Big and small headlines at WaPo on crypto.

1. "Crypto collapse erases more than $1 trillion in wealth, forcing a reckoning for everyday investors." 

2. "Melania Trump auctions off her hat, and has become the latest victim of the cryptocurrency crash." 

I'm glad to see that on the "most read" list in the sidebar, the big story is ranking above the big hat story:

Actually, it's the Melania story I choose to read, because it's hard to understand how accepting cryptocurrency hurts her. It's only a hat she doesn't want that's going out in the world. What difference does it make to her — the "I really don't care, do u?" lady — how the cryptocurrency bids translate into dollar amounts? She restricted the bids to cryptocurrency — for whatever reason — but since there are different cryptocurrencies, aren't all the bids presented at the bidding site in dollar amounts? No, she's only accepting one cryptocurrencies — Solana — so that simplifies things. Its value has fallen 40% in the last week, but wouldn't that cause people with Solana who want the hat to pour a lot more of this declining stuff into the quest for the hat? How is Melania a victim? 

Oh, I'm sure people could put together a list of ways in which Melania is a victim. Make a list and rank it, with the Solana-for-a-hat problem on it. If it ranks high, then good for Melania. But I'm laughing at the Washington Post readers who are drooling over the news that Melania is suffering.

 WaPo snatches the hat and runs with it:

Although they’re under no obligation to do so, typically, first ladies donate iconic items either the Smithsonian’s First Ladies collection, or to their husband’s libraries and museums, as a way of preserving history for the public. The hat was custom-made for the occasion [of meeting the French president] by Hervé Pierre, the French-born, New York-based designer who became her White House stylist after making her inaugural gown. (That one is in the Smithsonian.) ...

Certainly, other first ladies and presidents have engaged in for-profit activities, particularly the large advances many of them receive to write their memoirs and for speaking engagements. “But that doesn’t take up nearly as much time as their not-for-profit activities,” [says Lauren A. Wright, a political scientist who studies first ladies at Princeton University]. “That’s most of what they spend time on when they leave office.”

Time? Did it take Melania any time to auction the hat? And I like how Wright lets it slip that the ex-First Ladies don't put much time into writing these memoirs for which they receive lavish pay-outs.

I'm reading this whole long article so you don't have to, and this, near the end is the most interesting thing to me:

[A] mid-December sale of an NFT featuring a watercolor painting of her eyes, called “Melania’s Vision,” by French artist Marc-Antoine Coulon.... Unlimited quantities of that NFT sold for one SOL, which was worth around $185 at the time. Each came with an audio message from Trump: “My vision is: Look forward with inspiration, strength and courage.”

Try to imagine just how banal and awful that painting of Melania's eyes must be, then look to see the actual thing: here. It was quite a bit worse than I'd pictured, and I was expect something atrocious.

Be best!

"Melania has been overheard referring to Ivanka as 'The Princess'.... Ivanka, when younger, called Melania 'The Portrait' because she spoke as often as one."

Writes Dwight Garner in "A New Book Brings Melania Trump Into (Slightly) Better Focus" (NYT). Also:

[Melania] spends much of her time with Barron and her parents. Barron speaks Slovenian...  “Trump has complained to others,” [author Mary] Jordan writes, “that he has no idea what they are saying.”...

[O]ne of her former New York roommates... told the author that Melania, in those pre-Trump days, liked to watch “Friends,” ate seven fruits and vegetables a day, didn’t drink alcohol and walked with weights on her ankles to keep toned.

Jordan confirms that the first lady and her husband sleep in separate bedrooms. He likes darkly colored walls and rugs; she prefers light ones. They rarely seem to interact. He uses Irish Spring soap....

When someone once hazarded a joke about Trump’s penis size, the author writes, Melania replied, “Don’t say this — he’s a real man.”

Donald Trump appears to dwell in the White House, for the most part, like a sultan among his pillows. Melania is self-exiled with her parents and son. On many days, Jordan writes, her press office doesn’t answer questions about where she is....

"While Melania stayed in New York, Ivanka continued to establish herself in the West Wing, notorious for its cramped and limited working spaces."

"According to several people, she was eyeing real estate in the East Wing as well, the domain of the first lady. Among other proposals, Ivanka suggested renaming the 'First Lady’s Office' the 'First Family Office.' Melania did not allow that to happen. It was tradition, and she was not going to let her stepdaughter change it. Ivanka’s office remained in the West Wing. Melania’s delay in moving from New York initially put her at a disadvantage. Even some of the staff positions and budgets that would have been available to support the first lady’s office were gone, diverted to support those in the West Wing, including Ivanka.... With Melania away, Ivanka used the private theater, with its plush red seats, and enjoyed other White House perks. Some said she treated the private residence as if it were her own home. Melania did not like it. When she and Barron finally moved in, she put an end to the 'revolving door' by enforcing firm boundaries.... People working in the West Wing say they have heard Trump criticize Don Jr. and Eric and even Ivanka for doing or saying something that the president thought was not helpful, but none could recall hearing him say anything negative about Melania.... More than a dozen past or current White House officials interviewed attributed Melania’s influence to the fact that Trump believed that just about everyone else had an agenda, except Melania. He believed she had no ulterior motive and just wanted him to succeed...."

From "How Melania Trump blocked Ivanka Trump from encroaching on her domain" by Mary Jordan (adapted from the book, "The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump")(WaPo).