Ballistic missiles, hurricanes and high-heels

Editorial By Mike Bibb

In a week that saw a major hurricane crash into the Texas gulf coast; Korean loony-tune dictator Kim Jong Un launch a ballistic missile over the country of Japan, and Islamic terrorists continuing to inflict havoc in Europe and the Middle East, what does a significant representation of America’s media focus upon? 

The first lady’s shoes! 

I can’t make this stuff up. Melania Trump’s high-heel shoes suddenly became the chatter of numerous news shows, social media, and late-night comedians. 

Apparently, in the eyes of certain commentators, “stilettogate” is more controversial than a category-4 hurricane, North Korean missiles flying around the Sea of Japan, or murdering jihadists.

I guess it’s all in a person’s perspective.

Boarding Air Force One for a Hurricane Harvey review with Texas officials, Tuesday morning, Aug. 29, the president and first lady were photographed entering the presidential aircraft.  

It was nothing unusual. They’re routinely reported in similar situations prior to leaving Washington, D.C.

Except, this time they were headed to the storm-ravaged area of southeast Texas, where record setting rain and flood waters have inundated the Houston area. 

According to news talking-heads, Melania Trump should have been wearing irrigation boots, not five-inch heels. After all, how many flood-ravaged Houstonian’s had the luxury of wading through waist-deep water in a pair of $400 pumps? 

Not very many – and neither did Mrs. Trump. But listening to various mainstream media opinion fabricators, her shoe selection was an insult to the beleaguered residents of the Lone Star State.

She should have at least paraded around in a pair of scuffed-up Tony Lamas. A dusty, sweat-stained Stetson would have also helped in bonding with the natives. The glitter of Trump Tower and the confinement of the White House is a far distance from the oil-saturated loam of the petroleum capital of the United States. Washington has its monuments, parks and expensive bureaucracy, but Texas extracts money out of the ground and enhances the nation’s economy. 

So, when reporters, pundits, and paparazzi crowded around with their Nikon’s and notepads at the Corpus Christi airport – eagerly awaiting the moment when Melania would stoically descend from the airplane – they were immediately dumbfounded when she appeared attired in a baseball cap, white blouse, dark slacks and – wait for it – white tennis shoes, no heels!

Oh, the indignity of it all! The first lady of the free world flaunting her best “I’m just like you” routine before a captive audience and stunned press congregation. It’s downright humiliating! What was she thinking?

Which will be the twisted reaction and reporting of numerous media hounds. What’s next, the president and his wife lambasted because they flew to Texas instead of taking the 5:18 Greyhound?

The lunacy never ends.

The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.

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