Another year, another unveiling of the holiday decorations at the White House. As was the case last year, Melania Trump is being criticized by the usual suspects. It’s 2018 and in Trump’s America even red Christmas trees take a beating.

The White House looks beautiful. It’s as simple as that and the critics are wrong. Mrs. Trump is a very elegant woman with a flair for decorating. The decor may be a bit over the top for some people but it’s the holiday season and going overboard is perfectly acceptable.

Apparently, a real sticking point with the bah humbug gang is the use of so much of the color red. An entire long hallway is lined with red Christmas trees.  The trees are red berry trees. The color red is a normal color of the season, though. The White House explanation is that the color symbolizes valor and bravery. It is a nod to the Presidential seal designed by the Founding Fathers, too. FLOTUS posted a mini-tour showing off the decor on Twitter.

The People’s House @WhiteHouse is ready to celebrate Christmas and the holiday season! pic.twitter.com/oejKW3mC15

— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) November 26, 2018

The explanation for why we must not accept red trees was written by the Washington Post. In Europe, it is a bad sign for a tree to be red. It’s all about death and disease. And a leap was taken to nuclear threats, too, just in case sick trees and death aren’t enough to paint a picture.

Ukraine renamed the area around the Chernobyl reactor disaster site “Red Forest” after lethal radioactivity turned the green pine trees there red-brownish in 1986. Footage from that forest still serves as a reminder of deadly nuclear risks, especially at a time when threatening nuclear strikes has become more common again.

More recently, the color red has also been disastrous for pine trees in Denmark, which are usually sold across Europe. The country is renowned for its magnificent dark-green trees that are exported far beyond its borders, but red needles are posing a growing threat to the lucrative business. Nine million trees are sold every year.

But wait. There is also a climate change angle to be made here. Of course. (WaPo)

One possible explanation is that diseases might be weakening the trees’ ability to take in sufficient calcium to grow properly. In neighboring Germany, where vendors have faced a similar issue, researchers also observed that pine trees can “sunburn,” provided that springs are unusually cold and summers disproportionately hot. Climate change will make those extreme temperatures occur far more frequently.

Unless a solution is found, Europe might have to embrace Christmastime red more than it has done in the past.

The White House — where President Trump dismissed a dire climate change report by his own administration this week, saying, “I don’t believe it” — may have some advice on how to do it.

It’s all just mean-spirited mumbo-jumbo. The critics don’t like President Trump, therefore, anything the First Lady does must be criticized. It is the left’s default position. If she designed a minimalist approach, that would be criticized, too.

Like most Christmases at the White House, this year a patriotic theme is interwoven among the decorations. Melania gave a co-host of Fox and Friends the tour, noting the red, white and blue touches.

“So here we are in the Cross Hall and Grand Foyer,” the first lady said at the White House’s primary first-floor entrance. “This is representing — you could see the color red. It represents the bravery, heart and patriotism.”

The two then continued to the East Room, which often serves as a reception area and backdrop for presidential press conferences.

“It’s decorated in blue, and then we will see later on the State Room,” Trump told Earhardt, referring to the State Dining Room that plays host to visiting heads of state. “This is red, blue and white.”

“It’s patriotic, and it reminds us of the American flag,” Trump told Earhardt.

One of the more bizarre ways for disgruntled feminists to protest President Trump’s policies is to show up at protests wearing long red capes and white bonnets as are worn in “The Handmaid’s Tale”. This was used in red tree memes on social media, too. The red trees sported white bonnets, lame as it looked. I truly do not believe that most women using the costume in protest even read Margaret Atwood’s book, a fictional tale of a dystopian land inhabited by Stepford Wife-like women, published in 1985. During the Trump presidency, a renewed interest has taken place and now a sequel will be published in 2019. Even the author conflates today’s America with the fictional land. It’s an outlandishly ridiculous statement for her to make but that’s where we are now. Those books aren’t going to sell themselves.

During her participation at a town hall meeting on opioid abuse, she was asked about the criticism of the decorations. I think her answer was just right.

“We are in 21st century and everybody has different taste. I think they look fantastic. I hope everybody will come over and visit it. In real life, they look even more beautiful and you are all very welcome to visit the White House, the People’s House,” she said.

Thank you to all the volunteers who make the trip and help put the magic altogether. Well done.