Melania Trump regularly makes statements with her clothing, and on Thursday she sent a vile message to the country – whether intentionally or not. When boarding an Air Force plane headed to the border to visit immigrant children separated from their parents, the first lady wore a Zara jacket with the words “I really don’t care, do you?” emblazoned on the back. The visit to Texas comes a day after her husband, President Donald Trump, signed an executive order to stop splitting up families entering the country without documentation. As activists protest the order – which doesn’t include concrete steps to reunite the more than 2,000 families already separated and will push for the indefinite detention of families – the choice of jacket seems like an extension of the administration’s callous attitudes.
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People have used social media to call out Melania’s tone deaf outfit choice (though she did change into a different jacket once at the border). Given the backlash, her team has already responded, denying that the jacket had any significant meaning. “It’s a jacket,” Stephanie Grisham, her spokeswoman, reportedly said. “There was no hidden message. After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope this isn’t what the media is going to choose to focus on.”
But at a time when the Trumps haven’t made public statements against the “zero-tolerance” policy, these words are hard to ignore.
