Cyberbullying crusader Melania Trump silent on her husband's mocking of 16-year-old Thunberg

[Francee89]

I don't believe that the First Lady is under any political or social requirement to admonish her husband publicly and that she hasn't done so publicly doesn't mean she hasn't done so privately.

As for Trump's tweet directed at Miss Thunberg, I am curious....if we are to applaud a 16-year old essentially giving the world a verbal spanking and telling the grown-ups off for their lack of caring that they've (in her sentiments) "stolen her childhood," are the adults to remain quiet and not say anything in retort?

I read his tweet and of course the media has covered it extensively. It was gruff, condescending, and in response to her doing exactly what I wrote above.

If she’s going to present herself to the world as an opponent of the cyber bullying of children, then it undermines her credibility when she stays silent about her own husband doing it. No one forced her to pick that as a cause, knowing it would put her in the position of looking like a lukewarm spokesperson who’ll only speak out when it’s convenient and easy when she stays silent while her husband inevitably does things like this. It turns the worthy messages of her campaign into a joke - a quick perusal of Twitter will show you countless young people using #BeBest as a punchline because of this.

The adults can absolutely engage her in debate. There’s simply no need to mock or insult her personally. Children don’t deserve to be bullied by adults simply for being passionate activists.

How would you like the First Lady to handle this with her husband, the POTUS? Bring him to a podium in the Rose Garden and dress him down, doing so in all the languages she is said to be able to speak?

I don't see his tweet(s) directed at her as actual bullying. Sorry.

No, it would be entirely possible to simply release a statement expressing her disagreement, and would demonstrate an actual commitment to one of her causes.

What else would a 73 year old man mocking a child be? I somehow don’t think that Melania would be totally cool with, say, Barron’s teacher writing that on a passionate paper he wrote and would be justified thinking he or she was picking on him.

[Deleted User 203]

If she’s going to present herself to the world as an opponent of the cyber bullying of children, then it undermines her credibility when she stays silent about her own husband doing it. No one forced her to pick that as a cause, knowing it would put her in the position of looking like a lukewarm spokesperson who’ll only speak out when it’s convenient and easy when she stays silent while her husband inevitably does things like this. It turns the worthy messages of her campaign into a joke - a quick perusal of Twitter will show you countless young people using #BeBest as a punchline because of this.

The adults can absolutely engage her in debate. There’s simply no need to mock or insult her personally. Children don’t deserve to be bullied by adults simply for being passionate activists.

How would you like the First Lady to handle this with her husband, the POTUS? Bring him to a podium in the Rose Garden and dress him down, doing so in all the languages she is said to be able to speak?

I don't see his tweet(s) directed at her as actual bullying. Sorry.

No, it would be entirely possible to simply release a statement expressing her disagreement, and would demonstrate an actual commitment to one of her causes.

What else would a 73 year old man mocking a child be? I somehow don’t think that Melania would be totally cool with, say, Barron’s teacher writing that on a passionate paper he wrote and would be justified thinking he or she was picking on him.

She shouldn't have to release a statement. What would this prove other than, as you stated, that she's staying true to her cause?

The fishbowl existence they've always lived in and especially now, as the FLOTUS and POTUS, gets enough critiques and criticisms. There are some things, despite her anti-bullying causes, that are just between a husband and a wife as they are at the end of the day.

IOW, none of us will ever know if privately she's given him a screaming. And you know what? That's perfectly ok as despite their fishbowl existence, some things between them are private and none of our business.

He told Miss Thunberg to get anger management and go see a movie. Truthfully, he could have left it all alone and for the most part, he has left her alone even to the point of ignoring her. She welcomed into her life, criticism and critiques by scolding the adults and others. Should a world leader write what he has? No, I don't believe so. But in a day and age when even the alleged grown-ups are all mocking each other to begin with, the world has changed considerably.

I stand by how I feel on this.

[Francee89]

How would you like the First Lady to handle this with her husband, the POTUS? Bring him to a podium in the Rose Garden and dress him down, doing so in all the languages she is said to be able to speak?

I don't see his tweet(s) directed at her as actual bullying. Sorry.

No, it would be entirely possible to simply release a statement expressing her disagreement, and would demonstrate an actual commitment to one of her causes.

What else would a 73 year old man mocking a child be? I somehow don’t think that Melania would be totally cool with, say, Barron’s teacher writing that on a passionate paper he wrote and would be justified thinking he or she was picking on him.

She shouldn't have to release a statement. What would this prove other than, as you stated, that she's staying true to her cause?

The fishbowl existence they've always lived in and especially now, as the FLOTUS and POTUS, gets enough critiques and criticisms. There are some things, despite her anti-bullying causes, that are just between a husband and a wife as they are at the end of the day.

IOW, none of us will ever know if privately she's given him a screaming. And you know what? That's perfectly ok as despite their fishbowl existence, some things between them are private and none of our business.

He told Miss Thunberg to get anger management and go see a movie. Truthfully, he could have left it all alone and for the most part, he has left her alone even to the point of ignoring her. She welcomed into her life, criticism and critiques by scolding the adults and others. Should a world leader write what he has? No, I don't believe so. But in a day and age when even the alleged grown-ups are all mocking each other to begin with, the world has changed considerably.

I stand by how I feel on this.

Why would it need to prove anything other than that? If she sincerely believes in her cause, shouldn’t she set a positive example of standing up against cyber bullying even when it isn’t easy or convenient? She can keep it as private as she’d like, it simply reveals her to be a lukewarm spokesperson, and turns her cause into a punchline because of how hilariously hypocritical it is. It’s akin to climate change activists travelling on private jets - it undermines their message.

There was no purpose in what he wrote except to mock and belittle her, which fits the bill of bullying perfectly. Melania doesn’t care enough to say anything, which is her right, but it’s hardly unfair to point out what a joke it turns her campaign into.

[Deleted User 1461]

I don't believe that the First Lady is under any political or social requirement to admonish her husband publicly and that she hasn't done so publicly doesn't mean she hasn't done so privately.

As for Trump's tweet directed at Miss Thunberg, I am curious....if we are to applaud a 16-year old essentially giving the world a verbal spanking and telling the grown-ups off for their lack of caring that they've (in her sentiments) "stolen her childhood," are the adults to remain quiet and not say anything in retort?

I read his tweet and of course the media has covered it extensively. It was gruff, condescending, and in response to her doing exactly what I wrote above.

If she’s going to present herself to the world as an opponent of the cyber bullying of children, then it undermines her credibility when she stays silent about her own husband doing it. No one forced her to pick that as a cause, knowing it would put her in the position of looking like a lukewarm spokesperson who’ll only speak out when it’s convenient and easy when she stays silent while her husband inevitably does things like this. It turns the worthy messages of her campaign into a joke - a quick perusal of Twitter will show you countless young people using #BeBest as a punchline because of this.

The adults can absolutely engage her in debate. There’s simply no need to mock or insult her personally. Children don’t deserve to be bullied by adults simply for being passionate activists.

How would you like the First Lady to handle this with her husband, the POTUS? Bring him to a podium in the Rose Garden and dress him down, doing so in all the languages she is said to be able to speak?

I don't see his tweet(s) directed at her as actual bullying. Sorry.

You don’t think the way he talked down to Greta and criticized her and devalued her as bullying ?

[BionicBunny]

What’s wrong with saying she needs to work on anger management and chill out? The same thing could be said to Trump also when it comes to twitter. Both could take a deep breath.

[BionicBunny]

If she’s going to present herself to the world as an opponent of the cyber bullying of children, then it undermines her credibility when she stays silent about her own husband doing it. No one forced her to pick that as a cause, knowing it would put her in the position of looking like a lukewarm spokesperson who’ll only speak out when it’s convenient and easy when she stays silent while her husband inevitably does things like this. It turns the worthy messages of her campaign into a joke - a quick perusal of Twitter will show you countless young people using #BeBest as a punchline because of this.

The adults can absolutely engage her in debate. There’s simply no need to mock or insult her personally. Children don’t deserve to be bullied by adults simply for being passionate activists.

How would you like the First Lady to handle this with her husband, the POTUS? Bring him to a podium in the Rose Garden and dress him down, doing so in all the languages she is said to be able to speak?

I don't see his tweet(s) directed at her as actual bullying. Sorry.

You don’t think the way he talked down to Greta and criticized her and devalued her as bullying ?

How is it devaluing her by saying she needs to work on her anger management and chill? How is it bullying? You say way worse to other people. Are you bullying them? You have spoke down to me and told me that I am undereducated. Was your intention to bully me?

[Valentina327]

She is supporting her husband, just as any loyal wife should do. No decent wife should criticize her husband in front of friends or family, let alone the entire world. Are some of you really that warped now that you'd advocate for that? Seriously?

If she does disagree with him, she'd do that in private. Not for everyone to see. Its ridiculous to think otherwise.

On a side note - what he said isn't bullying. We snap to that word all too quickly and it's losing it's gravitas. He passed an opinion. Passing an opinion is not bullying anyone. And incidentally, the child clearly does seem to have anger issues. Anyone can see that. It's not like he's exposing some closely guarded information. No one should be that knotted up and furious at that age.

[Deleted User 1461]

How would you like the First Lady to handle this with her husband, the POTUS? Bring him to a podium in the Rose Garden and dress him down, doing so in all the languages she is said to be able to speak?

I don't see his tweet(s) directed at her as actual bullying. Sorry.

You don’t think the way he talked down to Greta and criticized her and devalued her as bullying ?

How is it devaluing her by saying she needs to work on her anger management and chill? How is it bullying? You say way worse to other people. Are you bullying them? You have spoke down to me and told me that I am undereducated. Was your intention to bully me?

Stay on topic
It’s about Trump’s words and attitude toward Greta.

[Francee89]

She is supporting her husband, just as any loyal wife should do. No decent wife should criticize her husband in front of friends or family, let alone the entire world. Are some of you really that warped now that you'd advocate for that? Seriously?

If she does disagree with him, she'd do that in private. Not for everyone to see. Its ridiculous to think otherwise.

On a side note - what he said isn't bullying. We snap to that word all too quickly and it's losing it's gravitas. He passed an opinion. Passing an opinion is not bullying anyone. And incidentally, the child clearly does seem to have anger issues. Anyone can see that. It's not like he's exposing some closely guarded information. No one should be that knotted up and furious at that age.

If she’s unable to stand up against bullying when it isn’t easy and convenient, then she shouldn’t have chosen to become a spokesperson on the topic. It makes her look like a joke and was a totally foreseeable outcome when she knows she’s married to a famous cyber bully.

His comments were very clearly mocking her. Again, if Barron wrote a paper where he was passionate about a topic and the teacher wrote Trump’s comment on it, I somehow don’t think Melania would be cool with it.

[AllofFive19]

You don’t think the way he talked down to Greta and criticized her and devalued her as bullying ?

How is it devaluing her by saying she needs to work on her anger management and chill? How is it bullying? You say way worse to other people. Are you bullying them? You have spoke down to me and told me that I am undereducated. Was your intention to bully me?

Stay on topic
It’s about Trump’s words and attitude toward Greta.

She is on topic as she doesn't see what Trump said as mocking or bullying. She asked her question in order to discern what words you feel are bullying and mocking. If you feel your words to her are not either of the two, then Trump's words would not be either.