woman.

Basically a warning that if you do something he doesn't like he will react by punching you 10x more harder. So, in other words avoid doing anything that will upset him or you will feel the wrath.

That is indicative of typical battered wife syndrome.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I thought it was Sarah Huckabee Saunders who said that.

But what the heck, maybe he hits her, too.

[Girard442]

2. He abuses everybody, one way or another.

On edit: except Putin, who he grovels to.

[AgadorSparticus]

21. He may not hit her physically but i have no doubt he verbally abuses everyone

That had to work for him or with him.

[Pluvious]

33. Emotional abuse ? Threats about the boy ? #SadTimes n/t

[George II]

25. It was Melania's press secretary that announced her "feelings". Huckabee only reiterated it.

[emulatorloo]

41. Melania did say that a while ago.

[Raster]

51. Huckster Sanders* said he hits back...

...Melania* said he hits back ten times as hard.

Even if tRump* has never raised a physical hand to his wife, she has the hallmarks of AN EMOTIONALLY BATTERED PERSON.

[tblue37]

55. Melanie said that in an interview once, and her communications director

tweeted out a reminder of that comment today.

[marylandblue]

7. He might be abusing her

He knocked his son to the ground in public when he was i college. Why? His son wasn't wearing a suit to go to a baseball game. His first wife accused him of rape, but later withdrew the allegation as part of the divorce settlement. With that history, beating Melania would notnbe out of the question. Besed on his public demeanor, she is almost certainly sublect to verbal and emotional abuse.

[maxsolomon]

24. that story was Trump's dad Fred hitting Trump

because he had on a Yankees jersey rather than a suit. not Don abusing Jr. or Eric.

this is how he was raised. it's all he knows. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[Moosepoop]

45. No, the story was Trump Sr. hitting Don Jr.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-dj-says-he-watched-donald-trump-brutally-slap-his-son-in-college-8900500

<snip>

The way Melker tells it in a lengthy Facebook story posted last night, he lived in the same freshman dorm at UPenn as Donald Trump Jr., who attended the Wharton School. One day, the elder Trump showed up to pick up his son for a baseball game and flat-out slapped the crap out of his kid when he wasn't dressed for the occasion.

"Don Jr. opened the door, wearing a Yankee jersey. Without saying a word, his father slapped him across the face, knocking him to the floor in front of all of his classmates," Melker writes on Facebook. "He simply said 'put on a suit and meet me outside,' and closed the door."

Melker posted the story, he says, because he thinks the moment illustrates Trump's dangerous angry streak.

"In light of what I saw that day, it is clear to me that Donald Trump lacks the temperament and basic social decency to run our country," he says.

[Chemisse]

11. So she can't be battered because she doesn't deserve sympathy?

Ahhh, truth is so malleable, isn't it?

Either way, I have no sympathy for her. She has her ways of getting even.

[dalton99a]

22. +1

[obamanut2012]

53. Disgusting gendered insults -- you should be ashamed

No woman is a whore. And, NO WOMAN deserves gendered insults.

This garbage shouldn't be allowed on DU.

For shame.

[Thinkingabout]

4. I doubt he reserves his nasty comments to twitter, he probably says a lot in private.

Nasty, shows his weakness, maybe his little hands are beginning to affect his thinking.

[boston bean]

5. He probably wrote her response.

[Thinkingabout]

6. Good possibility, wonder what lessons Barron is learning.

[nocalflea]

46. No doubt he's nastier, more vicious in private.

[tenderfoot]

8. She's the epitome of a "Doormat"

or Lady Against Women.

[UTUSN]

9. I'm not giving her any benefit of doubt until she removes all doubt.

[Major Nikon]

10. It's not as if it's an original thought

Lots of other people have made the same observation.

Trump's behavior is fully predictable. He's like a spoiled child that acts on pure emotion without any internal intellectual filter that prevents it.

So while it very well could be the behavior of a physical abuser, there's no question it's the behavior of a verbal abuser.

[boston bean]

13. Geez whiz thanks. Also, re read the OP. You will notice I make no distinction.

Because battering also includes verbal abuse and threats.

[Major Nikon]

15. Webster disagrees with your personal definition

As does every legal definition of the term, it's base and all derivatives.

So I will not notice you made any such distinction. At least from a fully literate perspective. If you meant something else you might want to rephrase.

[boston bean]

40. Regardless of what websters tells you regarding bws, verbal abuse is a component of the syndrome.

[Major Nikon]

48. I made no such claim otherwise

When you specifically describe someone as "battered" (twice no less) and ask me to re-read what you wrote, you might want to follow your own advice first as that word doesn't mean what you think it means.

Furthermore I didn't contradict you in my original reply regardless of what you actually wrote or meant, so you might want to re-read that as well. Or not. Just sayin'.

[boston bean]

49. I wrote what I meant and I wrote a true statement.

Thanks for trying to explain how I don't measure up to your very odd expectations. Take care.

[Major Nikon]

50. You responded pretty much as expected

Cheers!

[zz-la]

12. Trump is used to getting his way and being adored by all his subjects

He honestly thought that we would worship at his alter after he became President. The man is deranged and unhinged. He is a sociopath that cannot handle being criticized, especially by a woman.

[TheBlackAdder]

14. Sure does.

[Cha]

16. With Stockholm Syndrome.. I agree.

It was a sickening response and puts her right in there with him.

[hunter]

17. He hasn't punched her, his arms are too short and his hands are too small.

But I've no doubts he plays all the other abusive narcissist's cards and he's done it all his adult life.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. Like a T. rex: Arms too short, hands too small, but he's still a menace.

[Arazi]

18. That was my first thought. I "heard" her tweet as a resigned, battered wife

I didn't hear it as a callous response - just grim resignation

[Tanuki]

19. It's a scripted remark, right out of the Roy Cohn playbook.

Melanie said exactly the same thing, using the same words, in her first major campaign interview in April 2016.


http://www.npr.org/2016/04/13/474110403/after-shying-from-the-spotlight-melania-trump-emerges-on-the-campaign-trail
...."At a campaign rally in Milwaukee this month, Trump introduced his wife as "an incredible woman ... an incredible mother."

In turn, she praised her husband as a "great leader."

"He's fair," Melania Trump said. "As you may know by now, when you attack him, he will punch back 10 times harder. No matter who you are, a man or a woman, he treats everyone equal.".... .(more)

####


Trump has said the same thing for years.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/donald-trump-obsessed-with-revenge/

During another 2007 speech in which Trump (of course) assailed O’Donnell—once again calling her a “pig” and a “degenerate”—he explained his first rule of business:

It’s called “Get Even.” Get even. This isn’t your typical business speech. Get even. What this is a real business speech. You know in all fairness to Wharton, I love ’em, but they teach you some stuff that’s a lot of bullshit. When you’re in business, you get even with people that screw you. And you screw them 15 times harder. And the reason is, the reason is, the reason is, not only, not only, because of the person that you’re after, but other people watch what’s happening. Other people see you or see you or see and they see how you react.".. .


http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/11/03/trump-hits-back-10-times-harder-jabs-rivals-talks-crippled-america


Donald Trump spoke with Sean Hannity Tuesday night hitting hard on his rivals Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush, nailing President Obama on his "terrible" presidency, and his new book, "Crippled America: How to Make Our Country Great Again."

Trump said he's spent nothing, but plans to release ads in the next few days.

“Anybody that hits me, we’re gonna hit them 10 times harder,” Trump said.

When Hannity pressed Trump on his attacks on Jeb Bush, Trump said, "I think Rubio is an overrated guy. I think I've hit him just as hard as Jeb."


####
They are all channeling Joe McCarthy henchman and Trump mentor Roy Cohn.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/03/31/politics/donald-trump-getting-even-washington/index.html

..."Speaking in Sydney, Australia, in 2011, Trump said again: "Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe that."
.......

And in his 2009 book, "Think Big," Trump wrote: "I love getting even when I get screwed by someone. ... Always get even. When you are in business you need to get even with people who screw you. You need to screw them back 15 times harder.
.....
Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer who became acquaintances after working with Cohn, said much of what animates Trump could be traced back to Cohn's philosophies.
........
Dershowitz added that Cohn believed in punching back hard when enemies attacked, something Trump has long discussed in books and speeches.

[GusBob]

52. Hey nice catch

Good post

[nini]

20. Or she's as petty and vindictive as he is

She has the means to leave him. I dont feel sorry for her.

[dflprincess]

47. Agreed

women with far fewer resources than she has have risked everything to get out of a bad situation, if not for themselves then for their kids. If she's worried about giving up her lifestyle, I'm sure she could find some outfit willing to pay a fortune for her story.

She stays because she wants to.

[smirkymonkey]

26. I am torn. I was really angry that she stuck up for him, but I think it is highly possible

that she is an abused (if not physically, then emotionally and mentally) wife. I really don't know what to believe about her. He's an evil man and I am sure he treats her terribly. I get the impression that she hates him, but is afraid to leave him for a number of reasons. He would destroy her if she did.

I can't automatically assume that she is defending him because she really believes in him, but I really just don't know.

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

56. And regardless of what one thinks

Barron is still a kid and he's caught in the middle.

[joeybee12]

27. It sounds like a woman who is as just as big a piece of shit like her husband

Stop making excuses for this scum

[underpants]

29. Republicanism is an abusive relationship n/t

[maxsolomon]

30. He's an Authoritarian. No one is allowed to contradict him.

She's fulfilling the terms of her Loyalty Oath.

She won't say shit until he's in his grave, and maybe not then, because his kids will enforce the NDA, and she wants her money.

[Freethinker65]

31. Thank goodness she is shielding Barron from all of this

[flibbitygiblets]

32. I assume she made a deal with him from the start. She looks the other way and gets $

He probably told her right up front: "this is what you're agreeing to, I get to do whatever I want and you support me publicly".

Remember what he said when he started perving on that poor woman who met him on the Access Hollywood bus? "Melania said it's okay".

[Beacool]

34. First lady? More like trophy wife #3.

I respect Melania as much as I respect Trump, that is, none at all.

[boston bean]

35. Thanks for the eye roll beacool. Did I say I respect her?

[Beacool]

36. I never said that you did.

I just can't stand women like her. She sold her body and soul in exchange for money. She will never criticize Trump. Who knows what's in her pre-nup? She doesn't want to jeopardize her meal ticket.

[boston bean]

37. None of that means that what I said could not also be true.

[Beacool]

42. Honestly, I don't think that he physically abuses her.

I do think that he probably has verbally made her feel 2" tall at times. That's his style. He's a malignant narcissist who can't abide criticism. His foul mouth is his weapon of choice. Although, I don't feel sorry for her. She chose to marry the vile man for his money and defends him against any attack. They deserve each other.

[boston bean]

43. I am not saying I do not understand the sentiment. But that is what people say about

battered women who stay.

I am not sure where she fits on the spectrum and I too am conflicted about her. In general her words are reminiscent of an abused womens words. That I can say with certainty.

[amrita73]

38. Did you see when Trump got questioned on Mika bashing (South Korean leader Moon state dinner )

Melania was looking at him as if she was counting...
1....
2...
3....
4....
Yes
5....



More than a trophy wife, I feel she is a Stepford wife. Whatever soul she used to have
has been crushed and beaten to a pulp.
She now has a son.

I don't want to "pass judgement" or call her names, but she certainly loves to sue people
and has "adopted" a lot of behaviors from Trump.

She spends her life mostly in isolation.

According to a piece on her I read in The New Yorker, only 3 Slovenians attended her wedding to this disgusting man.
Her father, mother, and sister.

[Fritz Walter]

39. This post reminds me of an image I saw in January

[rhiannon55]

44. I posted about this earlier

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029267246

I think we're onto something.

[Gothmog]

54. Yes that was the response of an abused spouse