US: First lady stirs outrage with 'I don't care' jacket

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

Melania Trump's visit to southern Texas on Thursday was meant to demonstrate her care for immigrant children, but a fashion faux pas has instead thrown a dark cloud over the visit.

Trump donned a military-style green jacket emblazoned with the words "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?" as she headed to the immigrant children's detention center, stirring widespread confusion and criticism.

The jacket immediately led to accusations of her being tone deaf at best amid the president's now halted policy of separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents as part of his wider crackdown on illegal border crossings.

"Melania Trump is already being celebrated in white supremacist circles for wearing that jacket. Trump’s plan worked," remarked @funder, a Democratic partisan, on Twitter.

Trump's spokeswoman issued a statement defending the first lady, saying: "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn't going to choose to focus on her wardrobe."

But as her clothing continued to dominate social media, President Donald Trump came to his wife's defense, breaking with her spokeswoman by saying that there was indeed a message behind the jacket.

"'I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?' written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!" Trump tweeted.

Twitter user @ElRonBo made a faux attempt at defending Melania Trump, using one of the president's justifications for taking children away from their parents.

"Stop with the #MelaniaTrump bashing," he tweeted. "That jacket she wore was required by a law the Democrats passed in the 90s. But the mainstream media won't tell you that."

Trump repeatedly and falsely tried to defend taking children away from their undocumented parents by saying he had to because of a Democratic law. But no such law exists, and he undid the policy he created with an executive order Wednesday.

Another Twitter user pointed out an obvious question that many have overlooked: why wear a jacket on your way to Texas, where the high was above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius), from Washington, D.C., which posted a similar temperature.

"Why is she even wearing a jacket? It’s TEXAS in the SUMMER!!!" asked @missarpin.