Right-Wing Talk Show Hosts Slammed Over Melania Trump, Jill Biden Remarks

The hosts and a guest of a right-wing talk show have been slammed over their criticism of first lady Jill Biden's Christmas decorations.

Each year, the first lady is assigned the task of decorating the White House for the festive season. They also release an accompanying Christmas video, with people having recently noticed how dramatically things have changed from Melania Trump—who was first lady from 2017 to 2021 when her husband Donald Trump was president—to Jill Biden.

On December 13, President Joe Biden's wife, Jill Biden, unveiled her Christmas decorations in a video uploaded to X, formerly Twitter, with the theme "Magic, Wonder and Joy." In the clip, dancers can be seen tap dancing down a candy-themed hallway before leading to the main Christmas tree in the Blue Room. In comparison, Melania Trump's videos and decorations tended to be more paired back.

American Sunrise hosts Gina Loudon, Terrance Bates and David Brody compared the two women's decorations in a chat with guest Rayla Campbell, who is a host at the station WSMN, during a December 20 episode.

Loudon said she attended all of the Christmas parties that the Trumps hosted, calling them "lovely" and "beautiful." She said: "Even the year of the red Christmas trees, I thought it was absolutely beautiful in person. It was stunning, it was one color, it was fashion forward, all of the things that Melania Trump is, grace and beauty and loveliness. This year, though, there was a little bit of a contrast."

This is in reference to her 2018 decorations, which included 40 all-red trees, prompting comparisons with characters from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Campbell agreed with Loudon's compliments and expressed how unimpressed she was with this year's White House decorations.

"Melania was all about class and grace," she said. "Then you got Jill Biden, who's all about jokes who can't even focus on anything because her husband has gone so far down in dementia land she had to make it character [sic] for him so he's excited, look at the colors, look at the brightness," she said.

"But when I'm looking at this, it's actually pretty disturbing, because it's taking away the joy, the beauty, the love of Christmas, the birth of Jesus and turning it into a clown show. That's what I'm seeing here, it's very tacky."

She also said she found the accompanying video "hilarious" and a "complete joke."

Newsweek reached out to Real America's Voice, which hosts American Voice, and representatives for Melania Trump and Jill Biden via email Friday for comment.

A clip of the segment has since been posted to X, formerly Twitter, by Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief at MeidasTouch.com. People have taken to the comment section to slam the hosts as well as Campbell, saying that they think Christmas decorations shouldn't be a political issue.

"This is insane! I was fortunate enough to see the decorated White House this year, and it is absolutely stunning! 300 volunteers worked over a week to make it so beautiful. Appreciating holiday decorations should not be a partisan issue!" one person wrote.

"Wait, that horrific blood red death show was "class and grace"? Sorry, but First Lady Biden's display is gorgeous. And I don't even celebrate Christmas [and generally grumble about the neighbor's displays]," another said.

"OMG... these people really make my head hurt," a third wrote.

A fourth added: "Who could forget the Melania Murder Trees?"

Melania Trump was often criticized in the press and on social media for her choice of White House decorations.

In 2017, she decided to go for an all-white theme, including large twigs bathed in white lights in the corridors of the White House. That year's theme was "Time-Honored Traditions," with a statement from Melania Trump's press office saying the theme intends to pay "respect to 200 years of holiday traditions at the White House."

The following year, Melania Trump's theme was "America Treasures," which included blood-red topiary trees in the hallways that critics suggested looked like the capes from The Handmaid's Tale show adapted from Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel of the same name.

She has also faced continued criticism over a years-old secret recording of her saying "Who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff?" The recording of the former model featured her complaining about decorating the White House and was released in 2020.

The recording was released in October 2020 by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and aide who wrote the book Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady.

The conversation between the two women had reportedly taken place in June 2018, after Trump visited an immigration detention facility in Texas. In a statement issued after the release of the tape, Melania Trump said her comment was taken out of context and dismissed Wolkoff's book as "idle gossip trying to distort my character."