First Lady's Wardrobe Raises Questions
COOPER: First lady Melania Trump took to Twitter today one day after her unexpected trip to South Texas to visit a shelter where immigrant kids were being housed. Of course, the most visible aftershock of that trip was the jacket she wore both leaving for Texas and returning to Washington, the one that said on the back "I really don't care, do you? The jacket her spokesperson said had no hidden message. And the one that the president said had a message after all it was explanation about being -- about the media seem to defy a logic. Today on twitter she didn't mention the jacket saying her visit was, quote, "very touching." And she added, "It's my sincere hope Congress will be able to reach across the aisle and find a solution." This followed by a tweet a couple of days ago by President Trump's daughter Ivanka who wrote in part, "Congress must now act and find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families." A.B. Stoddard and Amanda Carpenter join us now. Amanda, I mean, the idea that the first lady is supposed to be one of the moderating influences on the president, certainly regarding immigration. I'm wondering how much of that capital do you think was squandered by the sign on the back of her jacket. Whatever the intent was. And I'm not even clear it's really -- I don't know that anybody exactly knows what the intent was other than there was some sort of intent.</s>AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I have a theory. I agree with their team that there was no hidden message. I think there was a message broadcast loud and clear not to us in the media, not to the migrant children, but to her husband. Melania Trump speaks with fashion and has in very controversial ways to her husband. Let's recall after the Access Hollywood tape, she donned that beautiful cozy bow blouse which generated a lot of coverage because everyone understood that message. After the Stormy Daniels affair was revealed she wore a beautiful white pantsuit to the state of the union address as a sort of clap back to Hillary Clinton's white pantsuit in suffrages women. I think this jacket which she put on leaving Washington and once again in Washington was a message to her husband saying I just don't care, do you. She did not care to coordinate that trip with the White House. It was unannounced. She would unilaterally. I think she is speaking to Trump and she doesn't care what anybody else thinks because she is consumed with that drama.</s>COOPER: A.B., I mean, I am wondering what you make of this jacket which is still kind of a topic of discussion. A designer Zara which apparently she doesn't really wear very much, Ivanka Trump wears a lot. I don't know perhaps if there might have been a message to Ivanka Trump in some way. What do you think?</s>A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, REALCLEARPOLITICS: You know, I do think because the President brought it up and he had his own theory about the jacket that he expressed in his tweet that it is -- he sort of made it the news, right? We shouldn't be too focused on it. But now he is focused on it. And that makes it more of a story. But I couldn't have said it better than what Amanda said. I think that she came out as his first state visit when the Emmanuel Macron came she appeared in the white suit with that white hat and absolutely sucked all of the oxygen out of everything the entire day was about the hat. And she knows exactly how to focus the attention on her. And I think she sort of trolls her husband. And I do think that is a message. I think wearing -- be willing to wear a Zara Jacket that cost $39 is great for her. Now I admit this whole time that I'm about a double standard that we would be alarmed if Michelle Obama or Laura Bush had done this. We would be, we would say, what's going on? You know, did they fall over and hit their head, what is this message? But Melania Trump is in a very bizarre situation. She's making the best of it. She's incredibly dignified. She's a polar opposite of her husband. She doesn't use the media to -- and she doesn't like the spotlight. She doesn't want to bring attention to herself. She didn't wear the jacket in the facility. And so that was really -- that was very obvious and intentional. At the facility it was about the children. But she made the story of the day all about her. No matter how much ranting was going on, on that cabinet room when the President tried to return the attention back to him.</s>COOPER: You know, Amanda, I do find it funny that some supporters of this President are saying, look, this is ridiculous that people are focusing on what the message was on the back of the first lady's jacket. But to A.B.'s point, I mean if Michelle Obama had worn a jacket with a sign on the back of it, you know, on a trip that was supposed to be about caring and said I don't care, I mean, people's heads would have exploded. It's -- there is such this double standard. And so -- I mean, it's almost like one of these, on 24, you see a hostage video when people are blinking a secret message to something you can't ignore when the first lady of the United States is wearing a sign on her back in the most public way possible?</s>CARPENTER: Yes, or when he makes her platform be best to combat cyber bullying when her husband is the biggest cyber bully that, you know, the world has arguably ever seen. And so, I think we can say, OK, this is the message he is sending to her husband, she is trying to be this influence but it's also an incredibly unnecessary juvenile dramatic move.</s>COOPER: It was like high school?</s>CARPENTER: Caught up in the drama between her and her husband. She did take the focus away from those children. But I was really rooting for her on this trip. I thought it was excellent that she was going. I have been really tough on Ivanka for supposedly talking to her father about the images but not going down there. And so I was thrilled that the first lady went down there. But once she decided to put on the jacket for whatever reason, she took the focus off the children and she made it controversial for what I think is no good reason.</s>COOPER: A.B. I mean, Ivanka Trump has kind of always pitched herself as someone compassionate to mothers and children and decent tweeting presumably she could go to visit a detention center just a normal jacket. It seemed like she was getting attention for having had an influence on her father. I'm wondering if Melania Trump has some sort of if this may have been directed toward Ivanka for kind of grabbing credit because the President referenced Melania Trump as being an influence on his opinion?</s>STODDARD: This is a very interesting tension. Remember, I sort of talking about Melania Trump who ended up in the situation where the President won the presidency and she stayed in New York. She obviously was hesitant about this whole role to begin with and living in that bubble, that fish bowl. And now, you know, she didn't sign up to be a senior advisor the way Ivanka Trump did. Ivanka Trump could come and take serious accountability of this issue. She could see to it that they decide on a policy that they get out of a state of confusion, that they find a system where these 2,000 kids can be located. Melania, I think just wanted to make a statement about how important this issue was, but I see it through completely different prism than Ivanka.</s>COOPER: A.B. Stoddard, I appreciate it. Amanda Carpenter as well, thanks very much. Coming up next, how this is playing out in the border through the eyes of the people now struggling to implement the President's executive order.