A LETTER FROM AMERICA

an accident or a provocation? Well, in a public response to the incident, Melania’s spokeswoman made clear that the first lady watches “any channel she wants.”

I’m not sure what to make of that “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket that she wore on her way to a detention centre for migrant children in Texas. It’s the “rosebud” of our time. But what if the message was that she didn’t mind if we interpreted her behaviour as a rebuke of her husband’s?

Marriage as psyops — it’s not virgin territory, but the stage and stakes here are epic. On Monday, as the Washington Post’s James Hohmann noted, she used the phrase “global society” in both her spoken remarks about cyberbullying and her written remarks about the trip to Africa, which she praised for its “rich culture.” Her husband, of course, treats “globalists” and “globalism” as dirty words, and some of his “shithole countries” are on that richly cultured continent. She’ll be going there without him.

Other first ladies beautified highways, promoted reading, planted squash. This one could abbreviate a nightmare. She’s in a situation that her predecessors weren’t, on the arm of an overlord who needs undermining, and it’s her invitation to greatness, or at least her prompt for an itinerary tailored to taunt.

I urge that visit to James’ school. Bring Don Lemon along. I suggest lunch dates with Maxine Waters, Aperol spritzes with Angela Merkel and pyjama parties with Nancy Pelosi. And pussy bows and pantsuits for days on end. They’re the threads of a revolution.

© New York Times Syndication, 2018 2 Her recent actions have given rise to the theory that Melania Trump has started a personal campaign to undermine her husband