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After four years of being waited on hand and foot by a retinue of chefs, butlers and housekeepers, you'd think the now-former First Lady Melania Trump would at least have the good taste to personally thank her household staff with a personal note, as per tradition.
But in a departure from decades of White House tradition for First Ladies, Trump pawned the job off on a low-level staffer, who was asked to ghost-write thank yous in her voice.
She ignored a first lady tradition and reportedly took a far more impersonal approach. https://t.co/xnsD8byUta— HuffPost (@HuffPost)1611231791.0
According to a report by CNN, the notes were typewritten and the 80 recipients originally assumed they were personally written of at least dictated by Trump herself.
Personal messages of gratitude are a long-standing White House tradition, particularly for the staff members closest to the President and First Lady, and to whom they become the closest over the course of their term.
The former First Lady's snub of the people who helped her for four years was just one more item on the list of ungracious acts by the Trumps on their way out of the White House. After refusing to even concede the election for weeks until after Trump's disastrous coup attempt saw a violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, the Trumps snubbed the Bidens at every turn.
Tradition dictates the outgoing First Lady welcomes the incoming First Lady to the White House for a tour. Even the Obamas followed this tradition in 2016, despite the Trumps' engagement in the "birther" conspiracy theory that claimed Barack Obama is not actually an American citizen.
Melania Trump, however, refused to even acknowledge Dr. Jill Biden in any way. And practically every other aspect of Melania's role in the transition has been equally disastrous.
Her farewell video and her speech closing out her "Be Best" initiative were widely mocked online. Her request that people follow her personal Twitter account turned into a giant roast.
On Twitter, people found Trump's refusal to properly thank her staff distasteful, to say the least.
@JohnBerman Oh my good lord. Even my thoroughly modern neices and nephews know how to turn out proper thank you not… https://t.co/wRLPoryEL8— cindy s. rivaulx (@cindy s. rivaulx)1611147009.0
@JohnBerman She has no class and this should be no surprise.— Richard Caslon (@Richard Caslon)1611147176.0
@HuffPost She so wanted to be considered the new era Jacqueline Kennedy it’s a bit surprising she didn’t try to emu… https://t.co/qqSX4DsNjI— CBiddulphDickinson (@CBiddulphDickinson)1611232596.0
@HuffPost I heard she just left them a photocopy of Michele’s letter— John R. Spahn (@John R. Spahn)1611231884.0
@JohnBerman Nothing says "I don't care do U" like a personally outsourced thank you note!— Dave Polus (@Dave Polus)1611146089.0
A class act to the end. https://t.co/4JLXHxNgnT— Kim France (@Kim France)1611238432.0
Departing from tradition, Melania Trump didn't write her own thank you notes to White House staff - she got her sta… https://t.co/AwQ8Rd3g2j— IamCanadian🇨🇦 (@IamCanadian🇨🇦)1611278376.0
Just one more example of how classless Melania really is. https://t.co/R5B7hdXIpU— Kristin Strauss (@Kristin Strauss)1611262771.0
Ingratitude personified. For four years you are cared for by “cooks, butlers and housekeepers” and you won’t write… https://t.co/USvFTq405P— Cameron Spradling (@Cameron Spradling)1611232783.0
@Phil_Lewis_ Zero manners, class, or compassion:— Ale (@Ale)1611153495.0
According to a CNN poll, Melania Trump leaves Washington as the most unpopular First Lady in modern American history.