Chelsea Clinton was a target for hate long before Twitter bullies

IT’S all too easy to blame Twitter for poisoning public life by giving bullies and misfits a platform to spew hate and vitriol under cover of anonymity.

The cruel taunting of adolescent Chelsea Clinton, when she lived in the White House, reminds us that the ugly tendency to pick people apart for entertainment’s sake has always been with us and that we can only blame social media for amplifying it. Several decades out of the White House and Chelsea can vividly recall the relentless mockery she received in the media and how as a teenager she wanted ‘to fade into the background’. She was made fun of on the popular TV programme Saturday Night Live, while her looks were the butt of jokes from shock jocks and comedians. It’s a miracle that Chelsea was not permanently damaged by the torment she endured.

It’s also worth acknowledging that today’s children in the public eye are off limits for satire and any other forms of public humiliation.

The attempt to paint Barron Trump as autistic, after the teenager was spotted trying to stay awake during his father’s endless inaugural formalities, rapidly backfired as people across the political spectrum defended the youngster.

The US may be polarised like never before, but at least bitter rivals agree that their children can’t be targeted for laughs or political point scoring.