Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Melania Trump's Icy New Official Portrait Looks Like It's Straight Out Of 'House Of Cards'

Melania Trump; Robin Wright as Claire Underwood in 'House of Cards'
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Netflix

The First Lady is all business in her new official portrait—and some think she gives off a Claire Underwood vibe from the Netflix political drama House of Cards.

First Lady Melania Trump's new official White House portrait has been unveiled, and to many people online the vibes are very off—specifically in a House of Cards kind of way.

The wildly popular, award-winning Netflix series about Washington machinations took a fairly dim and sinister view of our nation's capital, so it only makes sense that a dim and sinister administration would want to emulate it.


Perhaps it was just an accident, but that certainly seems to be what was on Melania Trump's mind, as for many, her portrait called to mind Claire Underwood, the female lead of House of Cards played by Robin Wright.

@jlgolson/X

Underwood was the cunningly icy wife of the diabolical and power-hungry Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, whose ice-cold, calculating stare became part of the iconic look of the show.

But the portrait also comes with an overwrought flair that is vintage Trump—though the photo was reportedly shot in the Yellow Oval Room in the White House, the First Lady is depicted leaning over a conference table in a power suit like a corporate raider. Subtlety has never been this family's forte.

RELATED: Trump's New Portrait Was Unveiled—And People Think One Side Of His Face Looks Like Biden

As many have noted, the portrait is a stark break from the usual First Lady portrait, including Melania Trump's own in 2017, which typically aims to project warmth and approachability (though the 2017 version certainly dispensed with this far more than her predecessors).

There's not an iota of warmth to be found in this one—it lands somewhere between corporate headshot and fashion mag camp. It's basically oligarchy chic.

But the parallels between it and Claire Underwood aren't just theoretical—there are even images of Wright as Claire Underwood that seem like outright templates for the First Lady's photo.

And on social media, the parallel was practically all anyone could see—especially given the way House of Cards ended.



Melania Trump’s office has released her official portrait - the other is House Of Cards

[image or embed]
— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 6:13 PM



Meet first lady Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) from de series House of Cards. Oh, wait… #Melania

[image or embed]
— Rosalynn 🇳🇱 (@rosa-lynn.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 1:14 PM

Anyway, we hope the Trump-voting public were wishing for a full-scale corporate-style raiding of the country, because it seems pretty clear that's what we're getting.

More from Entertainment/tv-and-movies

Truth Social logo; Donald Trump
Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Trump's Truth Social Platform Has A New AI Tool—And Trump's Not Gonna Like What It Has To Say

President Donald Trump regularly uses his social media platform Truth Social to attack his opponents and lie profusely, but the site's new "Truth Search AI" tool is unlikely to win his favor because it actually—get this—tells the truth about him and his policies.

A test conducted by the center-right news and commentary site The Bulwark found that the tool, which Truth Social debuted shortly after Trump signed an executive order to counter the use of “Woke AI” in the federal government, actually tells the truth about everything from his widely unpopular tariffs to the 2020 election results.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Donald Trump and Laura Ingraham in the Oval Office
Fox News

Trump Just Bragged That Everything In The Oval Office Is 'Real Gold'—And Even Laura Ingraham Isn't Buying It

President Donald Trump received a dubious reaction from Fox News personality Laura Ingraham after he touted the Oval Office's gold decor as "real gold" while giving her a tour.

The Oval Office has been significantly revamped since Trump took office in January—it features, among other things, fireplace adorned with gold cherubs and medallions, surrounded by portraits of American statesmen in ornate gold frames and shelves filled with gilded figurines, urns, and freshly installed Rococo mirrors.

Keep ReadingShow less
man giving two thumbs down gesture
Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Questions That May Sound Innocent But Are Actually Offensive

Humans in general tend to be curious creatures. We seek information about the world around us.

But sometimes it's best to rein that desire in a bit.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk; Joyce Carol Oates
Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images; Rosdiana Ciaravolo/Getty Images

Elon Musk Rages After Author Joyce Carol Oates Calls Him 'Uneducated' And 'Uncultured' In Epic Takedown

You'd have to be a "chronically online" user of X, aka Twitter, to know just how prolific a tweeter author Joyce Carol Oates is, but to those who are, her takedowns have become legendary.

And recently, the 87-year-old award-winning writer set her sights on the owner of X himself, Elon Musk. And the gazillionaire babyman is FURIOUS about it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sydney Sweeney channels boxer Christy Martin
Black Bear Pictures

Sydney Sweeney Speaks Out After 'Christy' Biopic Has One Of Worst Box Office Openings Of All Time

Sydney Sweeney can land a punch, but maybe not at the box office. Her latest film, Christy, a biopic about trailblazing boxer Christy Martin, landed a hard blow but barely connected with the audience, opening to a paltry $1.3 million.

That’s not just a loss; it’s a technical knockout in the “worst wide release openings ever” category, according to Box Office Mojo. For films debuting in over 2,000 theaters, Christy ranks at No. 12 overall and No. 9 when excluding rereleases.

Keep ReadingShow less