Appearances matter to President Donald Trump, a fact that has been well documented throughout his campaign, transition and early days of his presidency.
The Washington Post described his search for a Cabinet as “a government casting call.” As a young man, Trump wanted to move to Hollywood and make movies before deciding to stick with the family business (real estate).
“He likes people who present themselves very well, and he’s very impressed when somebody has a background of being good on television because he thinks it’s a very important medium for public policy,” Chris Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media and a longtime friend of Trump, told the Post. “Don’t forget, he’s a showbiz guy. He was at the pinnacle of showbiz, and he thinks about showbiz. He sees this as a business that relates to the public.”
Trump is rarely seen without a suit and tie. He adorned his Trump Tower home in gold — a color he chose for the new curtains in the Oval Office. He married a model, ran beauty contests and was the successful host of a reality television show.
Axios.com, citing anonymous sources, expanded on Trump’s staging skills and his “obsession with optics, style and TV glam.” The story said Trump judges male appearances as much as women’s, including dress and grooming.
But the line in the piece that has the most attention is this one: Trump likes women who work for him “to dress like women,” says a source who worked on Trump’s campaign. “Even if you’re in jeans, you need to look neat and orderly.”
#DressLikeAWoman trended on Twitter for hours Thursday and Friday. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., sent a series of tweets of women in various outfits — including an astronaut, a protesters and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, an Army veteran — and with the hashtag across the photo.