Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton again rushed to current First Son Barron Trump’s defense, chastising New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait for putting Barron front and center in a joke about potential candidates for White House Chief of Staff.
Chait tweeted Monday night that the only acceptable replacement for outgoing White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is Barron, largely because as a minor he’s not likely to be “tried as an adult” for whatever crimes Chait imagines are being committed in the Oval Office.
My darkhorse chief of staff pick: Barron Trump
1. Looks like Trump
2. Will not make Trump work
3. Cannot be tried as an adult https://t.co/wNigDQMx89— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) December 10, 2018
Chelsea Clinton is obviously no fan of President Donald Trump, but she has been an outspoken advocate for First Kids, curbing some journalists’ often irresistible urge to attack even the pre-teen Trump (she also heads off criticism of both Sasha and Malia Obama, who have long left the White House but who are regularly the subject of gossip stories).
Chelsea immediately fired back at Chait for his “joke.”
Please leave Barron Trump out of “jokes” & analyses. He’s a kid and private citizen and deserves to be left alone. Thank you. https://t.co/wDvfMo59vV
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) December 10, 2018
Chait, bizarrely, refused to back down, claiming that his tweet was all in fun.
This is not a joke about Barron Trump. It is a joke about Donald Trump.
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) December 10, 2018
But Chelsea didn’t say not to make jokes about kids. She said not to involve the children of presidents in partisan attacks, something Chait is clearly guilty of, no question.
Chait refused to take the tweet down — a decision Twitter users on both sides of the political divide found wanting.
Don’t do this.
— Charlotte Clymer (@cmclymer) December 10, 2018
Come on man. Do better.
— James Brady (@jbrady_ct) December 11, 2018
This isn’t the first time Chelsea Clinton has rushed to Barron’s defense. Back in August, a conservative reporter went after Barron Trump for stepping off a presidential aircraft wearing a JCrew tee shirt and a wrinkled pair of khakis like a normal pre-teen.
“It’s high time the media & everyone leave Barron Trump alone & let him have the private childhood he deserves,” Clinton wrote in response to the criticism, adding later that she believes First Kids should be allowed to live their lives as if they weren’t part of the single most powerful family in the world.
She began her crusade to protect the youngest Trump almost immediately upon President Donald Trump’s inauguration, tweeting that day that “Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does-to be a kid. Standing up for every kid also means opposing @POTUS policies that hurt kids.”