First Lady Melania Trump revealed on Wednesday that while former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was testifying on his investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election, she was officially kicking off the White House’s Christmas preparations.
“#Christmas planning has begun in the East Wing at the [White House],” the first lady announced on Twitter. “I’m looking forward to sharing our final vision for this unique tradition in the coming months.”
The tweet included four photographs of Trump donning a cream-colored dress as she seemingly reviewed fabric swatches and sample decoration options for the holiday décor.
The first lady began planning Christmas at the White House for the 2018 holiday season in July of that year as well; however, Trump’s joyful Christmas planning now comes in stark contrast to the heated hearings that were being simultaneously held in the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill.
After Trump opted in 2018 to line the White House’s East Wing Colonnade with bright red, cranberry-filled Christmas trees, the first lady was mocked by many for hosting a “Christmas from Hell” that was full of “red Christmas trees of death.”
At the time, Vogue Magazine compared the White House decorations to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a reference the left-wing media often attributes to conservatives and Republican policy.
“This year’s decorations have taken a different dystopian tack: Walking through a strange assemblage of bloodred trees, Trump looks to be channeling ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’” Vogue published in a Nov. 2018 article. “All they’re missing are bonnets worn by the handmaidens in Margaret Atwood’s patriarchy-cum-totalitarian Gilead.”
The first lady also received criticism for the Christmas decorations she opted to display the year prior. The White House’s grand foyer was lined with Christmas trees covered in sparkling white lights in 2017, reminiscent of a winter wonderland.
Accordingly, Vogue Magazine stated that the decorations had “distinctly desolate, post-apocalyptic ice chamber vibes” and further questioned if the décor was “a manifestation of the first lady’s own ‘Get Out’-style entrapment in Donald Trump’s administration.”
Trump’s recently announced launch of Christmas planning came amid Mueller’s testimony to the Democrat-led House of Representatives about President Donald Trump’s contacts with Russians in Moscow. Mueller’s testimony was chided by many as a political disaster — the president himself called the hearing “an embarrassment to our country.”
“This morning’s testimony exposed the troubling deficiencies of the Special Counsel’s investigation,” White House lawyer Jay Sekulow wrote in a statement. “The testimony revealed that this probe was conducted by a small group of politically-biased prosecutors who, as hard as they tried, were unable to establish either obstruction, conspiracy, or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.”
“It is also clear that the Special Counsel conducted his two-year investigation unimpeded,” the statement added.