The liberal media is getting downright weird.
An editor and a writer for two different mainstream magazines each speculated that President Trump may have abused First Lady Melania Trump, who went an extended period after kidney surgery without being seen.
“I wish that I didn’t suspect that the prolonged, poorly explained public absence of Melania Trump could be about concealing abuse. I wish that it was a ludicrous prospect,” Rolling Stone senior writer Jamil Smith wrote on Twitter.
And Atlantic editor David Frum posted similar speculation about domestic violence, although his was couched in question form.
“Suppose President Trump punched the First Lady in the White House (federal property = federal jurisdiction), then ordered the Secret Service to conceal the assault. POTUS has Article II authority over Secret Service. Is that obstruction? Under Sekulow/Dowd, apparently NO,” Frum wrote on Twitter.
Sekulow and Dowd are attorneys who have weighed in on Trump’s claim that he can’t be charged with obstruction of justice.
Melania underwent surgery on May 10 for an “embolization procedure” to treat a benign kidney condition. While the procedure was deemed relatively minor and came off with “no complications,” she was not seen until this past Monday, at a White House event.
The MSM began speculating about Melania’s disappearance, and that amped up when word came that she would not accompany Trump on two upcoming international trips.
For the record, though, everyone recovers from surgery differently, and Melania does have a 12-year-old son that takes up a lot of her time.
Media analyst Jeffrey McCall told Fox News that “it really is sad that some corners of the media world so easily engage in unsubstantiated speculation,” simply to bash the president, Fox News reported.
McCall added that, “It is bad enough when this happens with regards to policy matters, but it is really out of line when it deals with somebody’s personal behavior. This kind of toxic and polarized public dialogue damages the public sphere in so many ways.” …
“Pundits who have engaged in such wild rumoring should, indeed, apologize, but I don’t think that is likely to happen,” McCall said. “The moral compasses of pundits who would engage in such unsupported allegations are so out of whack that a public apology would not cross their minds.” …
Conservative strategist and media watchdog Chris Barron told Fox News, “The left-wing media has engaged in tin foil hat conspiracy theories in regards to the first lady that make the Obama ‘birther’ garbage look like child’s play.”
Even Trump haters thought the Twitter posts crossed the line.
Trump said on Wednesday morning: “The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!”
And he said “…Four reporters spotted Melania in the White House last week walking merrily along to a meeting. They never reported the sighting because it would hurt the sick narrative that she was living in a different part of the world, was really ill, or whatever. Fake News is really bad!”