You’ve heard of the movie Sleepless in Seattle?
I propose a new movie: Clueless in Cairo.
That’s my take on Melania Trump’s recent trip to Africa.
Melania’s trip took her from Washington DC to Accra, Ghana; to Lilongwe, Malawi; to Nairobi, Kenya; to Cairo, Egypt; and back to DC, a trip of close to 17,000 miles, by my reckoning:
While she was there, Melania…
| Hugged babies… |  |
| Met some Republicans… |  |
| Hugged more babies, and… |  |
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| Wore an outfit that numerous Internet wits have likened to… | That of Nazi collaborator Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark. |
And yes, this is the same woman whose idea of a fashion statement was a jacket emblazoned with “I really don’t care. Do you?” on a June visit to detained immigrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But back to Africa. The trip was made under the auspices of Melania’s BE BEST initiative which, according to the website, focuses “on some of the major issues facing children today” and concentrates “on three main pillars: well-being, social media use, and opioid abuse.”
Memo to Melania: If one of your “major issues” is opioid abuse, you didn’t have to travel 17,000 miles to, around and back from Africa.
When it comes to opioids, there’s no place like home.
On your BE BEST website it says “more than 300,000 Americans have died from overdoses involving opioids since 2000.”
Here’s an overdose death map from 2016 – and we know it looks even worse today:
Pick a state. Any state. In fact, every state.
You could easily travel thousands of miles around the U.S. to get up close and personal with people (including children) affected by opioids.
And Melania, here’s a thought: While you’re in a travel mode, why not spend some extra time in states that have been devastated by hurricanes, floods and wildfires – just this year. Places like…
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| Hurricane Florence, September 2018, North Carolina, South Carolina | 2018 Wildfires in AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, TX, UT, WA, and WY |
Here’s another idea: Since you like hugging children so much, why don’t you spend a little extra time hugging kids in California, the state with the highest poverty rate in the country:
You can log 17,000 miles in no time!
But lose the pith helmet, please.
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| Clueless in Cairo: Melania displayed either her total ignorance or total lack of caring, and wore a pith helmet in Africa. | The pith helmet has strong negative connotations in Africa, recalling British colonialism – and oppression – in the 19th century. |
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