I think the decorations are beautiful. Obviously, a lot of time, thought & effort went into this holiday transformation. The red trees make a bold statement & might not have been everyone's first choice, but can't this First Lady do something that isn't severely criticized? As FLOTUS, she has the right to decorate the White House as she pleases. Please, treat people with kindness. What has Melania done to deserve this hateful criticism about everything she does?
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A Be Best mess...
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On a day when we are reminded of what a real President and First Lady can be like, I have no sympathy for the Trumps. Oh, poor Melania...folks, she really doesn't care about anything to do with being First Lady. Be Best indeed. And enough with oh, it's Christmas, let's remember the reason for the season. Yes, let us remember. Send your warm fuzzies to the poor immigrants and refugees and not the rich woman in the White House who STILL cannot get Christmas decorations right. Visually stunned yes; stunning no.
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Taste takes a vacation!
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So warm and inviting.
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Well, grading on a curve, it's a LOT better than the video we did for the first North Korea summit!
If there's going to be some sort of "Red Dawn" going into 2019, then I'll take the red Christmas trees against the green carpet any day. It's a nice change from rolling-out the red carpet for autocrats...
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I think the red trees look attractive and cosmopolitan. If she had ordered cozy green trees decorated with glittery balls and sequined angels and colored lights, with a dog lying in front wearing a red bow, she would have been ridiculed for trying to look like Norman Rockwell.
Does our loathing of her husband's behavior (which I share) have to spill over into holiday decorations? Lord love a duck!
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@Heather Angus seems a lot of people are seeing red these days.
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It seems to me that people in the WH either don't care or are too scared to criticize anything that this couple does. Does anyone care enough, or is daring enough, to tell them that these trees are hideous or that 'Be Best" is not English?
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I can handle the red trees, but not with that awful green carpet. White? Gold? Plaid? Anything else.
Last year's white branches were a bit of the White Witch of Narnia, but still a lovely effect for that long hallway.
I don't see a reason to pick on how the First Lady decorates the White House for the holidays. Some stark and modern, some tradition. It's fine.
I just wish she could take all those white fairy lights and find a way to cover over the basic ugliness of the Administration in residence.
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Some of the decorations are nice. The scene cut out of paper on the mantle, for instance, is pretty and crafty. But the red trees on the green carpet is just awful. Makes me think of mini-golf.
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What? No angels on top or Jesus or Mangers under those trees?? Is this Trump’s war in Christmas?! Oh shame.
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After all this administration is truly all about me, me, me! No inclusion here. We get what she wants. Selfish administration, selfish family. No country first here. Disgusting! Christmas is so much more than this. It took so much thought and time.
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Whatever, I’m not feeling the love or warmth to humanity as a whole, which is more important this season than fake gallery-quality designer displays.
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I love it, it is striking and different. Wish more of this presidency was modern and progressive.
(V.P.'s decorations are so boring and predictable!)
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Red states (not blue states) anyone?
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I’d also like to add that although the decoration choices of a certain Melania Trump are the very least problem we should be concerned about “blood red” is actually completely appropriate for this White House. An appropriate choice. In that sense Happy Blood Red Holidays!
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The trees would look so much better if they had silver ornaments or lights. They just look so bare and weird. The color isn’t the issue.
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Those trees look exactly like handmaids from the Handmaid’s Tale. Blessed be the fruit, I mean, Merry Christmas.
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How thoughtful of the White House to make their holiday decorations so inclusive to reflect the religious diversity in America. Also, I am also gratified that the American taxpayers benefitted immensely when Melania, being the shrewd homemaker that she is, purchased all of these decorations on sale after last years holidays. Sleep in heavenly peace America, at least in your dreams.
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Can you imagine the Fox uproar if Michelle Obama had red trees, or even blue trees?
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This reminds me of the Right going to pieces a few years back over Starbucks' simple red cup. Or the year previous, which was more of a generic "winter" theme.
I think the trees are visually striking, but odd looking up close.
For me Christmas decorations are about sentimentality. Pull that box out to re-example a trinket you've not seen in a year. Designer decorations value pretty over history. I may not have a color coordinated tree, but every ornament tells a story of a trip we've taken, a particular Christmas, or back when we were broke an bought a box of cheapies that refuse to break. I can appreciate a designed tree, but it isn't the same.
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Partisan squabbling? Don't be silly, NYT, just go to any diner in eastern Iowa or western Pennsylvania and you will surely find that everybody is asking, "how will Melania's post-post-modern sensibilities inform Margaret Atwood's sequel?
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Lefty liberal here but I gotta say those red trees are beautiful and dramatic. I love it!
I don't think Melania could win no matter what she chose--I'm glad she did what she (presumably) wanted to do and didn't play it safe. Good for her!
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I suggest we be more respectful to the First Lady of the United States. I'm pretty sure she has feelings.
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@beatgirl99 yes especially when wearing message saying how caring she is on her jacket. After all she buys only American made.
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The red trees are a bit startling and perhaps a bit odd?? But in watching the video as you move from room to room they kind of make sense in thier simplicity. After moving through all the sparkle of the other rooms the corridor is almost soothing. My concern really is how over the top all of the decor is when we have thousands of people made homeless by floods, fires and hurricanes this year. I would rather have seen the white house acknoweldge the needs of the people with a bit of austerity and giving.
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So nasty has to extend to the First Lady's Choices for White House Christmas decorations? The epitome of petty. She gets to do what she wants, and the press should just lay off. 'Tis supposedly the season of merry and nice. Let's try a little harder.
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@mshawn well said.
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I'd love to give appropriate credit to whoever created the meme I saw a few days ago, but the trees really do look like shredded Elmo. And that makes me shudder.
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Sorry they are not attractive- the remind me of The Handmaids Tale- cannot got beyond it. But it is a reflection of the Trumps- an outer reflection of their inner core- Dorian Gray trees. A comment on the times.
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Lighten up guys! It’s Christmas, time of universal Love.
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@Mudito Until the day after, then back to insulting, killing and maiming.
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The article starts of by mentioning “Liberty University”. That’s Jerry Fallwell’s school.
Jerry Falwell is the guy that called Ellen Degenres, a harmless and likable woman, “Ellen Degenerate”, because she is a lesbian.
Melania would herself be more easy to like if she stayed away from Liberty University. And that’s in the first few sentences of the article.
Ouf, the Hollywood Acess tape where her husband can be heard talking about groping women. Does she remember that ?
They want to talk about Christmas, and hope that we will forget everything. And if we don’t forget about who they are, then they say that we’re not being nice.
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She's scary. He's very scary. The red trees are really scary. But, as we all know, the world is a scary place today. We get the White House decorations we deserve.
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The pencil wreath is stark, and the red trees are just ugly. That's all.
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When you marry for money, you’ll earn every single penny.
Just saying.
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The world if filled with difficult and challenging problems. Some of those problems are in the White House. This is not one of them. May the peace of the holidays be with all. Honestly, ALL.
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Unbelievable !!! And, what a perfect metaphor for Trump's "Environmental Policies".
Trees ARE Green, Melania, not Red. So ... to save on White House budget (not that you "care at all" about such things ...), you could have gone to Paradise, California, and taken many red and dead trees from there, and placed them in the White House, instead.
You could further "decorate" by filling wading pools with Oil soaked Water, and dead Fish and Birds. That'd be a sweet touch.
There is very little Human Touch in "our" current Administration. Rather, it is like a bunch of zombies - not really human at all - just high-power parasites.
Not even the Grinch would like that decor.
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“She’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t.”
While I am not a fan nor supporter of the Trump administration, I must admit that those red Christmas trees which line the hallway in the East Wing of the White House against that green carpeting is striking and breath taking. If Jackie Kennedy or Rosalyn Carter had chosen that idea, they would be applauded for their brilliance and originality.
To the First Lady - exquisitely done. Bravo!!
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I am not a fan of the Trumps, but I think complaining about the decorations is petty. I wouldn't like to have this responsibility which is guaranteed to be picked apart.
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Looks it all done by designers. Watch the video. I think it’s stunning. The red trees? The trees are really a great Christmas red and the different sizes are perfect in a long open hallway. Handmaids tale? That’s a stretch but some of us love to dis. I am not a Trump fan but a fan of the designers who put this together. Happy holidays!
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@Connie
Handmaids tale is not a stretch if so many people thought of it at the same time.
I think the red tree would look less formidable if they had put some decorations or lights on it. That would soften the harsh redness. As it is they look kind of unfinished by themselves.
BTW: When is Mrs. Trump going to give Michelle Obama some credit for the "Be Best" concept?
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“What could Ms. Trump do to stifle the haters next Christmas, aside from hire a new videographer?“
Show us how her new/old home, located on 5th Ave., is decorated. As long as she’s sending Yuletide greetings from NYC instead of DC, we’ll be good with it.
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