First Lady's Spokeswoman Fires Back After CNN Critic Pens Anti-Melania Op-Ed
The spokeswoman for First Lady Melania Trump is firing back after CNN contributor Kate Anderson Brower wrote an Op-Ed saying that Trump “proved that she doesn’t understand what it means to be first lady.”
Last week, the first lady went on Sean Hannity’s show and discussed the treatment she and her family had received from the establishment media after her husband had taken office as president of the United States.
“I would say the opportunists who are using my name or my family name to advance themselves, from comedians to journalists to performers, book writers,” she said, describing media figures who have targeted the Trump family.
This criticism of the media, however, led to a harsh Op-Ed by CNN‘s Katie Anderson Brower.
Brower wrote that instead of criticizing the media, Trump should have “put attention on the families of struggling Americans she’s met in her role as first lady.”
She added that all modern first ladies could share disapproval of the media’s treatment of their families, but Trump “has clouded the profound responsibility and honor of the position with her own personal resentment.”
Several people came forward to rebuke the response, including Republican Representative-elect Dan Crenshaw of Texas.
He wrote on Twitter, “Ironically, (Kate Brower) is the type of opportunist Melania Trump was talking about. Really hard to see how (Trump’s) answer warrants media outrage. Everyone relax, it’s almost Christmas.”
Ironically, @katebrower is the type of opportunist Melania Trump was talking about.
Really hard to see how @FLOTUS answer warrants media outrage. Everyone relax, it’s almost Christmas. https://t.co/cbkTDPY1I3
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) December 17, 2018
However, the most heated response came from a spokeswoman for Melania, Stephanie Grisham, who penned her own counter Op-Ed in response to Brower’s.
Grisham wrote that she believed that Brower’s response was “condescending.”
“For Brower to claim that Mrs. Trump’s interview was ‘a lost opportunity to put attention on families of struggling Americans she’s met in her role as first lady’ is to willfully ignore everything she has actually done to help and support children and families across the globe as a commitment to service she has consistently demonstrated over the past two years,” she wrote.
Grisham then noted that when Brower wrote that Trump had no idea what it meant to be the first lady, she “ignores all the effort the first lady has put into fulfilling the traditional responsibilities of the role.”
She went on to describe in detail the list of kind-hearted accomplishments Trump has chalked up while in office, including hosting several state dinners, leading restoration and preservation efforts on the White House, visiting several hospitals both here in the United States as well as across the world, and traveling to devasted areas of the U.S. that were hit by tragic hurricanes.
Grisham concluded that “whenever Mrs. Trump sits down for interviews, she inevitably gets attacked for her honest answers.”
“The role of first lady brings with it unique opportunities to help people across the country and around the world,” she added. “This is not lost on Mrs. Trump.
“She has and will continue to demonstrate her commitment to helping children and advancing the causes she is passionate about.”
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