On Tuesday, First lady Melania Trump gave a speech to students in Baltimore, Maryland, concerning the youth opioid abuse epidemic The reaction to Mrs. Trump was mixed, as the First Lady was met with booing from some of the students.
“As the press pooler with perhaps the most FLOTUS event coverage under my belt,” explained CNN reporter Kate Bennett, “I cannot recall another event where she was more negatively received. I believe it is also the first loud booing by an audience at a solo event with Mrs. Trump.”
Responding to the boos hurled at her, Mrs. Trump issued a statement soon after the event.
“We live in a democracy and everyone is entitled to their opinion,” the statement from the First Lady said, according to The Washington Examiner, “but the fact is we have a serious crisis in our country, and I remain committed to educating children on the dangers and deadly consequences of drug abuse.”
Fox News’ “The Five” co-host Juan Williams, an outspoken Democrat, called Mrs. Trump’s response “graceful.”
“I think that’s the way to handle it. I don’t think that she was going to fire back,” Williams said, according to Fox News. “Remember, we’re talking about mostly kids. It wasn’t adults.”
Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones, a conservative, applauded Mrs. Trump for “staying on message” during her speech, despite the booing.
“I think the president, if I have one critique of him, he could learn that from Melania,” Jones said. “Sometimes you don’t have to swing back. Sometimes you can stay on that message. And I think more people would support him as a result of this.”
Mrs. Trump is no stranger to protests. Earlier this month, the First Lady found herself the central target of anti-Trump protesters when she traveled to a Boston children’s hospital to soothe drug-addicted babies.
“Around 200 protesters, who claimed to be nurses, doctors, and ‘health care workers’ from Boston Medical Center where Trump was meeting with leadership and viewing the baby-cuddling program, carried signs opposing ‘babies in cages,’ and calling for an end to the ‘Trump-Pence regime,'” The Daily Wire reported of the protesters.
Medical professionals standing in solidarity at Boston Medical center in protest of First Lady Melania Trumps visit.
First lady visiting cuddle program at Boston hospital for babies born on drugs.@boston25 pic.twitter.com/DPDaFxnI5j— Scott McDonnell (@ScottMcDonnell_) November 6, 2019
“The cuddling program, which has met with incredible success, helps babies born addicted to opioids and other controlled substances — a condition called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome — handle the process of withdrawl after birth,” The Daily Wire noted. “The First Lady has made programs like Boston Medical Center’s the hallmark of her child health platform, and regularly visits children who are living with complicated and, often, terminal illnesses.”
Making matters worse, 13-year-old Trump son, Barron, has also been the focus of anti-Trump leftists. Last summer, for example, the child was attacked by left-wing Hollywood elite Peter Fonda, brother to actress and anti-Trump activist Jane Fonda.
Fonda posted in a now-deleted tweet: “WE SHOULD RIP BARRON TRUMP FROM HIS MOTHER’S ARMS AND PUT HIM IN A CAGE WITH PEDOPHILES AND SEE IF MOTHER WILL WILL STAND UP AGAINST THE GIANT A**HOLE SHE IS MARRIED TO. 90 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE STREETS ON THE SAME WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY. F***.”