Donald Trump Won’t Share Umbrella With Melania, Again: Leaves FLOTUS Standing In Rain As He Talks To TV Camera
Earlier this year, Donald Trump was caught in a video that quickly went viral, showing the president refusing to share his umbrella with his wife and 12-year-old son. On Monday, TV cameras captured Trump in a similarly thoughtless moment on the White House lawn. As he and his wife, Melania Trump, prepared to board the Marine One helicopter — starting their journey to the Florida panhandle where, Reuters reports, they arrived later Monday — Trump was distracted by reporters en route.
The trip is Trump’s first to the area that was hit by the devastating hurricane. When Hurricane Michael made landfall on October 10, as Inquisitr reported, Trump chose to hold a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania — about 1,000 miles north of the Florida region where the storm was wreaking destruction.
As of Monday morning, the number of confirmed deaths resulting from the hurricane had reached 18 — with dozens of people still unaccounted for, according to a Weather Channel report.
A light rain was falling in Washington D.C. on Monday when Trump and his wife left the White House to begin their trip south to Florida. As seen in the video below, courtesy of ABC News, Trump holds an umbrella over himself as he chats with reporters. But when Melania Trump appears to join him, he makes no move to protect her from the rain with his umbrella.
First lady Melania Trump joins President Trump as he prepares to depart for Georgia and Florida to survey storm recovery efforts.
"She did a great job on television the other night and I didn't do so bad either, but she did a great job on television." https://t.co/ExyoskXW4Y pic.twitter.com/lisqG1L3Uz
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 15, 2018
Instead, Trump walks several steps towards the TV cameras, leaving Melania Trump standing by herself in the rain. When he rejoins her, she moves herself under the umbrella, but he continues to make no move to share it with her.
Twitter users were not impressed.
So nice, Trump and Melania, and he has his umbrella. It‘s a men world. pic.twitter.com/TEzW4OPn6S
— Frank Hensel (@hensel_frank) October 15, 2018
One Twitter user pointed out that umbrella-hogging appears to be regular practice for Trump.
Not exactly a new behavior for Trump is it? But I bet he'd carry it for Kim Jong Un though… apparently they're in love. #Melania #Melanie pic.twitter.com/WfhOvFK9I0
— MU-Peter Shimon ? (@MU_Peter) October 15, 2018
Indeed, in January of this year — during another video that went viral — Trump was seen boarding Air Force One in the rain, holding his own umbrella. His wife and his youngest son, Barron Trump, trailed behind him, getting wet from the rain, as Yahoo! News reported at the time.
Watch Trump Hoarding Umbrella and Ignoring Melania and Barron #TuesdayThoughts #PoorLifeChoicesIn4Words pic.twitter.com/8FEli3SGQJ
— PoliticsVideoChannel (@politvidchannel) February 27, 2018
“Donald Trump has never been known for his chivalry nor valiance, an assertion compounded by recent pictures showing him hogging an umbrella while his wife and son are rained on,” wrote Harper’s Bazaar at the time of this earlier incident.
It’s great to see two kids in love
— Kim Kierkegaardashian (@KimKierkegaard) October 15, 2018
Trump protects only himself with the umbrella…his hair is the most important thing for today and everyday.
— John McLaughlin (@je_mclaughlin) October 15, 2018
The Twitter account belonging to @NowThis had earlier posted a video contrasting Trump’s selfish umbrella use with the willingness of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, to let others use his umbrella.
The way Trump and Obama use an umbrella tells you everything about them pic.twitter.com/rLjiHwIKyc
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 5, 2018
But the fact-checking site Snopes.com said that the comparison contained a “mixture” of truth and falsehood. “These images are not accurate portrayals of either man’s moral character,” the site wrote.