The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I think describing Melania's nude photoshoots during her modeling career as "pornography" is stretching the term almost as much as do people like Moms For Liberty when they're banning books from school libraries.

 

[Free]

I think describing Melania's nude photoshoots during her modeling career as "pornography" is stretching the term almost as much as do people like Moms For Liberty when they're banning books from school libraries.

Would you call the photos "obscene?" How about "sexually explicit" or "smut?" All of that - and much more - was used to describe the moment Janet Jackson *accidentally* showed her right breast at the halftime show of Super Bowl 38.

Melania's nude photos might have given us our first nude look at a First Lady and a "celebration of the human form" (...), but Janet's nipple gave us Youtube.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I remember a lifetime ago when Glenda Jackson gave up her acting career to run for parliament and the Daily Telegraph (then a very stuffy Conservative paper) suggested that all the nude scenes she'd done in Ken Russell's movies somehow disqualified her as a serious candidate. Her role as Nina (Antonina Milyukova) in The Music Lovers particularly upset the Telegraph, as I recall.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I think describing Melania's nude photoshoots during her modeling career as "pornography" is stretching the term almost as much as do people like Moms For Liberty when they're banning books from school libraries.

Yeah, I have no problem with models in general or having one as first lady. ....but the efforts to demonize Michelle Obama for the crime of being educated and outspoken while not white or male are very pathetic. Can you imagine how vicious they'd be to Michelle if she had even a tasteful nude photo at any point in her life? Many conservatives already call her a "ho" while praising Melania with no grasp of the irony.

 

[Free]

I remember a lifetime ago when Glenda Jackson gave up her acting career to run for parliament and the Daily Telegraph (then a very stuffy Conservative paper) suggested that all the nude scenes she'd done in Ken Russell's movies somehow disqualified her as a serious candidate. Her role as Nina (Antonina Milyukova) in The Music Lovers particularly upset the Telegraph, as I recall.

Was Glenda Jackson campaigning on a theme of returning to more traditional, morally conservative ideals?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Was Glenda Jackson campaigning on a theme of returning to more traditional, morally conservative ideals?

No, but the complaint wasn't about any supposed hypocrisy or inconsistency. It was that, regardless of her political views and policies, her nude scenes during her acting career somehow disqualified her from consideration as a serious politician.

 

[Free]

No, but the complaint wasn't about any supposed hypocrisy or inconsistency. It was that, regardless of her political views and policies, her nude scenes during her acting career somehow disqualified her from consideration as a serious politician.

And I don't see anyone going after Melania Trump for anything really, other for someone claiming her "dignity, restraint, class and grace" is a comparison to the supposed hype of Democratic figures. If you take issue with someone referring to her nude photos as "pornography," then I'll point out the regular use of that term to describe the tamest of erotica out there by legions of those in the political party the Trumps belong to.

Melania cannot be restrained and dignified when someone who's shown far less skin than she has - and not on purpose - is labeled obscene or smutty.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Melania cannot be restrained and dignified when someone who's shown far less skin than she has - and not on purpose - is labeled obscene or smutty.

I actually have zero problems with any woman who pursues modelling as a career, pornographic or not. What irks me about Melania is, one, the R's are trying desperately to hold her up alongside Michele Obama. Sorry, that dog is never going to hunt. Ever. ("I don't care, do you?")

Second, we know a little about her origins in Slovenia and now, even some of her involvement with Epstein. The questions that come up for me, considering the behavior and attitudes of Donald along with the hushed origins of his wife (possibly through his friend/pimp Jeff) are many as one would expect. Even if we give her every benefit of the doubt, she's been married to the same orange spray-tanned fascist baboon since 2005, and her reactions to his cruelty and racism amount to little more than a frown or a glare.

I don't have any evidence that she is guilty of a thing. The only thing I'm sure she is guilty of is marrying a rich American to lift her out of poverty. That's not a crime. It's only disgusting when she tries to pretend it didn't happen.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

And I don't see anyone going after Melania Trump for anything really, other for someone claiming her "dignity, restraint, class and grace" is a comparison to the supposed hype of Democratic figures. If you take issue with someone referring to her nude photos as "pornography," then I'll point out the regular use of that term to describe the tamest of erotica out there by legions of those in the political party the Trumps belong to.

Melania cannot be restrained and dignified when someone who's shown far less skin than she has - and not on purpose - is labeled obscene or smutty.

And I don't think that it's a particularly good idea to adopt the religious rights' definition of pornography simply to take a cheap shot at someone. Your referencing Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" reminds me that standards are different in the US, but as a Brit I'd regard someone who described the sort of nude photoshoots she used to do as "pornography" as something of a prude and a crank, and I don't think that someone's making themself come over as a prude and a crank simply in order to take a cheap shot at the opposition, is a particularly wise move.

 

[Free]

And I don't think that it's a particularly good idea to adopt the religious rights' definition of pornography simply to take a cheap shot at someone.

Adopting? lol

I don't have a problem using the language the opposition uses to turn it around on them. I also don't consider it a cheap shot when the real target is the person or group wielding the language.

 

[Noodles]

Personally, dunking on looks or things like Melania doing nude photos feels like its just distracting from these people being awful. Hell I don't even like making fun of Trump's looks or the dumb "Mara Lago Face". There are actual awful things about these people, and tossing in petty nonsense feels like it waters down complaining about the real issues.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Adopting? lol

I don't have a problem using the language the opposition uses to turn it around on them. I also don't consider it a cheap shot when the real target is the person or group wielding the language.

Has Melania Trump recently commented on pornography other than in the context of the anti-revenge porn law she helped promote? The whole exchange Cindy reproduced looked to me like someone saying something stupid about Michelle Obama and someone else responding by saying something even more stupid about Melania Trump.
In other words, a normal day on social media.

 

[Free]

Has Melania Trump recently commented on pornography other than in the context of the anti-revenge porn law she helped promote?

How do her comments come into it? Again, I don't consider it an attack on Melania Trump, but rather against a mindset that maintains that anyone not on their side of the political divide is fake, depraved or otherwise lacking qualities like "grace." It's not uncommon to try and show the hypocrisy behind such viewpoints.

It seems you were bothered by the use of a word during that attempt.

 

[Isabeau]

I know certain comments concerning looks or past actions, are more about pointing out the hypocrisy, and I get it, but I also think that it can show the hypocrisy of some on the “other” side. Since we can’t always know who is behind a lot of the image captures or whatnot, we infuse them with our own beliefs.

Of course, if you’re going to hold up the bible (upside down!) and proclaim a certain moral authority concerning how women should behave and look, people will point that finger right back at you and your own behaviour.

Personally, I really have a hard time with these types of snipped images of comments with no links, meant to make us go Hell yeah! or whatever. I don’t know any of these people and why thy are making these comments.

I do know who you all are, so I assume you are all mostly reading it the way I am, i.e. that they are pointing out the hypocrisy of it all. Still makes me uncomfortable. I guess it just isn’t the way I “fight” in real life. Actually, maybe that isn’t exactly correct. I can remember being petty a few times, and I didn’t like myself very much afterwards.

Remember when Michelle Obama said something like When they go low, we go high? At first, this really resonated with me. I have to admit, though, these last few years, I may have changed my mind back and forth about that. Sometimes, you need to outbully the bully ‘cause it’s the only thing he can understand.

Still, even if it’s to show the hypocrisy of a certain group, comments shaming a women about her looks or lack of propriety will always affect me. As others have said, there’s so much more we could point out that is terrible about these people.

Honestly, I don’t know anymore. All I do know is how much I dislike how ugly political discourse has become.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/15/trump-rob-reiner-death-00690682

Posting this here to not taint Rob's thread. The most classless President in History being himself.

 

[Free]

Remember when Michelle Obama said something like When they go low, we go high?

She has since gotten more nuanced about that.

 

[Noodles]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/15/trump-rob-reiner-death-00690682

Posting this here to not taint Rob's thread. The most classless President in History being himself.

President Donald Trump on Monday said Hollywood director and progressive activist Rob Reiner’s death was likely the result of “anger he caused others” through “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Classic "Blame the victim" bull shit.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

How do her comments come into it? Again, I don't consider it an attack on Melania Trump, but rather against a mindset that maintains that anyone not on their side of the political divide is fake, depraved or otherwise lacking qualities like "grace." It's not uncommon to try and show the hypocrisy behind such viewpoints.

It seems you were bothered by the use of a word during that attempt.

I was bothered by someone describing nude pictures as "pornographic" when, at least by my standards (and, I think, those of most of Europe, at least, and I'd suspect much of the US too) they were nothing of the sort.