Over the weekend, the hashtag #FreeMelania started to spring up after a video surfaced of Melania Trump smiling at her husband, Donald Trump, during his inauguration, right up until the moment he turned away from her.
But while many are joking about “freeing” Melania, it might be good to take a hard look at her views, as she has supported Donald Trump in some of his more radical ideas, including the birther conspiracy.
“It’s not only Donald who wants to see [Obama’s birth certificate], it’s American people who voted for him and who didn’t vote for him. They want to see that,” she argued in 2011 during an appearance on the Joy Behar Show.
When Behar pointed out that the birth certificate had already been on display and made the rounds of the Internet, Melania replied, “We feel it’s different than birth certificate.”
What’s more, Melania has stood beside her husband and defended him against sexual assault allegations.
So while it’s certainly fun to joke around about Trump glancing at Melania’s voting ticket, or about her disappearing smile, before we talk about “freeing” her we should take a good long look at her words and actions and hold her accountable for them.