The Right, Using Pictures, Defends Melania Trump's Funeral Attire

As an online debate rages over the appropriateness of Melania Trump's gray coat at Rosalynn Carter's funeral while other first ladies wore black, pockets on the right are starting to push back against the narrative with some photos of their own.

At the top of the heap is Jesse Watters, who, during his Wednesday show on Fox News, displayed a photo of "Rosalynn Carter herself" wearing a grayish top while attending the funeral of Richard Nixon in 1994.

Watters showed some headlines demeaning Melania Trump's attire at Tuesday's funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, before saying: "So, the media thought that wearing a gray overcoat to a funeral was a crime against humanity, but, what do we have here?"

Then he showed a photo of Hillary Clinton wearing a gray coat just before sitting down at Barbara Bush's funeral in 2018, and another of Barbara Bush wearing a brighter coat at Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004.

Subsequent photos of Bush and Clinton at those events indicate they wore black underneath while it's unknown what Trump wore beneath her coat, and she did not respond to Newsweek's emailed request for comment.

Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former president Jimmy Carter, died at age 96 on November 19.

Also making the rounds in conservative media is an online post from podcaster Ryan Shead who wrote an open letter to Melania Trump that he posted for his 84,200 followers on X that read: "Dear Melania, Next funeral, just stay home. Your attention seeking is classless and not wanted. Everyone else wore black or dark blue, and you know that's the protocol. If you didn't, your stylists did. I wish we could send you back to Yugoslavia."

Shead also thanked a media outlet for using his post, and, after someone posted a photo of Melania Trump, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama at Carter's funeral with the caption: "Beauty & the Beasts," he responded with: "Three Americans and one Immigrant."

Melania Trump, a former model, was born in 1970 in Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia, part of present-day Slovenia, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006.

Responding to a similar critic of Melania Trump, Ultra Grateful Calvin, with 8,000 followers on X, sent the photo of Rosalynn Carter wearing gray and surrounded by presidents and first ladies in black at Nixon's funeral and wrote: "How about this one then? Do you even know who that is, and what the occasion was, or does history start five minutes ago with you, like most brainless leftists?"

Many others on the right have also been responding to attacks on Melania Trump's attire with the photo of Rosalynn Carter, or a photo that includes Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Melania Trump and Hillary Clinton, the latter donning her gray coat while the others are in black outfits at Barbara Bush's funeral.

Melania Trump is known for her glamorous garb, both with and without her husband, former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Among the few celebrities who have publicly come to her defense in choosing to be clad in a thick, gray coat for the funeral is journalist Geraldo Rivera, who posted on X: "Disheartening to read snide remarks about #MelaniaTrump. I'm sure most Americans were glad she joined in honoring #RosalynnCarter. Melania was snubbed & underrated when her husband was in office and she continues to be disrespected by those whose hatred of Trump knows no bounds."