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Donald and Melania Trump pose in matching tuxedos for final Christmas portrait, Internet says FLOTUS looks better

The first lady wore a Christian Dior tuxedo that featured a traditional cummerbund and black satin along the lapel and pant legs

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump donned matching black tuxedos for their final official Christmas portrait as President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office in January, which was taken on December 10 and released on Friday, December 18. As per news reports, the first lady wore a Christian Dior tuxedo that featured a traditional cummerbund and black satin along the lapel and pant legs.

Melania, from the official FLOTUS Twitter account, shared the photo along with, “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).”

The first lady wore a buttoned-up white shirt under a long black tuxedo jacket in the shot as the President stood smiling beside her, reportedly in the same classic tuxedo that he's posed in for every holiday photo. The photo featured a bright red carpet and a staircase adorned with garlands. The picture was taken the same day as the congressional Christmas party and other White House celebrations.

The photo arrived as a government shutdown was avoided late Friday when Trump signed into law a short-term government funding bill hours before funding was set to lapse, buying lawmakers a few more days of negotiations as talks in Congress over a Covid-19 stimulus bill stretched into the weekend. It also arrived in the wake of the controversy stirred in October after recordings of Melania making negative remarks about decorating for Christmas were released.

In the recordings, Melania allegedly said, “I'm working ... my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?" She continued, “OK, and then I do it and I say that I'm working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas and they said, 'Oh, what about the children that they were separated?' Give me a f****** break. Where they were saying anything when Obama did that? I can not go, I was trying get the kid reunited with the mom. I didn't have a chance -- needs to go through the process and through the law.”

The tapes were recorded by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and senior adviser to the first lady who wrote a book about their relationship, ‘Melania and Me’. In a statement, Melania Trump's chief of staff Stephanie Grisham blasted Wolkoff for releasing the recording. "Secretly taping the First Lady and willfully breaking an NDA to publish a salacious book is a clear attempt at relevance. The timing of this continues to be suspect -- as does this never-ending exercise in self-pity and narcissism," she said in a statement.

The photo was received well by Trump supporters who called them, among other things, stunning. And a lot of supporters seemed to feel that Melania rocked the tuxedo better than the President. One Twitter user wrote, “Is this one of those “Who wears it better” photo’s? I’m sorry @realDonaldTrump, @FLOTUS wins hands down! Merry Christmas to you both and your family!”

But others were more critical. Political commentator Keith Olbermann wrote, “The criminally negligent mass homicides, billion-dollar self-dealing and looting, sabotage of the incoming administration, and attempt to destroy democracy aside...you two have THE shittiest taste in the free world #DecoratedByYardSale.” One Twitter user said, “It looks like they photoshopped his head onto his body. He's not that thin, there's no gray hair, and he's smiling. That's not the Donald we've come to know and loath.”