Volume 10 (2019): Melania’s Pith Helmet: A Critical View...

Volume 10 (2019):Melania’s Pith Helmet:A Critical View of Her African Safari

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Relevant Rhetoric, Vol. 10 (2019): “Melania’s Pith Helmet”

Terry OwnbyAssociate Professor

Department of Communication, Media, and PersuasionIdaho State University

[email protected]

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Barely entering the eighth month of his tumultuous and questionable presidency, Donald Trump found himself facing his amoral ambiguity on a televised

global platform. After more than forty-eight hours had elapsed since the khaki-clad, tiki-torch wielding white nationalists marched across the University of

Virginia campus and participated deadly violence the following day, Trump finally stepped in front of the cameras only to blame both sides of the racial conflict

occurring in the rural hamlet of Charlottesville. His ambivalence and refusal to denounce overt racism perpetrated by his white populist base reinforced his

public perception as being racist himself. Although Trump claims to be “the least racist person,” his words and actions over the decades speak for themselves.1

In a 2018 New York Times opinion article, David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick assembled a conclusive list of his known racist comments.2 Thus, it could be that

this notion of perception is really an actuality.

Whether reality of “perception,” this aspect of the president taints those individuals within his orbits of influence, whether they are advisors, friends, or family. For

some individuals and some news media outlets, assumptions might be made regarding those closest to the president, namely his family members. This projected

perception raises several questions: Do Trump’s family members hold his values? If they do not, how do they keep from sending out confounding messages to their

viewing publics? Where does the First Lady fall in this melee of media questions, debates, and accusations? However, for me the most overarching question to emerge

regards Melania Trump’s sartorial choices. Her fashion statements have been controversial before and during her tenure as First Lady. Are her fashion selections a

reflection of her husband’s racist bias? Or, are they a reflection of her own personal bias? Or, are they absolute tone-deafness on her part?

Amber Chiang argues sartorial choices by political leaders are important in how they communicate to audiences and how the media interpret or evaluate the

individual based on fashion.3 This is particularly true for women. Further, Chiang suggests “of all women in politics, those most evaluated for their fashion

statements are typically the first ladies.” 4 She also suggests that inappropriate sartorial choices of political leaders and public figures may indicate a “lack of respect

for the audience.”5 This last point brings our conversation back then, to the current First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS), Melania Knavs, third wife to President

Donald Trump. On more than one occasion since becoming FLOTUS, Melania has stirred the cauldron of debate with her fashion selections.

One of those fashion accessories garnered considerable media attention during her first official solo-trip abroad as FLOTUS in the fall of 2018. The artifact in question

is her safari-style “pith” helmet worn during her excursion into urban, drive-through, Nairobi National Park. The pith helmet functions as a stereotypic visual trope for

hegemonic colonialism and Western imperialistic occupation of Africa, the Subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. So why is this relevant or of any concern today since

colonialism is a relic of the past? What is relevant is the fact America’s First Lady, as a representative of the United States, appears to be tone-deaf to her sartorial

implications. Fashion functions as a form of popular culture and visual rhetorical communication. The world audience will interpret that communication through their

own scopic regime of cultural construction.6

Why then, would FLOTUS on her first political appearance abroad, and specifically in Africa, choose such stereotypical and ideologically-loaded fashion selections?

Matt A.J. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cornstalker/

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The backlash on social- and main-stream media regarding Melania’s tone-deafness on appropriate

attire within certain cultural situations presents itself well for a critical rhetorical analysis filtered through

a neo-Marxist perspective. For example, 151-year-old women’s fashion magazine, Harper’s Bazaar,

published a scathing article singling out the white pith helmet worn by FLOTUS as a colonial-era “symbol of

status—and oppression.” 7 Vox magazine’s writer, Gaby Del Valle, wrote extensively about the backlash on

Melania’s safari outfit and her other sartorial faux pas. Del Valle noted, in particular, Melania’s Egyptian outfit

that was reminiscent of a Nazi sympathizer, and of course, the Kenyan safari outfit replete with pith helmet.

She closes her article connecting Melania’s fashion choices with her husband’s administration policies,

“...it’s impossible to look at a white woman wearing a pith helmet while on an African safari and ignore

the colonial undertones—especially when that woman’s husband is in charge of an administration

whose policies actively harm those from African nations.” 8

The purpose of this rhetorical analysis is to critically examine Melania Trump’s sartorial choices while in

Africa and consider how they re-enforce past and present racist hegemonic attitudes of her husband,

President Donald Trump. According to cultural theorist, Stuart Hall, individuals within any given culture

will construct their own meanings and assign those meanings to artifacts, whether they be people,

objects or events. 9 Thus, how FLOTUS selected her daily costumes while touring Africa matters, because

certain objects, such as the pith safari helmet, have over the decades been imbued with colonialistic

and imperialistic racial overtones that have taken the form of negative representation or stereotyping. 10 I will circle back to this topic further in this study.

Theoretical Lens for Analyzing Melania’s FashionFrench semiologist Roland Barthes has become the ubiquitous standard for rendering meaning from

the photograph. Most notably, Barthes constructed the notion of photographic functionality happening

simultaneously on two levels, that of denotation and connotation. According to Theo van Leeuwen,

Barthesian visual semiotics addresses the question of representation.11 That is, what is the photograph

actually representing and how it is represented. Barthes’s answer to this question of representation is

that the image functions minimally at two levels; of which Hall described as the image shows “an event

(denotation) and carries a ‘message’ or meaning (connotation)—Barthes would call it a ‘meta-message’

or myth – about ‘race’, colour, and ‘otherness’.” 12

Epistemologically, the first instance of the visual image functions iconically in that “the signifier

represents the signified by apparently having a likeness to it.” 13 However, at the second instance of the

photographic image, there is a deeper ontological turn and meanings are revealed at the ideological

level. The layer of connotation therefore, is where racial, gender, and other forms of stereotyping, or

representation, happen within the visual, whether that is media images or physical artifacts.

I examine two aspects of neo-Marxism in this paper. First, the notion of economic metaphor as signifier

of hegemonic racism, which plays out in the First Lady’s safari wardrobe.14 Deanna Sellnow succinctly

describes economic metaphor as a term used by new-Marxist theorists “to include anything (e.g., images,

language, objects, events, practices) that signifies (sheds light on) something about the culture’s ideas,

norms, values, and practices regarding wealth and empowerment.” 15 Melania Trump, the third wife of a

flicker.com/Reckon

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multi-billionaire and when not modeling nude for British GQ,16 wears designer clothing most average Americans could never financially afford.17 Her fashion objects

therefore function as rhetorical symbols of her new wealth, power, and entitlement.

The Pith HelmetThe pith helmet is a symbolically charged object as a visual representation of institutionalized racism for many of the indigenous peoples of the geographic areas under

consideration. Not only was this headgear worn by the various conquering European militaries, it was also worn by explorers, plantation overseers, and even

medical doctors, such as the famous Albert Schweitzer in the early twentieth-century. It conveys an elitism reserved for the wealthy and powerful Euro-white

global interlopers.20 Thus, given Melania Trump’s position as FLOTUS and what she represents on the global stage, it carries weight when she wears controversial

clothing. This seems to be her modus operandi.

Stuart Hall recalls three crucial historical moments of white Europeans interacting with black Africans, which served to promulgate typecasts of Otherness. The first

moment began when West African kingdoms provided Europeans with black slaves, beginning in the sixteenth-century and lasting for three centuries. Next, and

most notably for the purpose of this essay, was the European colonization of Africa during the late 1800s in the period of British Imperialism. And lastly, during the

post-World War II era of African immigrations into Europe and North America.21

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Europeans from countries such as Spain, England, Belgium, France, and Germany, began colonizing the Subcontinent,

Africa, and southeast Asia. As colonization gave way to European Imperialism, clothing choices of the white occupiers standardized with many Europeans sporting

ObamaReagan

The second concept that is imbricated with economic metaphor is that of the site of struggle. Specifically, I am concerned with the preferred reading that Trump’s

stereotypic clothing choices perpetuate the hegemonic and systemic racism put forth by her husband and his administration. Roseann Mandziuk, in her writing on

presidential spouses, argues these spouses tend to function as a form of “index” for their partners personal character.18 In other words, presidential spouses serve

as reflections of their mates. Mandziuk further states “the rhetorical function of the spouse, as described by Republican strategist Fred Davis, ‘is to be a window on

the soul of their mate.’”19 As such, Melania Trump serves as that reflection of her husband’s hegemonic racism and populist xenophobia. Her safari fashion choices

therefore, become representations or stereotypes of their shared world attitudinal paradigms. Her decision to don a pith helmet in Nairobi, therefore, created global

backlash against their perceived shared attitudes and values.

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light or white colored linen suits, khaki colored safari shirts and jodhpurs (military-style riding trousers), along with tall boots and/or knee-high leggings. By mid-

nineteenth century, British Imperialism was well established within India and Africa. The quintessential fashion element that projected domination over the indigenous

peoples was the “pith” helmet. Jenni Avins, writing for the online business news journal, Quartzy, noted “The headgear was standard-issue for 19th century British

officers in India and Africa, making it a potent symbol of colonial rule.” 22

Hats of all types, including the pith helmet, did more for the wearer than simply protect the head from the sub-tropical elements. They portrayed the wearer’s social

status within the Imperialistic hierarchy as noted in the Gentleman’s Gazette: “they also were used to distinguish the wearer in terms of status, occupation and even

political affiliation.” 23 This item was worn by men and women alike and came to symbolize white occupation and dominance over Africans, Indians, and southeast

Asians. The pith helmet became such a ubiquitous stereotypic object during that time-period, it appeared in various aspects of popular culture, such as its depiction

in lithographic artwork for the famous British biscuits produced by Huntley & Palmers (see Figure 1).

However, the pith helmet was not limited to European Imperialism. It found its way into the sartorial choices of early twentieth-century American imperialists. For

example, Republican president Theodore Roosevelt was filmed and pictured numerous times on exploration trips and hunting safaris in both South America and

Africa, wearing a variety of pith helmets. Regardless if Roosevelt was wearing big-game hunting attire or strolling in coat and tie, he proudly wore his colonialists-style

pith helmet (see Figures 2, 3, and 4). With this background information, it is time to examine Melania Trump’s usage of this highly contentious symbol of systemic

hegemonic racism.

Figure 1

Figure 2 Figure 4Figure 3

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Melania’s Soviet BackgroundI suggest it is important to understand how Melania’s fashion choices bolster her husband’s xenophobic and racist outbursts, such as his infamous eruption calling

African nations “shithole countries.” 24 But, it is also important to understand, even briefly, who Melania was prior to becoming FLOTUS. Melania was born in the

former Soviet satellite state of Yugoslavia and the daughter of a former member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.25 Fashion became her circumvention

from Communism to Capitalism and the future lifestyle she aspired for herself. As a fashion model for a feature in British GQ magazine,26 she posed with and without

clothing and fashion accessories promoting an ideology of consumerism and power of the wealthy elite class. She has never shied from controversial fashion attire.

Since her husband entered the political arena, she has been the target of sartorial criticism since the pre-election debates.

Clothing functions as one of the first visual cues of one’s social status, or the status one aspires to hold. Being raised in the Communist bloc where most citizens enjoyed

few luxuries in life, Melania’s materiality was much different during that time period. However, she would have had some amount of privilege being the daughter of

a card-carrying Yugoslavian Communist. Only about five percent of Slovenian citizens attained party membership and they were considered the elite of the state. 27

Melania’s father, Viktor Knavs, sold automobiles and “amassed a collection of Mercedes sedans and a ‘coveted’ Maserati.” 28 The ladies of the Knavs’ household were

well coiffed and wore fashionable attire not common in most Communist states during that era.29 Once she made her way out of Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia) and

into the world of fashion, wealth and material possessions were more obtainable. However, once she connected with Donald Trump, she had access to an elevated

lifestyle of extreme wealth, power, and privilege.

Analysis of Choices: Reinforcing the President’s ViewsOn October 8, 2016, the New York Times published the transcript of the infamous tape recording of Billy Bush’s conversation about women, when Donald Trump

proudly proclaimed to “grab ‘em by the pussy.” 30 The following day, October 9, 2016, Melania appeared in the audience at the second presidential debate wearing a

$1,100 hot pink Gucci “Pussy Bow” blouse.31 When she accompanied the president to Sicily for their first G7 Summit, she was called out for wearing a $51,500 Dolce

& Gabbana jacket32, which costs more than the average American’s annual income.33 She next sparked attention after Hurricane Harvey by wearing a bomber jacket

with impractical Manolo Blank stiletto heels, with a price tag of $625. During the tumultuous debacle on the US-Mexican border when separating Hispanic migrants

from their children, Melania arrived at a holding center wearing a Zara jacket emblazoned on the backside with the statement “I really don’t care, do u?”. Fast-

forward to her first solo-trip as FLOTUS in October 2018 and she insults her hosting African nations by wearing the colonial/imperialistic pith helmet and all her other

“safari” accouterments.

The first week of October 2018, Melania Trump, embarked on her first solo trip abroad as FLOTUS. Specifically, she visited four African nations to promote her “Be

Best” campaign. The four countries she visited included: Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt, which the American president calls “those shithole countries.” 34

Photographs of FLOTUS embarking and debarking her airplane, depict various flowing dresses with motifs of tropical birds, zebras, rhinos, and flamingoes. Images

of these particular dresses were captured by photojournalists working for a variety of news media. The official photographs released by the White House do not depict

those particular dresses. However, as she began on-the-ground tours, the White House officially released photographs where she appears in a variety of “safari”

https://www.amazon.com/Really-Melania-Olive-Jack-et-Cotton/dp/B07H6NJHST

Figure 5

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style outfits. These included a flowing khaki-colored dress with cargo breast pockets (Fig. 5); a brown multi-cargo pocket military-style blouse (with and without

a large leather belt), paired with khaki-colored slacks and snake-skin loafers or stiletto heels (Fig. 6); a white blouse with tight khaki pants and knee-high leather

safari boots (Fig. 7); and lastly, a light-colored linen ensemble reminiscent from Indiana Jones, complete with a white straw fedora, which many have referred to as

reminiscent of the movie’s Nazi sympathizer (Fig. 8a and 8b).

Figure 8a

Figure 7Figure 6

Figure 8b

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It was during the third day of her African tour when she visited the Nairobi National Park that she drew

international commentary, while wearing colonialistic planation overseer attire. The white pith helmet that

Trump wore during her safari brought immediate condemnation (see Figure 9). But why? This style of hot-

weather helmet was worn by British colonialists and later by other European Caucasian explorers and ruling

military elite, as they conquered and established colonies in Africa, India, and southeast Asia. As I have

already noted, the pith helmet became the preferred headgear among these white imperial intruders, it

became a representation of systemic racism through white oppression of dark-skinned peoples.

It is important to understand how Melania’s fashion choices bolster her husband’s xenophobic and racist

outbursts, such as his infamous eruption calling African nations “shithole countries.” 35 At first blush, I

thought maybe FLOTUS was a victim of circumstances. That is, she married into wealth not anticipating

playing a role on the world’s political stage. Now I question that thought. Too many times since coming into

the political spotlight she appears in fashion choices that echo her husband’s racists, misogynistic, and

xenophobic attitudes. This raises certain questions. Is Melania that tone-deaf or does she intentionally reflect

her husband’s mindset? It is hard to imagine she or her handlers are not cognizant of her fashion choices and

it would be completely incomprehensible that her personal staff managing all aspects of her life as FLOTUS

would not anticipate the messages her clothing sends to the global audience. Or, is this performative spectacle

intended to undermine her husband’s presidency? Yet, on the other hand, maybe she has her own agenda

that supports her husband’s ideology.

Melania’s haute couture choices promotes the preferred racist hegemony pushed by the Trump administration

and that of its concomitant populist base. That particular hegemony seeks, either covertly or overtly, to

harken the Jim Crow status quo of a bygone era. It revives hope among angry white men wishing to maintain

their status in a changing America that is progressively turning brown.36 They fear the notion of themselves

becoming the minority and losing their since of dominative power over Others

Interestingly, the White House only released one photograph of Melania wearing her pith helmet. That image

shows FLOTUS in an open-sided safari vehicle with the Nairobi National Park game warden, Nelly Palmeris,

seated directly behind her. This photograph is striking on several levels. First, it is reminiscent of Robert Frank’s

Trolley-New Orleans, 1955, which depicts Southern whites riding in the front of a trolley car with black people

in the rear. Not only are the vehicle configurations similar visually, the juxtaposing of whites in front and blacks

in rear, appears uncannily intentional. While this particular photograph shows FLOTUS looking off-camera

through a pair of binoculars, other photojournalists managed to capture Melania glaring into the camera

lens in similar fashion to the Southern white woman’s glare at Robert Frank.

Her safari clothing and the pith helmet in particular, reinforce notions of white dominance over indigenous

Africans and by proxy, southern Jim Crow and earlier eras of forced slavery of blacks brought to the Americas

from Africa. It is a circular mentality attempting to perpetuate their lost cause through Melania’s not-so-subtle

nod of approval by way of her performative spectacle on the world stage.

Figure 9

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Final ThoughtsClothing functions as visual cues of our various social standings, or what we aspire for. Such was the case

for Melania Knavs when she left her Communist bloc home, where few citizens enjoyed the luxuries in life.

Melania’s situation was different during that time period, since she led a life of privilege as compared to

her Slovenian peers. Once she left Yugoslavia and into the world of fashion, she continued on a trajectory

of riches and fame. Once connected with Donald Trump, that trajectory accelerated her life of privilege

and the accoutrements of designer fashions.

Thus, when she wears costumes reminiscent of colonialism and rule over Others in the form of a pith

helmet, it carries considerable weight. When those images, in this case from the White House, are

broadcast via social and mass media, they reinforce the Trump political base’s xenophobic and racist

notions.

This paper discussed the implications of hegemonic perpetuation through Melania Trump’s fashion

choices. Modern fashion functions as a visual rhetorical device. In Melania’s case, her fashion creates

controversy on social and mass media outlets. FLOTUS represents the United States on the global stage

when she travels abroad, and as such, her projected image carries international implications. In turn,

those implications raise even more questions. What do her fashion choices say about her ideological

views? Is she mocking the president’s views or in her own peculiar way does she represent his views? Or,

does she simply not care what others think?

Based on the arguments put forth by both Chiang and Mandziuk, I too would argue that FLOTUS mirrors

her husband’s values. Thus, her performative spectacles of fashion choices actively perpetuate Donald

Trump’s hegemonic racism. As such, her fashion choices reflect her ideological position that what she

wears is normal. For Melania, this is who she is and therefore, perpetuates the status quo of the elite

circle she sits within.

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List of Figures:

Figure 1Poster for Huntley & Palmers biscuits, colour lithograph, printed by W.H. Smith, 1891. Courtesy © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Figure 2“Col. Roosevelt, Tarlton, and the big lion.” Theodore Roosevelt standing next to lion killed on safari, 1919. Photo by Kermit Rooselvelt. Courtesy Library of Congress

Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2013649459/

Figure 3“Theodore Roosevelt with members of his party on safari in Africa, 1919.” Photo by Kermit Rooselvelt. Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Washington, D.C.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.36573/

Figure 4“Theodore Roosevelt walking forward, wearing a pith helmet, 1910.” Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. https://www.

loc.gov/item/2010645471/

Figure 5Photo Credit: (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)



Figure 8aPhoto Credit: (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

Figure 8bPhoto Credit: (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)


All other photos of Melania Trump are from the White House Flicker Photo Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/

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1 Michael D. Shear, “’I’m Not a Racist,’ Trump Says in Denying Vulgar Comment,” New York Times, January 14, 2018.

2 David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick, “Donald Trump’s Racism: The Definitive List,” New York Times, January 15, 2018

3 Amber M. Chiang, “Sartorial Scrutiny of First Lady Fashion: Evaluation of Media Coverage Inequities Involving Female Figures in Politics,” Relevant Rhetoric 5, no. 1 (2014): 1-12.

4 Ibid., 1.

5 Ibid., 1.

6 Gillian Rose, Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials, 4th ed. (London: Sage, 2016), 3.

7 Harper’s, “Melania Trump Steps out in yet Another Controversial Outfit During Africa Tour: The FLOTUS Donned a Colonial-era Accessory while on Safari,” Harper’s Bazaar, October 7, 2018. Retrieved from:

https://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/fashion/melania-trump-controversial-pith-helmet-17461

8 Gaby Del Valle, “The Backlash to Melania Trump’s Safari Outfit, Explained,” Vox, October, 8, 2018. Retrieved from

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/5/17943396/melania-trump-africa-trip-kenya-ghana-malawi-egypt-pith-helmet.

9 Stuart Hall, Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (London: Sage, 2007).

10 Jenni Avins, “Melania Trump’s Colonial Fashion Statement Should Surprise Absolutely No One,” Quartzy, October 5, 2018. Retrieved from https://qz.com/quartzy/1415355/melania-trump-wears-a-pith-helmet-to-africa/.

11 Theo van Leeuwen, “Semiotics and iconography,” in T. van Leeuwen and C. Jewitt (Eds.), Handbook of Visual Analysis, (London: Sage, 2001), 92-118.

12 Stuart Hall, “The spectacle of the ‘other’”, in Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, e. Stuart Hall (London: Sage, 1997), 229.

13 Gillian Rose, Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials, 2nd ed. (London: Sage, 2007), 83.

14 Deanna D. Sellnow, The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: Considering Mediated Texts, 3rd ed. (Los Angeles: Sage, 2018), 138.

15 Ibid., 138.

16 GQ, “Melania Trump - the First Lady in Our Nude Photo Shoot,” British GQ, November 8, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/donald-trump-melania-trump-knauss-first-lady-erections.

17 Kate Taylor, “Melania Trump Wore a Coat That Costs More Than Most Americans Earn in a Year,” Business Insider, May 26, 2017. Retrieved from

https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-dolce-and-gabbana-floral-coat-2017-5.

18 Roseann M. Mandziuk, “Whither the good wife? 2016 presidential candidate spouses in the gendered spaces of contemporary politics,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 103, nos. 1-2 (2017): 136-159.

19 Mandziuk, Good Wife, 137.

20 For an excellent comparison of colonial-era and contemporary usage of the pith helmet as a symbol of white elitism in Africa, see: Jacqueline L. Scott, “Melania Trump’s Pith Helmet is not just a Hat,” The

Conversation CA, The University of Toronto, October 14, 2018. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/melania-trumps-pith-helmet-is-not-just-a-hat-104824.

21 Hall, Spectacle of the Other, 239.

22 Jenni Avins, “Melania Trump’s Colonial Fashion, ¶2.

23 Sven Raphael Schneider, “Safari Hat Primer,” Gentleman’s Gazette, August 12, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/safari-hat-primer/.

24 Josh Dawsey, “Trump Derides Protections for Immigrants from ‘Shithole’ Countries,” The Washington Post, January 12, 2018. Retrieved from:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html?utm_

term=.12c5094d52f6.

25 Luke Mintz, “Meet the Parents: Who are Trump’s Inlaws, Viktor and Amalija Knavs?”, The Telegraph, August 10, 2018. Retrieved from:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/parenting/meet-parents-trumps-in-laws-viktor-amalija-knavs/. See also WikiData entry for Viktor Knavs: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23000811.

26 GQ, “Melania Trump--the First Lady in our Nude Photo Shoot,” British GQ, November 8, 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/donald-trump-melania-trump-knauss-first-lady-erections.

27 Ashitha Nagesh, “Donald Trump’s Father-in-Law is a Communist Who Looks Exactly Like Him,” Metro, October 30, 2015. Retrieved from:

https://metro.co.uk/2015/10/30/donald-trumps-father-in-law-is-a-communist-who-looks-exactly-like-him-5470817/.

28 Sam Dangremond, “Here’s What You Need to Know About Melania Trump’s Parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs,” Town & Country, August 9, 2018. Retrieved from:

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/g9968592/melania-trump-parents-amalija-knavs-viktor-knavs/.

29 Ibid.

30 Penn Bullock, “Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women,” The New York Times, October 8, 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html.

31 Lauren Le Vine, “Melania Trump Wore a ‘Pussy Bow’ Blouse at Sunday’s Debate: It Has People Talking,” Vanity Fair, October 10, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-outfit-costs-2018-8.

32 Talia Lakritz, “15 of Melania Trump’s Most Expensive Outfits,” Business Insider, October 29, 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-outfit-costs-2018-8.

33 Kate Taylor, “Melania Trump Wore a Coat That Costs More Than Most Americans Earn in a Year,” Business Insider, May 26, 2017. Retrieved from:

https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-dolce-and-gabbana-floral-coat-2017-5.

34 Dawsey,”’Shithole’ Countries”.

35 Ibid.

36 During the late 1990s, scholars began to note America’s changing racial and ethnic composition with whites trailing the growth of brown populations. For instance:

James H. Johnson, Jr., Walter C. Farrell, Jr., and Chandra Guinn, “Immigration Reform and the Browning of America: Tensions, Conflicts and Community Instability in Metropolitan Los Angeles,” The International Migration Review 31, no. 4

(1997): 1055-1095.

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