Jill Biden Hosts NATO Spouses and Checks Out Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers
With the 75th North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit in full swing, First Lady Jill Biden’s chief assignment Wednesday was to host spouses and partners at a brunch at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
FLOTUS and her guests also toured the “Entertainment Nation” exhibition, which could sound like a double entendre given how presidential politics have riveted millions as of late, following President Joe Biden’s debate performance. (Actor George Clooney and author Stephen King were a few of the latest American voices calling on the president to drop out of the race.) The museum version, however, features objects and interactive experiences spanning 150 years and is on view indefinitely.
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While supporters stand by the first lady’s stalwart support of her husband’s heels-dug-in reelection run, FLOTUS dressed true-blue too for Wednesday’s National Museum of American History event. She wore a long-sleeve royal blue dress with pumps. For a three-state stop Monday in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Jill Biden was also patriotic in a CH Carolina Herrera navy blue knit dress with horizontal white stripes and a white jacket.
During her seven-minute remarks, FLOTUS thanked the curators for the tour and said she liked the ruby slippers [designed by Adrian that the 16-year-old Judy Garland wore in the 1939 MGM film “The Wizard of Oz”] best, according to a White House pool report. But she made the distinction that they weren’t really ruby, but rather sequins.
The first lady’s predecessor in the White House Melania Trump was seeing red in her Trump Tower penthouse Monday night at a GOP fundraiser. The former model donned a red Valentino dress to host a fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans, a group that supports the LGBTQIA+ conservatives and allies. Trump, who returned to the global stage this week after quite a stretch, had first worn the frock to meet China’s Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, Fla., in 2017.
But back to Wednesday’s outing at the Smithsonian, where 23 diplomatic spouses and partners had gathered to break bread. Biden also asked others to share what they liked, and someone shouted, “Muppets,” [as in Jim Henson’s “Sesame Street” puppets like the original “Cookie Monster,”] according to the pool report.
FLOTUS also said, “As I look around this room, I’m reminded of the strength of our bonds, and that our work is always better when we do it together,” according to the pool report.
Before the program wound down, the first lady and her counterparts including Ukraine’s Olena Zelenska, the U.K.’s Lady Victoria Starmer, South Korea’s Kim Keon Hee and Turkey’s Emine Erdoğan posed for “a family photo.” Before returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Biden, who is American Vogue’s August cover girl, offered some friendly advice to guests for Thursday’s spousal meet-up at Camp David — dress comfortably, the pool reporter said.
Once the NATO Summit wraps up, FLOTUS plans to get back on the stump for the Biden-Harris ticket with a trip Saturday to another battleground state — Pennsylvania — which will be her second trip there in 10 days. Trump may be airborne soon too with the Republican National Convention slated to run from Monday to July 18 in Milwaukee.
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