An evil, sadistic monster is sitting amongst the 'dignitaries'.

[speak easy]

Watching the funeral of pope Francis, it keeps hitting me who is representing the United States.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. As an aside, Melania is looking a bit severe these days.

?quality=75&strip=all

[Irish_Dem]

3. At least she is not wearing a collar with naked people having sex like at Carter's funeral.

Yes she is looking rough these days, actually looking more like Trump

[MadameButterfly]

11. She is a political prisoner of sorts

Unlike his previous wives, she cannot walk away. She is living daily with the deal she made with the devil.

[Irish_Dem]

12. A very well compensated prisoner.

It is said she keeps renegotiating her pre nup.
She only moved to DC after a big cash settlement the first term.

I think she is now living in NYC with Barron who attends college there.
She doesn't live in DC.

[MadameButterfly]

17. Well, good for her

He should have to pay for her forced appearances and pretending to be in a marriage that I'm sure by now she hates. I had imagined that he got her compliance by threats.

She probably feels she must protect Barron from the fallout from his father's actions. But she never can.

Yes, they will be rich. But how much money would make that life worth it to you?

[Irish_Dem]

18. I think it is all contractual agreements at this point.

She gets a base allowance and then extra for appearing with Trump in public.

Trump has been very angry with her for being a tough negotiator.
I am sure he tried threatening her. He was really nasty to her in public
at her at the first inauguration. There is a clip where she is smiling broadly
and he turns to her and says something and her face falls and she looks stricken.

But she knows where all the bodies are
buried so he probably had to back off.

I thought she would be more protective of Barron but she appears to be pushing
him into his father's scams and schemes. So money is the only thing that
matters to her.

[MadameButterfly]

19. a person who would marry Trump

would have those values.

I'm surprised she isn't keeping Barron out of his schemes though. So she still hasn't figured out the Donald isn't a successful businessman or a happy person.

Knowing where the bodies are buried is a risk as well as leverage. Look where it got Ivana. But at this point she has a pretty good chance of outliving him.

[Irish_Dem]

20. Yes I was surprised too about Barron.

I thought she was more protective of him and would not want him to be a bastard
like his father.

But Barron is involved in the family business, a big part of some of the social media interaction
and the crypto scam.

I think the opposite, Melania knows exactly how much of a fraud and liar Trump is.
And that is why she is scrambling so hard to make her own cash and now is making
Barron do it too. Trump didn't use to have much liquid assets.

Of course now Trump is a real billionaire. Stealing from the US taxpayer has been quite
lucrative. HIs goal is to be the world's first trillionaire. Melania stays for the payout
when he dies. And as first lady she gets security paid for and a lot of other perks.

Melania came to the US as an Epstein working girl, probably Russian asset.
She did OK for herself, hooker to First Lady. But yep she sold her soul to do it.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

22. "The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age..."

[Irish_Dem]

23. I wonder if she does cocaine, if so, it is showing.

She ran with the Epstein drug and sex crowd back in the day.

[Grammy23]

5. One might say the fresh bloom of youth is gone off of her face,

That is usually tRump’s signal to find a new bit of arm candy. Melania probably worked out a pretty lucrative deal for herself (and Barron). So if he finds a new girlfriend, she’ll probably be relieved and just look the other way.

Comments have been made about the new nicer tRump. No one has said it but perhaps someone is sprinkling a new medication on his Wheaties.

[Tess49]

6. The expression "rode hard and put away wet" comes to mind.

[GiqueCee]

16. Poor ol' horse...

... where's the hot walker?

[niyad]

8. "nicer"???? The traitorous thug destroying this country?

[Grammy23]

21. Please be assured I didn't mean he IS

being nicer. But at times in the past week, he has “softened” his tone and had that sappy smile he fakes. It is a ruse, for sure, to disarm those who fall for it. Any malignant narcissist who has been practicing his/her skills knows how to fake some charm and charisma. If you’ve been burned by someone using this act you recognize it and run in the opposite direction. But for those under his spell, it works to lure them back to his side. He knows there are voices actually speaking out against him, so he pulls out this phony act to try to blunt the voices of those speaking up and protesting.

P.S. He probably doesn’t know it but that sappy, fake smile is a warning to those burned by him. When that little voice in the back of your head says to BEWARE, DANGER AHEAD, listen to it.

[niyad]

24. I have seen several comments in different places about his trying to

pretend he is an actual human being. Like your post, they all realize it is an act, and not a very convincing one.

[Midnight Writer]

15. "Youth is a mask, but it's not meant to last"-Bill Nelson

[róisín_dubh]

9. Jesus wept...

She looks to have loads of foundation on.
Aside from that, Wills just needs to embrace baldness and shave his head (says this girl who is very partial to bald men)

[AltairIV]

13. plastic surgery

Even with plastic surgery, age and gravity can't hold back all that sagging. Or so I'm told.

[malaise]

2. If you think he is enjoying this complete lack of attention

or his inability to understand anything going on, dream on.
When it comes to ceremony, this is way out of his depth. He is the perfect nothing from nothing here.
Slobby Donvict is wishing he had stayed home to play golf.

On the other hand, there is nothing more amusing than watching humans of all religions celebrate their own inventions because they fear death more than they enjoy life.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Pope Francis was one of the only people not afraid of the devil.

He could look evil in the eye and not flinch.
He was calm and centered in his goodness.

[Norbert]

7. Try as he might, he cannot pull off being the center of attention

Not with the many thousands in attendance for the purpose of honoring a much revered pope. He will, for the rest of his life look upon this day as a missed opportunity.

[malaise]

10. Not a missed opportunity

A big mistake