What the Hell Was Melania Trump Thinking With This Zara Jacket?

An incredibly tone-deaf piece to wear while visiting children detained under your husband’s immigration policy.

Andrew Harnik/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

First Lady Melania Trump made a surprise visit to Texas on Thursday to take a first-hand look at the border crisis that has detained more than 2,300 children under her husband’s zero-tolerance immigration policy.

During her visit, she visited two facilities and shook hands with a group of detained children. But Trump’s concern for the migrant children was likely eclipsed by her apparel. The Daily Mail US reported that Trump, who is widely known for her carefully planned, high-fashion choices, was wearing a $39 Zara jacket with the words “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” written on the back. Many on social media initially expressed disbelief at the Mail‘s reporting—only to have it confirmed moments later by the first lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, who noted that not only was the jacket real but that Trump did wear it to visit a detention center.

“It’s a jacket. There was no hidden message,” Grisham said in a statement. “After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope this isn’t what the media is going to choose to focus on.” 

As she left the detention center, the White House pool reporter caught Trump wishing the detained children, “Good luck.” 

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate