Melania Trump’s goal for children: ‘Be Best’
First lady’s new program will focus on kids’ health and well-being
Nearly one year after she arrived at the White House and 16 months after the Trump administration took office, first lady Melania Trump on Monday announced her agenda to improve the well-being of children, a campaign she calls “Be Best.”
With her husband in the audience, Trump, 48, said in a speech in the Rose Garden that her focus will be on what has been a consistent if low-key theme of her term thus far: making America safer for children’s emotional, physical and social health.
“Be Best is an awareness campaign dedicated to the most valuable and fragile among us: our children,” she said.
“There is one goal: to educate children about the many issues they are facing today. If we truly listen to what our kids have to say, whether it’s their concerns or ideas, adults can provide them the support and tools they need to grow up and be happy productive adults.”
She said her campaign would have three pillars: children’s well-being, social media and the opioid addiction epidemic. Her comments on social media and its often “negative” use were notable given her husband’s expansive use of Twitter to advance his agenda and attack his enemies.
“Social media is too often used in negative ways, but when children learn positive behavior early on, it can be used in productive ways,” she said. “We have the responsibility to educate and remind (children) when they use their voices to choose their words wisely and speak with respect and kindness.”
President Trump praised her “beautiful and heartfelt” speech, then signed a proclamation declaring Monday “Be Best Day.”
The timing of the first lady’s announcement was awkward: Last week, it emerged that, despite his denials, her husband did know about and repaid his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for the $130,000 Cohen gave to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged fling with Trump years before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has taken an inconspicuous approach to her job compared with some of her predecessors, in part because she didn’t become a full-time first lady until last June. Also, she is more reserved than her immediate predecessors and not entirely comfortable with public speaking. Born in Slovenia and a former fashion model, she is multilingual, but English is not her first language.
She is also occasionally used as a cudgel by Trump critics to bash or mock him, as when cameras caught her swatting away his hand when he reached for hers during a foreign trip.
The first lady is clearly most at ease when she meets with children, as she has multiple times in the U.S. and abroad, sometimes accompanied by the media and sometimes not.
Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, and her small East Wing staff of 10 have repeatedly said that the first lady would approach her unpaid, undefined job in her own way and in her own time.
Since moving into the White House, Trump has supervised the renovation of the family quarters, accompanied the president on foreign trips and presided over traditional events such as the Easter Egg Roll and Christmas celebrations.