In case you haven’t been paying attention, First Lady Melania Trump has somehow managed to not be seen publicly since May 10th, shortly after the White House unveiled her bewildering “Be Best” initiative. That’s over three weeks — 22 days to be exact. Quite a feat for someone who’s married to the President of the United States. On May 14th, she was reportedly hospitalized for a minor procedure that typically results in a 24-hour recovery process. And as Melania’s absence from public view drags on, what was at first a mildly amusing sideshow in the Trump circus has begun to morph into something objectively weird, and perhaps a little troubling.
Eyebrows were raised when Melania didn’t appear publicly with her husband on Memorial Day for the ceremonial laying of wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery. Then came the bizarre tweet posted from Melania’s @FLOTUS Twitter account that sounded nothing like a tweet written by Melania, and everything like a tweet written by her husband: “I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I’m doing. Rest assured, I’m here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!” (President Trump has repeatedly used the phrase “working overtime” in reference to the media over the years in past tweets.)
And the concerns seem to have ramped up to another level after it was announced on Friday that Melania would not be joining President Trump for a retreat at Camp David this weekend, inspiring some to comment on the matter via humor.
I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed hiking the Appalachian Trail these past 22 days with Melania Trump.
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) June 1, 2018
One of those expressing legitimate, thought-provoking concern, however, is actor/comic/Uproxx favorite Michael Ian Black, who posted a series of tweets questioning why the press isn’t asking hard questions and covering this more seriously. Further, Black posits that the media not digging into Melania’s disappearance is yet another example of its patronizing (and perhaps sexist) approach to its coverage her. Below is his entire series of tweets on the matter:
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002554353100775424
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002554877783003136
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002555279546859520
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002555680522371073
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002556104616923136
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002556488555036679
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002556933356867586
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002557299586674694
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002557875783430145
https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/1002559652738031617
Naturally, the longer Melania isn’t seen in public, the more conspiracies about her disappearance are likely to spread. It doesn’t take much online digging to find a slew of them floating around already, everything from “Melania ran off with a Mexican poolboy” to “Melania tried to commit suicide” to “Melania had plastic surgery” to “Melania got a haircut she doesn’t like.”
Meanwhile, there are others who would also like to vanish and, in doing so, possibly escape the seemingly endless cycle of noise that comes with life in America in 2018.
https://twitter.com/molly_knight/status/1002937462031675392
