The UK should just keep laying on the flattery and then ask Trump for like a whole Blue State and see how he reacts.
— Craig Harrington (@craigipedia.bsky.social) September 17, 2025 at 8:10 AM
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He demands the public adoration he didn't get from his staged parade
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 4:53 PM
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Swear to Murphy, I was *sure* this photo was AI slop…
Nice hat, Melania: defector.com/nice-hat-mel…
— Defector (@defector.com) September 17, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Albert Burneko, at Defector:
President Donald Trump is in the United Kingdom, meeting with the British royal family. Here we see him with the King and Queen of the U.K., plus a British functionary of some sort, and also Kung Lao of Mortal Kombat fame, presumably representing the peoples of Earthrealm…
Ah, hm. I am being told that is actually Melania Trump, the First Lady of the United States, wearing Christian Dior. I like her outfit very much! I liked it the first time I saw it, leering through a window in Insidious. Kudos to whatever stylist absolutely nailed her request to go to the royal palace in “Babadook Mode.” Maybe this outfit works better in other environments, but in a room of shriveled 200-year-olds it carries all the metaphorical subtlety of a nationally syndicated political cartoon. I admire the chutzpah it takes to dress to a meeting with the British royals as what dear departed Prince Philip saw lurking behind him in the mirror, exactly seven days before he died…
But seriously, don’t clown poor Melania for this getup. It would have made a lot more sense if the other Spy had shown up to the photo op.
Can’t blame the woman for wanting to signal as publicly as possible that She’s Not With Him — one way or another, her ‘marriage’ is toast within a few months, so she’s gotta update that C.V. — but one assumes this has already inspired another spate of Body Double!!! comments on QAnon social media.
Captain C
No deal. Doesn’t come with an EU passport anymore.
RaflW
Trump looks like he’s emerging from one of those smelly airplane lavatories in that Ragnarock skeet.
Seems about right.
XeckyGilchrist
I’ve seen speculation that the getup was to hide the fact that it isn’t Melania. It’s out there! I’m just saying.
Captain C
@RaflW: “Melania stunk this up, not me.”
“Sir, Melania’s in New York City*. No one’s been in there today but you.”
“Tell everyone Melania did it, not me.”
*Hopefully the aide is smart enough not to add, “…fucking her bodyguard.”
Baud
Can a blue state volunteer as tribute?
Omnes Omnibus
Are we sure Melania isn’t doing an homage the Beyoncé’s Formation video?
kindness
Melania’s pre-nup with Donald has to be really something for Melania to still be with Donald.
iKropoclast
@Captain C: No taxation without representation will probably reemerge pretty quickly
Funny how many Americans forget the representation part.
montanareddog
A bit behind on the posts last couple of days, so I am not sure if this has been brought up already.
FBI director Kash Patel wears Liverpool FC tie to US Senate hearing
Has anybody ever seen Patel and Tony Jay in the same room together?
prostratedragon
Repeating the torchier|caryatid act she pulled years ago with QEII.
jonas
The lady is clearly trying to explain to Trump some historical artefacts/manuscripts or whatever that he clearly doesn’t understand and doesn’t give a shit about. At least 3 times a day I still, after all this time, have to just sort of pause and stare out the window for a moment to process how someone so profoundly, galactically stupid got to this place.
That piece by Berneko is hilarious. “Babadook mode” — LOL!
Geminid
@kindness: I think the pre-nup may have been renegotiated in early 2017. At least, that was the rumour when Mrs. Trump stayed in New York for a couple months before joining Trump at the White House.
Betty
She wore a wide brimmed hat before. It was suggested that it worked to keep her spouse at a distance.
Old School
That’s mighty funny!
Ryan
That hat. When The Handmaid’s Tale is up for a remake, let’s remember that hat.
jonas
@kindness: I think by this time we maybe have to accept the reality that she is, in fact, a similarly soulless, clueless, godawful person who sticks with Trump because she thinks he’s an ok guy.
Oh, and she’s also a tasteless person’s idea of what a person with good style looks like. The dress and hat were probably Don’s idea.
Tony Jay
@montanareddog:
Not yet, and it certainly wouldn’t happen twice. We’d have some words.
JoyceH
At least someone got Trump a new dinner dress suit! His state dinner getup when the late queen hosted was ghastly, with at least four inches of white cummerbund sticking out below the short jacket front.
Are there any Brits here? I thought the Princess of Wales looked appropriately regal, but what does she carry in that little clutch bag? Drivers license? Cigarettes?
iKropoclast
I don’t really care, do you?
Captain C
@montanareddog: Hoping for a chant at Anfield:
“Fuck Kash Patel
He doesn’t do his job very well
He has a bad smell
Fuck Kash Patel!”
CaseyL
Not sure why people persist in thinking Melania doesn’t want to stay married to The Clot. He serves her interests very well and apparently only requires her presence for ceremonial occasions.
I mean, good lord, she was an escort that he literally picked from a catalog. She’s done amazingly well. Why would she want to change anything?
Captain C
@JoyceH:
A Walther PPK a la James Bond.
lowtechcyclist
Good to see Trump’s face looking absolutely ghastly. Maybe we’re approaching Weekend at Bernie’s time.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@CaseyL:
Exactly. It’s basically a win-win for the Slovenian Manikin and P-Tape. She’s shown if anything, she’s patient since it’s all about outliving him.
JoyceH
@Captain C: (slaps forehead) Oh of course!
prostratedragon
@Ryan: Bizzaro Audrey Hepburn.
Citizen Alan
Melania Trump is “looking grim ’cause she’s been sitting, choosing a hat.” (apologies to Stephen Sondheim).
I’m pretty sure she favors broad-brimmed hats at every opportunity because it discourages Shitgibbon from trying to kiss her.
pat
Has anyone noticed the pics of her sitting in on some dinner or somesuch? I don’t recall what it was, but at least twice she has had the most… unhappy? look on her face, like get me out of here, when will this all be over. Just amazing. No one would even dare try to talk to her with that look.
And that hat!! Wow.
Hey, I can hardly wait for the Christmas decorations.
iKropoclast
I might be the only person I know who liked her red hallway.
Captain C
@CaseyL: I think she’s fine staying married to him as long as she can spend as little time with him as possible. She’s not messing with her jackpot.
pat
@iKropoclast:
I wonder how she will top that. Purple? Dark blue? Black??
dmsilev
@Omnes Omnibus: Nah, she’s more in the moment than that. She’s cosplaying as one of the boy-band villains in K-Pop Demon Hunters.
Sister Golden Bear
@Captain C: And as bad as it is for trans people like me living the States, being part of TERF Island would be far worse. E.g. UK’s equivalent of the SCOTUS officially ruled trans people have no anti-discrimination rights, and both major parties, including Labour have gone all in on stripping as many rights from trans people as possible.
Scout211
state visit fashion pics from BBC:
Since we’re fresh off of our personal reviews of the Emmys fashions, check out Melania’s State Dinner gown and Trump’s formal tux. I am not impressed. Scroll down to see them next to Charles and Camilla. Who da thunk that I would be saying Charles and Camilla look wonderful and the Trumps look dumpy. LOL
(Link has no subscription wall ATM).
geg6
@Geminid:
I have seen some speculation that it was renegotiated again for 2024. I sure would if, FSM forbid, I was her.
Sister Golden Bear
@montanareddog: Tony Jay doesn’t perpetually look like he bet on a fart, and lost.
sab
@montanareddog: That is just mean and rude.
ETA Also too Amir loved Liverpool
ETA I did my junior year in college at Durham, so I always root for the northernmost team unless it is playing Newcastle. They often suck but I always root for Newcastle.
geg6
@Scout211:
That yellow gown is hideous. Ugh.
Baud
Via reddit, these Melania photos are even better.
Marc
I’ve been assuming Melania is modeling Diors new line of fashion accessories for Oligarch Wives, including the bullet-proof hat.
iKropoclast
@Baud: She looks explicitly like she is hiding in those photos.
Leto
@Sister Golden Bear: nominated.
hueyplong
@Baud: Looks a bit like she’s hopefully trying on a mourning outfit.
sab
@Baud: Yikes. Apparently she does not want to be there. I have to give her credit for gutsy passive aggression. She really has it polished to an artform.
ETA Tho I have to say I don’t care about her at all.
Trollhattan
@lowtechcyclist:
Hand Donny over to NHS and see what happens.
Sister Golden Bear
@Captain C:
The odds that Trump—infected with rabies by a “special boy” Quarter Pounder, to which RFK Jr. had added a roadkill patty—starts foaming at the mouth and trying to bite King Charles are low, but never zero.
Elizabelle
Poor Charles. It’s not enough to lose his mother (3 years ago last week) and go through cancer treatments.
He has to genially host The American Embarrassment, too.
A thought. Most of the Royals would have blown Trump off this visit, except for having to kowtow because of the tariff threat. Trump is using tariffs as social insurance for himself.
Trollhattan
@hueyplong:
I think she’s tipping this year’s White House Christmas theme.
Imagine about fifty of those in a double row.
Scout211
In one of the BBC pics, she is sitting with Camilla, who removed her big blue hat but Melania kept her bullet proof spy hat on and all you can see in the photo of Melania is her hat! Just a big purple blob talking to Camilla.
The BBC made a point that she didn’t remove her hat when they went inside and Camilla did . So gauche!
Captain C
@Sister Golden Bear: That’s all fucked up and wrong.
iKropoclast
You’ve met Tony Jay?
hueyplong
@Trollhattan: Sadly, I can imagine that.
Sister Golden Bear
@Marc: It’s actually Haus of Babadook’s new haute couture line.
sab
@Sister Golden Bear: Jesus God yes. My niece is afraid to visit her native state Ohio even though there are relatives and friends who love her here. I cannot imagine life in the UK. Who dropped Rowling on her head?
pat
Chances of him dozing off and/or farting during that state dinner????
iKropoclast
The Kung Lao comment in the OP was on point as well. Id wager she hasn’t Finished Him since the honeymoon.
zhena gogolia
@Scout211:
Vomit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
deleted
hueyplong
I’m fixing to buy the body double theory. Uet another sign of the times.
Scout211
Nah, they gave him his Adderal after his nap. He’ll stay awake. But will they serve hamberders?
Elizabelle
@pat: Melania. As a little girl:
“When I grow up, I want to meet the King and Queen of England.”
[Wish granted.]
”Aaarrrgh.”
Trollhattan
Melanie took the hat off and is now dressed as a Peeps.
ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/800/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2025/9/17/44af7aa8-07ee-4b18-9cfa-239b2…
Elizabelle
@Sister Golden Bear: Haus of Babadook!!
montanareddog
@sab: A good night for ‘Pool fans. They scored the winner in injury time (again! They are making a habit of it this season) in their opening Champions League fixture. The coach of the opponents (Atletico Madrid) was given a straight red card for his protests. Since the coach is notorious comedy villain, Diego Simeone, that was was the cherry on the cake.
sab
@zhena gogolia: No. She can deny she was ever even there. Whatever, it is rude as hell. I assume that was the intent. Piss off the Brits or piss off America or piss off NATO? Why not all three? Someday she might have to return to Slovenia.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It’s pointed out Trump is only nice to people until he thinks he won them over, then the abuse starts. So, it could be she simply acts cold to him as tactic to stop his bullshit.
Tony Jay
@iKropoclast:
She has not, but she’s right, I’d never lose that bet.
For reference, I kind of look like the Netflix dramatisation of Cole, minus his fabulous multi-coloured bib & brace ensembles.
martha
@Citizen Alan: Hahaha! I love that song!
Suzanne
The hat is getting all of the attention….. but that coat looks exceedingly ill-fitted, and dimply and wrinkly. I don’t think her boobs are as saggy as they look in that photo. I will never understand when rich people manage to look bad.
sab
@montanareddog:That cheers me up.
I got a smart phone yesterday and it might be smart but I am not. I miss my flip phone. It wasn’t a dumb phone. It was a simple phone. This new thing is complicated and always offering stuff I don’t want.
The learning curve will be very steep.
I did get one call I wanted from somebody I wasn’t expecting to hear from. So that was good. Cleared up my order and found out how to buy in my local grocery instead of going thru Paypall (spit.)
Verizon could transfer my photos but not my contacts. Fortunately I had written all those in a tiny notebook the night before, so I have my contacts. And my photos. Yay. Trust is like the soul. If you blow it once ( Verizon) it doesn’t come back. Quoting my late father in law about cheating on one’s wife ( he disapproved.)
iKropoclast
I’m glad for you. I will say it was in the Percocet bedeviled latter half of my 20s that that was a real risk. Makes me wonder…
leeleeFL
@iKropoclast: Possibly down to how seldom we are actually, you know, represented?
Just a thought from a person who’s been sick for several days…..
sab
@Suzanne: She thinks nobody can prove she was there.
Wapiti
@Captain C: If he passed the UK one of the midsized democratic-leaning states it would probably upset UK politics enough that they might rejoin the EU.
iKropoclast
Oddly enough it’s the no taxation at all people who are most determined to ensure we aren’t represented.
eclare
@Scout211:
Catherine looked gorgeous. And say what you will about Charles, he knows how to dress. I read he has his shoelaces ironed every day
leeleeFL
@Old School: reminded me of the Hamburglar!!!!!
RaflW
@jonas: I think by this time we maybe have to accept the reality that she is, in fact, a similarly soulless, clueless, godawful person who sticks with Trump because she … wants easy money, a jetset lifestyle, getting to do things like dine with the King & Qeuen of England.
eclare
@geg6:
Is she an LSU fan?
leeleeFL
@Citizen Alan: A Sondheim fave, thanks! I will go play my CD now!
Elizabelle
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Now there’s an insight.
Suzanne
@eclare: When I read that Charles has his shoelaces ironed, that’s when I fully and completely became a supporter of abolishing the monarchy. I used to be all, “Let the British people decide” about it, and now….. NOPE! FUCKEM!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
The forgotten P-Tape daughter is along on the visit:
people.com/kate-middleton-paired-with-surprising-trump-family-member-tiffany-snubbed-11812123
Miki
@Scout211: First pic shows a blob of makeup on Trump’s hand again.
Scout211
LOL. But the pink belt with the yellow dress? I love colorful dresses but I just don’t see those two colors for a formal state dinner. That gown is a miss. Plus the low cut bodice and split down the side? It’s not fashion week in New York, Melania.
eclare
@Suzanne:
I had the opposite reaction.
Elizabelle
We must never forget Melania trying out her widow’s weeds, meeting with the late Pope Francis.
The Guardian link. Only one of these four folks is smiling.
sab
@Suzanne: Disown your brother because he has other concerns than your shoelace ironing. Weird world, that.
iKropoclast
@Miki: Or could be a spot where they missed his fake tan. Man doesn’t deal with professionals.
sab
@Elizabelle: She is one very weird chick.
lowtechcyclist
@geg6:
Especially with that pink belt. I’m not the person to ask about what matches with what, but I can’t imagine that someone thought that color combination worked.
eclare
@Scout211:
I saw the belt as more lavender, thus my LSU comment.
Suzanne
Every picture of Melania in that hat looks like Carmen Sandiego.
Elizabelle
Camilla and Melania, blue and yellow gowns respectively, are in Ukraine colors. Or EU flag, if you like.
Interesting.
iKropoclast
It is actually cute, but yes, not for a formal occasion. As much as I would love formal occasions to be more tolerant of self-expression, when in Rome…
different-church-lady
@zhena gogolia:
@zhena gogolia:
EXCEPT NOBODY CAN TAKE THEIR EYES OF THE HAT, NUMBNUTS!!!
different-church-lady
@eclare:
It’s good to be the king.
iKropoclast
@different-church-lady: If I ever intimate that I want my shoelaces ironed, even if I express an inclination to do it myself, shoot me then burn the body then bury the ashes where the nuclear waste goes.
Suzanne
Xhitter is spreading the rumor that Melania requested her own suite at Buckingham Palace, and that they were offered a suite with separate beds and she declined that. I don’t know if it’s true, but it feels true, and that’s what matters.
Jeffg166
x.com/LucasSa56947288/status/1968348246205682145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%…
Timill
@different-church-lady:
“It is the business of the wealthy man,
To give employment to the artisan”
Mind you, I don’t suppose that’s all that person does.
VeniceRiley
@Wapiti: Welcome to the Ukalifornia … what a lovely place.
cope
@montanareddog: If the whole season goes like these first few games, I will be reduced to a quivering blob of protoplasm by spring.
mrmoshpotato
@RaflW:
The fat, orange, fascist manbaby needs a diaper change.
Elizabelle
@Jeffg166: Love it. LOL.
Geminid
@sab: I had a steep learning curve when I got a smartphone. It rook me a while to realize I could vary the brightness of my screen through “Settings.” Also, that I needed to close prior screens for it to run efficiently. I do that by hitting the “III” at the bottom left of the screen, and then I hit “Close all.”
Lately I’ve learned to utilize the recent screens. For instance, I might have texted an article link to a friend. I can bring it up, and refer to it as I incorporate the link into a comment here.
different-church-lady
@iKropoclast: Take it from me, steaming your shoelaces is the way to go.
Scout211
Good catch! I missed that at first glance.
different-church-lady
@Suzanne: Ah. She’s sleeping with Harry.
prostratedragon
iKropoclast
@different-church-lady:
@prostratedragon: Maybe time for me to cancel the Disney Plus.
sab
@iKropoclast: As a wife I would just say “Don’t be an asshole. No, I will not iron your shoeslaces. Are you nuts?
This proving I am not royalty.
prostratedragon
@Baud:
Larry the No. 10 Cat has taken notice.
frosty
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Why did I click on that? There’s five minutes of my life gone forever. I could have read a few more scintillating comments instead!
Old School
@prostratedragon:
That’s the offensive remark? ABC is pulling Kimmel over that?
Tim C.
@Baud: Literally what I was thinking. Hell, the whole NE and West Coast would volunteer at this point.
Suzanne
@different-church-lady: Harry’s not there. Maybe she’s sleeping with William?
Suzanne
@sab:
Oh, I see we’re the same kind of wife.
I remember once before we were married, we were going to some sort of function and we were tight on time, and his shirt was wrinkled. “This is the only time I will do this for you!” I noted, as I ironed his shirt, LOL.
Sally
@geg6: I am seeing her holding his hand more this time. I reckon she got an extra few million for that.
Scout211
Yeah, she probably negotiated that.
They were walking through a grassy field and he is very unstable right now so she likely was helping him walk over the uneven ground.
He paved the rose garden (his new party patio) supposedly to help women walk in high heels. But I suspected it was more for him because he would be wobbly on grass.
She has to hold his hand because he would never use a cane.
RaflW
@Scout211: Grifter in Chief is reportedly worth a couple billion more than he was six months ago, so sliding a few mil over to his trophy wife seems a small gesture, frankly.