Recently, a lot of controversy has surrounded Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, in regard to his treatment of women. From the start, Trump clearly has made some foul remarks about women; but it all came to a boiling point two weeks ago when Billy Bush, now a former correspondent on NBC’s “The Today Show,” released a piece of footage where Trump vulgarly talks about women and says “When you’re a star, they (women) let you do anything. You can do anything.” This comment sparked outrage nationwaide, just in time for the election. However, the women who seem strangely silent regarding these issues are those closest to him, who have also heped Trump dismiss these allegations. Our favorite satirical comedy show “Saturday Night Live” quickly picked up on this, recently airing the spoof on Beyoncé’s “Sorry” called “Melanianade.” (If you haven’t watched it, you can here!) The video features the women in Trump’s family as well as on his campaign team, leading viewers to wonder who the real women of the Trump campaign are.
Melania Trump
The woman who gives “Melanianade” its name, she is the third and present wife of the Republican nominee. Born and raised in what is now present day Slovenia, Melania became an international supermodel at age 18. She traveled to the world’s fashion capitals, eventually landing herself in New York City in 1996, where she and “the Donald” hit it off at a Fashion Week party. They married in 2005, and have one son together, Barron “Barry” Trump. One can only wonder if she still love her husband the same way amid the swirl of controversy that has hit Trump’s campaign. Recently, Melania has been quoted by The New York Times on Trumps “locker room talk”, saying “But I know how some men talk, and that’s how I saw it, yes.” This starkly contrasts Cecily Strong’s portrayal of her on “SNL,” which made Melania seem exhausted from constantly standing by Trump through his multiple controversial moments. In reality, she’s a beautiful model, a strong mother, and she’s fluent in five languages. Still, even though she helped her husband dismiss these allegations several times over, you might want to watch out Donald, because Melania on the inside might not be so sorry.
Ivanka Trump
The daughter of Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana, Ivanka is “the brains here” according to Emily Blunt’s fabulous portrayal in “Melanianade.” While she may have originally gotten her fame from her father, she has since built her own name, with great success as the Executive Vice President of her father’s real estate company, as well as a successful modeling career and a stunning fashion line, the Ivanka Trump Collection. During her father’s campaign, Ivanka has advocated for him on multiple controversial occasions, especially in the past on women and the equal pay initiative. In the speech she gave at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ivanka said that her father “is color blind and gender neutral. He hires the best person for the job. Period.” However, after the recent allegations of sexual assault and crude behavior towards women against Donald, Ivanka has not been so quick to come to his defense. We wonder if she’s tired of women boycotting her brand and regrets having the election ruin her friendship with Chelsea Clinton. Hopefully they’ll make up after November 8th.
Kellyanne Conway
As Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway is a brilliant political consultant who even founded her own consulting firm, The Polling Company/ WomanTrend, where she specializes in closing the gender gap between male and female voters, something Trump desperately needed help with to win this election. You can only imagine what a challenge running this campaign must have been for Conway, with her job only getting harder with the recent swirl of allegations. After working in the past with multiple Republican Congressmen as well as acquiring the pollster position for President Ronald Reagan, Trump thought she was just the woman for the job. However, even Kellyanne Conway could not mend Trump’s broken relationship with female voters. No wonder Kate McKinnon’s hilarious portrayal of her on “SNL” makes her sound exhausted with Trump, and in general. She should have stuck with Ted Cruz, who she actually ran a super PAC for during the primaries. We wish you well Kellyanne; don’t let one bad case of the Donald stop you.
Tiffany Trump
Often referred to as “Donald Trump’s Forgotten Child,” the 21-year-old accomplished woman didn’t even have a Wikipedia page until October, 2016, as in this month. No wonder she feels like she’ll “never be Ivanka in (Trump’s) eyes” as Vanessa Bayer sings in the “SNL” parody. Tiffany is the daughter of Donald and his second wife, Marla Maples, and despite being left out of the lime-light, the Trump name has brought her half-siblings. Tiffany has also achieved a lot already. She has modeled, interned at Vogue as well as other prominent fashion companies, and studied at her father’s alma-mater, The University of Pennsylvania. While Trump helped to pay for Tiffany’s schooling, other than that Marla raised Tiffany as a single mother. Despite this, Tiffany still hopped on the campaign trail to help her father try and win the election, even speaking on the second night of the RNC this past summer. Keep doing you Tiffany Trump, or rather, Tiff Maples!
Omorosa Manigault
You may remember her from the 2004 season of “The Apprentice;” Omorosa Manigault also makes her “Melanianade” debut. At the RNC, it was announced that she would now assume the position as Donald Trump’s Director of African- American Outreach, switching her party lines for her former “Apprentice” boss. Aside from reality television, she also worked as a political consultant for former Vice President Al Gore, making her more than qualified for the position. This isn’t what has us shocked though, it’s her quote about the recent Trump allegations. In an interview with The New York Times, she is quoted on the matter saying “He apologized. He apologized to his family; they accepted his apology, and so do I.” That’s not what Sasheer Zamata made it sound like in her parody of Omorosa in the “SNL” skit. Even though she still supports Trump after this media storm, we would not blame her if she left her resignation in the hall way.
While “Melanianade” is hilarious, there is an important message for female voters behind it. If those women closest to Donald Trump stay silent in the face of his horrible words and actions against females, what might this suggest about the way he treats the women closest to him? We have to take this into account when we cast our ballots; we have to know exactly who we are voting for on November 8th. We as women must think of the long-term, not the short-term, when we vote. This type of talk about women, this sexualizing of women and our bodies by a presidential candidate is not okay, and it cannot be dismissed as “locker room talk.” We have to take the talk out of the locker room, and let the whole country and world know that we don’t accept this negativity and we won’t dismiss or normalize these issues that face each and every woman on a daily basis. No matter who you vote for, make sure it is with a purpose and a consciousness regardomg what that person stands for; this is your choice and yours alone. Get out the vote, and remeber Donald: without these powerful women who stand behind you, “you’d just be that guy with the weird hair”.