In June, First Lady Melania Trump shocked the world when she wore a jacket that read, ‘I Really Don’t Care. Do U?’ to visit a detention center holding migrant children in McAllen, Texas.
The visit came amid outrage over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy of separating undocumented immigrant parents from their children at the border. Facing mounting furor, Trump quickly signed an executive order reversing his own policy.
His wife sparked controversy the next day with her jacket that was criticized by many as tone deaf and insensitive.
While the first lady’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, said at the time that the jacket was just a jacket and there was no hidden meaning behind it, Mrs. Trump is now saying otherwise.
During her first sit-down interview as the first lady with ABC News, Mrs. Trump explained the jacket was in fact a message.
“I wore the jacket to go on the plane and off the plane,” Mrs. Trump explained. “And it was for the people and for the left-wing media to show them that I don’t care. You will not stop me to do what I feel is right.”
“It was kind of a message,” the first lady admitted. “I would prefer that they would focus on what I do and my initiatives, than what I wear.”
Mrs. Trump’s reveal confirms her husband, President Donald Trump was right in saying her jacket was a message.
“ ‘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!” the president tweeted at the time.
Despite the backlash, the first lady says her focus was on the children.
“I saw it on the news and I reacted right away,” Mrs. Trump said when asked why she visited the detention center. “It was unacceptable for me to see children and parents separated. It was heartbreaking. And I reacted with my own voice. I went to the border.”
As for what she would tell families suffering from the zero tolerance policy, Mrs. Trump said, “I would tell them to keep strong and that time will come, everything needs to go through the court system.”
“I didn’t know that that policy would come out. I was blindsided. I told him that I thought it was unacceptable and he felt the same,” Mrs. Trump said in reference to her husband.
