Melania Trump is eating jewels on Vanity Fair's Mexican cover, and people are furious

First Lady Melania Trump is on the cover of Vanity Fair's Mexican edition, and many Mexicans are both baffled and furious.

Melania Trump appears on the cover of the February issue, miming eating a bowl full of diamonds and jewelry, while decked out in bling of her own. The accompanying article covers topic like, "How she plans to become the new Jackie Kennedy." Both the photo and the story are actually recycled from an earlier GQ spread, according to CNN (the magazines share a parent company).

Still, the cover story shows how confounding the relationship between the media and the Trump family is.

In December, President Trump trashed Vanity Fair in a tweet, seemingly in response to an article that asserted, "Trump Grill Could Be the Worst Restaurant in America." 

"Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of [Vanity Fair]," Trump wrote. "Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!" Trump has sparred with longtime Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter for years, and Carter was the one who first drew wide attention to Trump's "remarkably small hands," in a GQ article (and in Spy magazine).

But Trump's tirade actually boosted subscriptions to the magazine's US edition, to the tune of 13,000 new additions within 24 hours, according to Poynter. And now Vanity Fair's Mexican edition has put up an old story about Melania Trump on its cover.

Many Mexicans are furious at the magazine over this decision, given the tension between President Trump and Mexico. On Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled his meeting with Trump following Trump's comment that Nieto shouldn't come if Mexico was "unwilling to pay" for a wall on its shared border with the US.

If you glance through the replies to Vanity Fair's official tweet of the article, it's a torrent of animosity. 

"Apologize to Mexico for this stupidity," one commenter wrote. Another described it as an "insult to our country," and still another said it showed a "lack of respect for Mexican society."

Previous reporting by Oliver Darcy.