US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s wife Melania Trump ridiculed for second campaign speech

MELANIA Trump is being ridiculed for good reason after her second campaign speech for husband Donald, writes WENDY TUOHY.

Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaks at the Main Line Sports Center. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky.

MELANIA Trump is being mocked for her latest speech spruiking her husband’s virtues as potential US President.

But before you shoot her down hear her out, at least a bit. Then, feel free to shoot her down.

After a disastrous first outing in which she was lambasted for plagiarising Michelle Obama, the third Mrs Trump chose to talk about the need for more decency in public discourse.

If Trump is elected, Melania says her mission as First Lady will be to stamp out bullying, particularly online, as well as to be an advocate for women and children.

She makes a good point: “Like anything that is powerful (social media) can have a bad side.

“As adults, many of us are able to handle mean words, even lies.

“Children and teenagers can be fragile. They are hurt when they are made fun of, or made to feel less in looks or intelligence,” she said.

“Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough.”

“We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other …. especially on social media.”

Good for you Melania Trump; bring on less vitriolic debate.

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Picture: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky.

She should be lauded for wanting bullies off the net, and to stand up for women. The problem is her husband acts like an A-grade bully in what he says about people in the real world and online — particularly women.

Donald Trump doesn’t just grab the low-hanging Twitter fruit by tapping into the most venal vein in public discourse; he feeds it and enables others to feel quite OK about bullying women about their looks, weight or sexuality.

To name a few examples: That time he slurred Hillary Clinton about her sexual prowess: “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?” Trump Tweeted.

And the time Trump said why he “fully understands” why publisher Arianna Huffington’s husband “left her for a man”; because “she is unattractive both inside and out”.

He doubled down on that with: “Why is it necessary to comment on @ariannahuff’s looks? Because she is a dog who wrongfully comments on me”.

There was the time he called a former Miss Universe who dared gain a little weight “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping” (a reference to her Hispanic ethnicity), the time he called one of his regular female targets, comedian Rosie O’Donnell a “slob” with a “fat ugly face”.

And that time he moved to discredit a fellow competitor for the Republican Presidential nomination, former Hewlett Packard boss Carly Fiorina by suggesting she was too ugly to get elected: “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?” he crowed.

“I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”

As you would know, there are plenty more where this came from, one being Trump’s taped comments about how you can get away with sexual assault when you’re famous; you can grab women “by the p — y”.

His “women’s advocate” wife wrote that grubby effort off as merely “boy talk”.

Melania Trump may have her heart in the right place when she says she wants to clean up the way we treat each other in public life.

She probably means it, and it’s great to hear her say it.

But, if she sincerely wants to make the world less menacing for her kids and other people’s, she would do well to start by getting the stream of rotten bile coming out of her own house in order.