In a rather pointless article published by New York magazine Wednesday evening, associate editor Madison Malone Kircher conducted an amateur forensic analysis of President-elect Donald Trump’s obviously staged speech writing photo, taken at his Mar-a-Lago resort, with the objective to mock it. “Live by Twitter, die by Twitter,” she declared at one point, “Or, at least, have your photographs picked apart on Twitter.”
The first suspected atrocity that required Malone Kircher to conduct her “investigation” were questions regarding Trump’s writing implement. “First, there’s the fact that Trump seems to be drafting his first speech as POTUS with a … Sharpie,” she noted with a citation of the infamous BuzzFeed.
But the “more important” faux pas that required her microscope was brought to her attention by a twitter user, who noted the desk the president-elect was sitting at, “Appears to be one usually occupied by an administrative or hospitality professional — a receptionist or concierge, maybe — in a public hall at Mar-a-Lago, and not in a private office.”
Again relying on Twitter, Malone Kircher reported that an Instagram photo had surfaced that showed someone who appeared to be an employee of some sort sitting at the desk. “After some extensive Googling, Select All has determined the desk in question is located not in a private Mar-a-Lago suite, but in what appears to be a usually public hallway,” the amateur investigative journalist added, backing up her analysis with a video from HGTV.
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“Given the Instagram photo was from a public event, it seems highly unlikely this desk is located in the Trumps’ private residence,” she deduced, “But it is possible that Trump closed off this particular hallway over the holidays (and cleared that desk of its computer), so as to give himself a quiet space to work.”
Malone Kircher was bumptiously confident that she had caught Trump in a massive fib. “So we’re not saying that Trump didn’t write his speech, in Sharpie, on a legal pad, at this desk, with its magnificent and inspirational eagle statue,” she chided, “Obviously he did; why would the president-elect stage such a photograph?” Before ending the piece Malone Kircher got in one last slight, concluding:
Now, look, far be it from the staff of Select All to judge the president-elect’s choice of venue. Lord knows we have worked, by choice and by necessity, on some odd and unfortunate surfaces. But … well, we are a little bit concerned that the only workspace in the newly dubbed “Winter White House” is a desk usually reserved for a receptionist and her computer. Surely there is a co-working space in Palm Beach?
New York magazine’s forensic analysis of Trump’s tweeted photo was absolutely ridiculous. Despite their snarky jabs asking why the photograph would be staged at all, it obviously was and it’s nothing to be up in arms about. Politicians stage photos all of the time and this “investigation” only serves to show the magazine’s desire to bash Trump with something, while pretending to be David Caruso.
