It’s a long and storied tradition in the United States for First Ladies to have their causes. Thanks to Michelle Obama, kids are eating healthier lunches at schools to fight childhood obesity. Nancy Reagan took on drug abuse, and Hillary Clinton fought for health care reform.
If Melania Trump becomes First Lady, she said Monday that she will dedicate herself to combating bullying on the internet.
“The social media, it’s very damaging for the children,” she said during a CNN interview. “We need to guide them and teach them about social media, because I see a lot of negativity on it, and we need to help them.”
She went on to add that there are some positives, but she sees “more and more children being hurt by it.”
“I see the negativity, and it’s not healthy,” she added.
When Anderson Cooper asked if she ever tells her husband not to tweet so much, she replied: “Yes, but that’s his decision. He’s an adult. He knows the consequences.”
The New York Times has tracked all of the people, places, and things that Trump has insulted on Twitter. That list now includes 274 items, ranging from dozens of individual journalists and former GOP presidential candidates to former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Samuel L. Jackson, and Whoopi Goldberg.
The same day as the interview, Donald took to Twitter to call the women accusing him of sexual assault liars and to repeatedly labeled Hillary Clinton as “crooked.”
New polls are good because the media has deceived the public by putting women front and center with made-up stories and lies, and got caught
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2016
As Clinton has mentioned on the campaign trail, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other experts on hateful rhetoric have seen a marked increase in bullying and other negativity in our nation’s schools. The SPLC issued a report calling it the “Trump effect” and detailing how “students have been emboldened by the divisive, often juvenile rhetoric in the campaign.”
“Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail,” the report notes.
Though Melania may talk the talk, she has also not been one to stand up to internet bullying in practice. When reporter Julia Ioffe wrote a profile of her for GQ Magazine, she became the target of an anti-Semetic hate site and was attacked relentlessly on social media. After hateful rhetoric turned into death threats, Ioffe filed a report with the D.C. police department.
In an interview about the ordeal, Melania Trump said that Ioffe “provoked” the online harassers.
“I don’t control my fans, but I don’t agree with what they’re doing,” she said. “I understand what you mean, but there are people out there who maybe went too far. She provoked them.”