Anyone who believes First Lady Melania Trump is a push-over better think again. She is a fierce protector of not just her son, but her business reputation as well. Her standing as a professional model was sullied during the bruising 2016 campaign with reports that made her sound as if she had been engaged in less than reputable activities. And Mrs. Trump simply was not going to stand for it. Now she is two for two in her war against those who dare to cross her.
Earlier this year she took a Maryland blogger to task in the courtroom for printing similar rumors and won. Now it seems a major media outlet who published scurrilous gossip and innuendo about Mrs. Trump will have to pay the piper “big league” as the president is want to say.
This week Mrs. Trump told the folks at Associated Newspapers that she would accept their apology and a little of their coin as well to make up for the damage to her reputation. Publishers of the Daily Mail, in fact, are on the hook for an undisclosed amount but which has been estimated by Sky News at approximately $3 M.
According to her attorney, the Mail’s insinuation -- which was published without any evidence to support it – went to the heart of her integrity and dignity as a business woman. Consequently, Mrs. Trump initiated legal action that required not just a financial settlement but a public apology as well:
The defendant is here today publicly to set the record straight, and to apologise to the claimant for any distress and embarrassment that the articles may have caused her.
This isn’t the first-time Mrs. Trump has been maligned in the news media, but perhaps it will be the last. Today’s legal agreement and public contrition by the Daily Mail put other media outlets on notice that the First Lady is not to be messed with now or in the future.
The establishment media rarely gives credit to women on the political right as feminists. But Mrs. Trump has surely proven she is a formidable person who doesn’t take to people smearing her name to drive up readership. As such, don’t expect too many salacious stories about the First Lady in the next four to eight years as those who choose to slander her quickly learn that if they do, it may cost them a pretty penny.
In the end, perhaps this move by Mrs. Trump serves to demonstrate that real feminists can be strong, smart and beautiful.
Way to go Melania.
