patrick.net

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/melania-trump-and-justin-trudeau-the-truth-behind-that-photograph-1.3998812


It’s the photo that launched a thousand “find someone who looks at you the same way Melania looks at Justin” tweets. Yet what might look rather amorous and “Oi, oi” in a still image looks, when you pull back and look at the bigger picture, pretty much like air-kissing business as usual at the G7 summit in Biarritz.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in France, do the innocent double air-kiss.

But really, why bother with the unadorned truth of it when the alternative is that much more alluring? To think, we could be talking about a bunch of pale, male and stale world leaders tackling poverty, climate change, trade warfare and Brexit.

Nope, Melania and Sexy Socks is just a much more fun discussion. We’ve talked over the spouses’ fashion, we’ve pondered the weird blokey handshakes . . . now let’s try and inject a bit of ‘she’s ready to risk it all’ drama into proceedings.

Let’s, for one second, revert to the still image that has everyone making all sorts of suggestive cluckings, like overly enthusiastic aunties when you politely dance with your fourth cousin at a wedding.

The still image, in which Melania Trump is still holding the hand of her unwitting (no change there) husband, shows a woman swooning with relish into the arms of a Mills & Boon hero, enjoying a sort of ambrosial embrace.

You can also feel her eyelids flutter in ecstasy as she gets close to the Canadian prime minister. It’s almost like she doesn’t mind the mad argyle socks. And she’s in Handmaid’s Tale red, too. Insert your own “escape to Canada” joke, and indeed many people did.