First Lady Melania Trump's bizarre fashion choice has been a topic of consistent debate since photos were published of her in a jacket with the words painted on the back: "I DON'T CARE, DO U?"
This would be an odd fashion statement from the president's wife under any circumstances. But Melania wore the jacket while en route to visiting immigrant children held in detention centers at the border. Her visit there was supposed to help shift the narrative about this humanitarian crisis, which has been drawing outrage and condemnation from the nation. You had one job, Melania!
Appropriately, Stephen Colbert took the first lady to task.
"The story of the week has been Trump’s pro-baby-snatching agenda, and today it took another weird turn. Because to humanize these child detention centers, the administration sent their most high profile detainee, Melania Trump," Colbert joked in his opening monologue Thursday evening on "The Late Show." "And as soon as she got there, Melania cut right to the big question."
Colbert aired a clip of Melania asking: "How I can help to these children to reunite them with their families as quickly as possible?"
"Ma’am, I know how you can help," Colbert replied. "Unfortunately, it involves speaking to your husband. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the first lady got some details on how long these kids are detained."
Colbert showed a clip of Melania asking how long children are typically held there, and someone answered, "The average length of stay, currently, is between 42 and 45 days."
"That’s great," Melania said nodding.
"That’s great?" Colbert questioned. "'42 to 45 days, that’s great,'" he added, impersonating Melania. "My record for being gone is 25 days.'"
Then the late night host moved to her infamous jacket.
"When I heard that she was doing this, I thought, OK, this is what first ladies often do — go to a troubled area, see the children, show that we care. You can’t mess that up. Guess what? Spoke too soon," Colbert said. "Now, before we show you this, please know it’s real. We checked it so many times because we thought this has to be fake. But today, on her way to show that she cares, Melania wore a jacket that says, 'I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?'"
This jacket has caused so much backlash, that even President Donald Trump tweeted about it, saying that it's a message for the "Fake News Media."
"That’s what they settled on?" Colbert asked. "She’s forgotten the most important fashion advice: before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take off that jacket. But the first lady’s spokesperson says, 'It’s a jacket. There was no hidden message.' Right, it’s definitely not hidden. It’s right on the back! And I’m going to guess this is one message she did not steal from Michelle Obama."
Other late night hosts ripped into the jacket as well. "Remember when Michelle Obama showed her bare arms and went to an oil spill, and Fox News went nuts?" Jimmy Kimmel said on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Thursday night. "I’m sure they’ll have the same reaction to this."
Colbert also wondered what the consequences would be if the Trump White House resembled anything close to normal. "I’m sincerely curious here, how many people would get fired for this at a normal White House? One? Five? The entire executive branch?" he asked.
"Because in the middle of the worst moral scandal in recent memory — so bad her husband backed down for the first time — people who are supposedly on her side let her get on a plane with a jacket that said, 'I really don’t care, do u?' For the record, we do. Anyway — be best, everybody."
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