First Lady Melania Trump fired back at critics who claimed the First Family was being hypocritical by defending Barron Trump, 13, from political attacks while President Donald Trump trolled far-left climate extremist Greta Thunberg, 16, on Twitter just several days later.
On December 4, Stanford Law School Professor Pamela Karlan, an impeachment witness for House Democrats, took a shot at Barron during Democrats’ impeachment hearing on the House Judiciary Committee.
Melania responded on Twitter by writing, “A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it.”
President Trump retweeted Melania’s tweet a short time later.
On Wednesday, TIME Magazine announced that it was making Thunberg its 2019 Person of the Year.
President Trump responded on Twitter by writing: “So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!”
Left-wing activists on Twitter and in the media immediately responded to President Trump’s swipe at Thunberg by attacking Melania for saying that “a minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics” and for her BeBest campaign, which aims to combat bullying.
Melania responded in a statement to the criticism by highlighting the difference between her son and Thunberg.
“BeBest is the First Lady’s initiative, and she will continue to use it to do all she can to help children. It is no secret that the President and First Lady often communicate differently — as most married couples do. Their son is not an activist who travels the globe giving speeches. He is a 13-year-old who wants and deserves privacy,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
Thunberg is a far-left climate extremist who travels the world warning of apocalyptic doom that is coming unless radical change occurs that she claims “colonial, racist, and patriarchal systems of oppression have created and fueled.”
President Trump trolled Thunberg after her meltdown at the United Nations earlier this year where she claimed that “we are in the beginning of a mass extinction.”
President Trump wrote on Twitter: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”
She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see! https://t.co/1tQG6QcVKO
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
Thunberg’s speech gained significant attention as many people viewed it as a sign of child abuse, saying that activists, politicians, and the media were exploiting her for political gain.
“My message is that we’ll be watching you. This is all wrong, I shouldn’t be up here, I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet, you all come to us young people for hope, how dare you,” Thunberg exclaimed. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words and yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”
“There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is,” Thunberg said several minutes later. “You are failing us but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you and if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now, is where we draw the line the world is waking up and change is coming whether you like it or not.”