Washington Post snipes at Melania Trump’s bio

Is this garbage the kind of story the Washington Post will try to pass off as scandalous during the next four to eight years?

Visitors to the newly revamped White House website get more than a simple rundown of first lady Melania Trump’s charitable works and interests — they also get a list of her magazine cover appearances and details on her jewelry line at QVC.

Her biography starts with traditional details, such as her date of birth in her native country of Slovenia and information about her background as a model. That’s when the brief backgrounder takes a promotional turn. The website includes a lengthy list of brands that hired her as a model and several of the magazines in which she appeared, including the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

It is not uncommon for the White House to note the accomplishments of the first lady in her official biography, but Trump’s decision to include a detailed list of her media appearances and branded retail goods is unusual.

I guess all previous First Ladies who modeled, appeared in a magazine swimsuit issue, and started a jewelry line omitted this information from their official bio.

Post reporter Kelsey Snell purports to find an ethical problem with the bio. She notes that the original version “listed the brand names of Trump’s jewelry lines sold on QVC [b]ut the website was updated after the publication of this story to remove any mention of QVC.”

Snell then states:

The changes come at a time when questions have been raised by critics about the ethical implications of the family’s business entanglements. A spokesperson for the First Lady said the reference to her jewelry line was intended as a factual statement, not an endorsement and the website was updated out of an abundance of caution.

President Trump has been criticized for failing to fully sever ties with his famous business empire. He announced this month that he would turn over control of his businesses to his two adult sons, but critics say he has not gone far enough.

Whatever the merits of Donald Trump’s arrangements regarding his business empire, tying that issue to Melania Trump listing her jewelry line in her a bio strikes me as preposterous. As her spokesperson said, the reference to her jewelry line is a factual statement regarding one of her accomplishments. It would be like me listing Power Line or the name of the law firm where I was a partner in an official bio, if I had one — an attempt to provide honest, relevant biographical information, not a plug.

The Post would never try to make something out of the bio in question if it were that of a liberal president’s spouse.

I agree with Austin Yack at NRO:

So [Ms. Trump’s] biography should have omitted the companies she worked for and the jewelry line she launched? The Post may sneer at her resume, but given that Mrs. Trump was a model and entrepreneur before becoming first lady, it’s not shocking that her biography highlights the major milestones of that career.

What’s shocking is that the Washington Post would try to invent an ethical issue over this. If the Post and other mainstream outlets keep this up, the public (excluding the hard core anti-Trump left) may be unwilling to pay attention to reporting on real Trump scandals, if they occur. That would be unfortunate.

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