USA TODAY International Edition
Melania’s farcical cyberbullying crusade
First lady should start at home with hubby Trump
As first lady Melania Trump embarked on a campaign to tackle cyberbullying, imagine if luminaries across the nation cheered her on with (ahem) the same level of respect her husband has shown them.
“Little Marco” Rubio, “Crooked Hillary” and captured coward-prisoner-ofwar John McCain nodded in approval. “Low Energy” Jeb, Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren and “Lyin’ Ted Cruz” were equally impressed with the first lady’s keen understanding of how bullies are the most insecure and desperate people in society, with many also being impulsive narcissists.
Given the remarkable level of restraint and dignity President Bone Spurs has shown in conducting his life and presidency, it was heartwarming to see his third wife with her well-manicured finger on the pulse of cyberbullying victims. So real. So sincere. And, like her husband, so brave.
Though unavailable for comment due to “blood coming out of her wherever,” Megyn Kelly — and “Pig” Rosie O’Donnell and “Sleepy Eyes” Chuck Todd — fully understand this quiet, stoic bravery and valor. They know that had it not been for the debilitating pain of bone spurs on his heels, Trump would have been eager and honored to fight and even die in the Vietnam War instead of sending someone else in his place, whose name may be on The Wall.
Not his imaginary wall on the Mexican border. The one on the National Mall in Washington honoring heroes who gave their lives for their country as they fought alongside other heroes, such as “Deep State” Marine 2nd Lt. Robert Mueller who earned the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
“Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,” “Jeff Flake (y)” and two other senators (who could be jurors on a presidential impeachment trial), “Liddle Bob Corker” and disgraced “nut job” Lindsey Graham, lauded Mrs. Trump’s efforts, while the “Failing New York Times”" and “Clinton News Network” noted the long-term damage cyberbullying can cause as it lives forever on the Internet, ruining reputations, careers and livelihoods.
Foreign leaders were also impressed, viewing the first lady’s cyberbullying launch as a diplomatic move to strengthen ties and ensure peace with “s---hole” countries and leaders with deadly nuclear capabilities such as North Korea’s “Little Rocket Man.”
But let’s get serious. When a cyberbully creates a Twitter account with 49 million followers (millions of them fake Twitter “bots”) for the purpose of cyberbullying political opponents and critics, those thousands of fake reply notifications falsely suggest the target of the bullying faces huge levels of opposition. Conversely, they paint the one favored by the fake accounts as enjoying more support than he actually does.
This impacts news coverage, debate panels, fundraising and more. It’s a form of cheating. It’s designed to intimidate and instill fear. It skews newsroom decisions and, dangerously, it shapes policy choices made by elected officials who may be scared or misled.
As part of her campaign, Mrs. Trump met this week with representatives from technology companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, Snap and Twitter and said she hopes to work with them to encourage “positive behaviors on social media.”
Her alarm is not directed at her husband’s daily barrage of hate, lies, smears and bullying on social media. It is not because he has attacked and lied about people like me and then unleashed his army of Twitter trolls to depict me as raped, beheaded, dismembered, shot, stabbed, starved in a concentration camp or grossly disfigured because I am a Trump critic.
No, Melania says her anti-cyberbullying crusade is born of concern for children. It’s a shallow, laughable claim. No written statement about “the children” and no meeting with social media executives will accomplish more to eradicate cyberbullying than taking a stand at home with her husband. That’s how you protect children from cyberbullying before they are old enough to be on social media.