As Don spews, she touts cyberkindness for kids
BE BETTER than my husband.
That’s the message First Lady Melania Trump appeared to convey Monday as she announced “Be Best” — a three-pillared awareness campaign seeking to combat cyberbullying and teach the nation’s children to speak with “respect and compassion.”
“Social media can have a positive and negative effect on our children, but too often it is used in negative ways,” Melania Trump said, as her husband sat listening in the first row during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.
“It is our responsibility as adults to educate and remind them that when they are using their voices, whether verbally or online, they must choose their words wisely.”
President Trump is notorious for using social media to attack and belittle political opponents, athletes, news organizations and even nations.
In her straight-faced announcement, the 48-year-old First Lady pledged to use her White House tenure to promote “social and self-awareness.”
“Once a child understands these vital skills, they will be able to communicate openly with one another and instill positive feelings of mutual respect,” she said.
In an apparent plagiarism snafu, attendants at the “Be Best” announcement were handed pamphlets about cyberbullying that were near-exact copies of a Federal Trade Commission report from 2014.
Beyond cyberbullying, the First Lady said her “Be Best” campaign will focus on fighting opioid abuse and promoting general “wellbeing.”
After the First Lady’s announcement, President Trump took the podium to sign the “Be Best” proclamation. Trump notably did not mention his wife’s pledge to combat social media bullying before putting his John Hancock on the order. “That was truly a beautiful and heartfelt speech,” Trump said. “It is the way she feels, very strongly.” During a briefing earlier Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders ripped a reporter for pointing out the apparent irony in the First Lady’s pledge to fight behavior commonly associated with her husband. “The idea that you are trying to blame cyberbullying on the President is kind of ridiculous,” Sanders said. A few hours prior, Trump had taken to Twitter to attack former Secretary of State John Kerry over his recently meeting with Iranian officials in an apparent bid to save the Iran nuclear deal, which the President has hinted he may soon back out of.
“He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!” Trump tweeted.
The “Be Best” announcement comes amid a steady stream of news stories about Trump’s $130,000 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels (photo inset), who says she had sex with him in the early days of his and Melania’s marriage.
Daniels’ scandalous claims have created a rift in the First Couple’s marriage, according to reports. Multiple associates of the Trumps told The Washington Post on Sunday that they avoid each other.
“They spend very little to no time together,” a longtime friend of the President told the newspaper.