Having been banned from Twitter back in January, former President Donald Trump sent the media
a prepared statement in reaction to the death of Prince Philip on April 9th, 2021. The statement
read:
"This is an irreplaceable loss for Great Britain, and for all who hold dear our civilization.
[...] We saw firsthand how the Monarchy epitomizes and carries on the virtues of the British
People—and no one did so more than Prince Philip."
Trump's wife Melania, however, is still very much active on the social media platform — and
so chose to offer her condolences to the royal family via tweet. Nevertheless, her tribute
to Prince Philip wasn't entirely impersonal in nature; Melania and her husband having
met various members of the prince's family. For example, during her time as the first
lady, Melania met Queen Elizabeth and had tea with Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess
of Cornwall. And while she likely meant well when she shared a tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh
on her Twitter profile, the former first lady of the United States was quickly met with
a furious backlash over the wording of her message.
But for one word, Melania Trump's tribute might have survived, unscathed. The tweet
read:
"President Trump and I extend our deepest condolences to Her Majesty the Queen, the
Royal Family, and the people of Great Britain as the world mourns the loss of Prince Philip."
As soon as her message was shared, however, Melania was met with hundreds of comments
from her fans, followers, and critics, many of whom didn't exactly approve of the way
she referred to Former President Donald Trump as "President Trump." Melania Trump has thus
far remained silent on the issue, despite the backlash her tweet incurred.
This isn't the first time the Trumps have courted controversy on this issue, either.
Donald Trump raised eyebrows earlier this year when he unveiled a website on which he
failed to refer to himself as a former president. And while Trump's 2024 presidential intentions
remain uncertain, it's nonetheless clear that he continues to harbor political aspirations.
Case in point? Trump adviser Jason Miller recently told republican guests at Mar-a-Lago
that:
"Palm Beach is the new political power center, and President Trump is the Republican Party's
best messenger."
Notably, he, too, failed to use the adjective, "former." And then there's Trump himself,
who said this of the Democrats in March 2021:
"But who knows? Who knows? I may even decide to beat them for a third time, okay."
It's hard, then, to separate the social media reaction to Melania Trump's Twitter tribute
from recent news surrounding her husband's political intentions. Still, one Twitter user
attempted a polite correction, tweeting:
"Please don't refer to your husband in the present tense as 'President', it would have
been so much better to say 'my husband and I.'"
Others were not so kind to the former first lady, however. As another Twitter user advised:
"One Term Former Twice Impeached Disgraced Ex President Trump please… be respectful
and use his full title."
A third joked:
"I know internet tends to be slow in South Africa, but Trump is still president?"
While yet another Twitter user joined the fray, tweeting:
"Ooops little memory loss there Melania. Comes to us all."
Whether you think this mistake was a harmless mistake or not, it is at least significant
that this is the first time that Melania Trump has mentioned Donald Trump in a tweet since
leaving the White House in January. Earlier this year, her Valentine's Day tweet garnered
significant attention for failing to mention her husband at all.
But that wasn't the end of the controversy over Melania's Twitter memorial to Prince
Philip. Indeed, others in the Twitterverse wondered why she seemingly snubbed rapper
DMX. DMX passed away on the very same day as Prince Philip, after suffering from a heart
attack following an overdose on April 2nd. The musician was just 50 years old when he
died. One social media user wrote:
"I'm sure you heard about our Brother DMX's death as well."
Another user took a more direct approach, writing:
"What about DMX?"
In response, a third person suggested that Melania purposefully failed to send condolences
to the late rapper's loved ones, including the 15 children he left behind, because of
his skin color. The tweet in question read:
"DMX is black so, she won't send a condolence message to his family."
It might seem impossible, but things really are going from bad to worse for Melania and
her unfortunate tweet.
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