Melania Trump urged to defend nude photoshoots as Republicans ‘want to ban books’

On MSNBC, a panel including anchor Nicole Wallace, professor Maya D. Wiley, and journalist Molly Jong-Fast discussed the video and its connection to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, especially with less than 50 days to go before the election. They were confused about how it related to Donald Trump’s conservative message.

“Clearly Melania is back in the hot seat. She’s beautiful and celebrating her naked, beautiful body. I applaud her, right? Do it. I find it fascinating, with 49 days to go until the presidential election, this is the message that the candidate’s wife thought was most important,” Wallace said.

In direct response to the video, Wallace continued: “I don’t know if I get it all. Yes, she is beautiful. I guess she thinks she is as beautiful as the sculptures? Go ahead, girl. And your husband is on the ballot. Your husband thinks this election is everything. He says the country is falling apart and that’s what I mean: What are they doing?”

Wiley responded: “It’s impossible to imagine that this happened without (Donald Trump’s) approval, without the campaign’s approval… who knows! It’s a very well-edited and developed ad. It’s not something she put together herself. The only reason I say that is Melania Trump should be able to be who she wants to be, do what she wants to do, and that includes taking her clothes off. No judgment on her.”

Wallace responded in support of Melania Trump: “I don’t know if I would wear clothes if I looked like that!” She then continued with a laugh, saying: “If we’re at the naked part of the show, I mean, I’m so happy to hear that message but, again, you’re the wife of the candidate who’s campaigning on the message that the country is ending in 49 days and that’s what you did today?”

Wiley then pointed out the hypocrisy of the Republican response. She suggests it is an attempt to give their campaign a more “modern” spin while maintaining socially conservative policies that force people to give birth. Melania Trump was shown naked in a series of photos kissing and cuddling model Emma Eriksson. Another photo shows Eriksson spanking Melania Trump with BDSM gear.

She then questions why Melania Trump has been relatively spared from attacks by conservative media, while Vice President Kamala Harris has been the target of numerous attacks from conservatives because of her appearance. Former first lady Michelle Obama was also under constant scrutiny for wearing clothing such as sleeveless dresses.

Jong-Fast added: “This is a party that wants to ban books. So you can’t take that in a vacuum. To say that the media is somehow the bad guy? You’re the wife of the presidential candidate. They want to ban books, ban certain things that you can’t teach – LGBTQ… remember they were at war with black history. They still are. It’s a pretty crazy thing and very, very far from the mainstream.”

“To say that it’s the media’s fault that she’s being shamed for her naked body is kind of crazy. I would say it’s not even that they don’t seem to work together. It’s like they’re running on two different Earths. On Earth 1, he’s running on very right-wing policies. On Earth 2, she’s wondering why people are being mean to me because of my naked pictures.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to his wife’s work, as he has indicated that he hasn’t read her book. At a rally in Uniondale, New York, this week, he said: “People love our first lady… She just wrote a book called Melania. Go buy it. It’s great. And if she says anything bad about me, I’m going to call you all and tell you not to buy it, to get rid of it.”

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