To demonstrate just how far down the drain their standards for news and analysis were, CNN spent a couple minutes before the State of the Union Tuesday wondering if First Lady Melania Trump’s outfit was designed to protest the President, her own husband.
Just before the 9 p.m. hour, CNN White House Reporter Kate Bennett was trying to read the tea leaves to understand why Melania didn’t ride with Donald to the Capitol:
She did drive up separately this evening from the White House to the capitol … We do hear from the White House, however Wolf, they will be driving home together. The President and the First Lady will share the ride home. But it is, again, bucking tradition that she drove up on her own.
All that, despite the fact that Bennett did admit that Melania was accompanying her guests to the event.
And after being teed up by CNN host Jake Tapper, Bennett tried to read into the secret message the First Lady was trying to send, with her dress. “You know, she's wearing a cream-colored suit there, which I find interesting. Remember last year the female Democratic Senators all wore white,” she recalled while claiming it was to protests Trump’s anti-woman policies.
“Listen, it could be a total coincidence, but I just find a lot of the stuff she does these days, to look at it twice,” Bennett continued.
“I think Maureen Dowd called her the “Slovenian Sphinx,” everybody looking at her and trying to decipher the mysteries,” Tapper quipped, apparently buying into the ridiculousness.
Transcript below, expand to read more:
CNN
Anderson Cooper 360
January 30, 2018
8:58:40 PM EasternWOLF BLITZER: First lady, there she is, Melania Trump walking down the stairs. Let me bring Jake and Kate in. Kate, first of all, you've been reporting she did come up separately from the President.
KATE BENNETT: That’s correct. She did drive up separately this evening from the White House to the capitol. She accompanied the guests that were invited to sit in her box tonight. We do hear from the White House, however Wolf, they will be driving home together. The President and the First Lady will share the ride home. But it is, again, bucking tradition that she drove up on her own.
JAKE TAPPER: Is there anything you want to tell us about her outfit?
BENNETT: You know, she's wearing a cream-colored suit there, which I find interesting. Remember last year the female Democratic Senators all wore white. A bunch of them to protest Trump's policies against women. So there was even a hashtag, “#WomenWearWhite.” Listen, it could be a total coincidence, but I just find a lot of the stuff she does these days, to look at it twice.
TAPPER: I think Maureen Dowd called her the “Slovenian Sphinx,” everybody looking at her and trying to decipher the mysteries.
BENNETT: Exactly, very mysterious.
