They are not ranting and, honestly, didn’t come across as all that political to me. Those paragraphs are referencing the controversy as a lead-in to an article

They are not ranting and, honestly, didn’t come across as all that political to me. Those paragraphs are referencing the controversy as a lead-in to an article about the use of esquire, which has little to do with the First Lady. At best you could say that the references to current politics are distracting.