This Trump And Melania Christmas Portrait Is Causing A Stir

Ah, the annual family Christmas portrait: a place for giant red bows, twinkling lights, festive garland, and... matching tuxedos? OK, that last one isn't a holiday tradition, but it's the look the Trumps decided to go with for their Christmas portrait this year. The photo — which Melania Trump tweeted on Dec. 18, 2020 — shows the current president and first lady on the White House's Grand Staircase sporting matching black-and-white tuxes.

As the New York Post pointed out, the Trumps didn't release an official holiday photo in 2019, though they did in 2018 and 2017. This year's photo will be their last one taken during Donald Trump's presidency. Trump didn't post the photo on his own Twitter account, but it's gotten more than 3,000 quote tweets on the @FLOTUS account. The couple's clothing was certainly a look, and fans weren't afraid to weigh in on the suit set that Melania chose to match her husband's outfit.

If President Donald Trump wanted to get people talking about him one last time before he leaves the White House next month, well, mission accomplished. Twitter had a lot to say about the couple's choice of attire.

Merry Christmas from President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. @realDonaldTrump & @FLOTUS are seen December 10, in their official 2020 Christmas portrait,on the Grand staircase of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks) pic.twitter.com/PA63RYGSKE

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) December 18, 2020

"I'm betting the same people who love @FLOTUS in a tux had some words to say about @Harry_Styles in a dress," one person tweeted. "I'm just wondering what people would have said if this was the Obamas," another person wrote of the Trumps' outfits. Others commented on the Trumps' stiff body language, with one person tweeting, "Is there ever any kind of love between them"?

TV writer and producer Natasha Chandel wondered why the president is posing for holiday photos, instead of dealing with what the year has wrought for the country. "'Where is Trump?,' you ask, as Russia cyber attacks the U.S. govt, a pandemic roars out of control, USPS delays ruin the holidays, States are denied vaccines, and a stimulus for starving Americans still hasn't passed?," Chandel tweeted. "The President and First Lady are posing for Christmas cards."

Still, some fans replied to the first lady's tweet to say that they "love Melania's outfit" and that the Trumps are a "beautiful couple." And others questioned whether the holiday picture was, in fact, photoshopped.

Noticeably absent from the photo of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump was their son, Barron Trump. Many people tweeted some iteration of "Where's Barron?" in response to the holiday picture.

While none of President Trump's adult children were in the photo either, it's natural that fans would wonder why 14-year-old Barron wasn't in the picture, as he lived at the White House during Trump's presidency. But Barron didn't appear in the Trumps' 2017 and 2018 Christmas photos, so it would have been a bit more surprising if he had appeared in this year's portrait.

As for President Trump's elder children, Ivanka Trump shared a Christmas portrait of her family, as well as a photo of her and her husband, Jared Kushner, at the White House during the recent snow day. Eric Trump posted a photo of his family at the White House with the caption, "Merry Christmas," and Donald Trump Jr. shared a photo of himself and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, captioning it, "White House Christmas Party."

The family isn't likely to release a Kardashian-style Christmas card with the whole extended family together (especially during the pandemic), but everyone is celebrating the holiday season in their own way.