First Lady Melania Trump gave a heartfelt speech about bullying Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly.
"No child should ever feel hungry, stalked, frightened, terrorized, bullied, isolated or afraid, with nowhere to turn," she said at the Wednesday luncheon. As adults, the first lady noted that we must take advantage of opportunities to teach the next generation ethical life lessons. We are not merely responsible in this endeavor, she said, "we are accountable."
“We must teach each child the values of empathy and communication that are at the core of the kindness, mindfulness, integrity and leadership which can only be taught by example,” the first lady said. “By our own example, we must teach children to be good stewards of the world they will inherit.”
Mrs. Trump was especially concerned by the role social media plays in the minds of our youth. She asked leaders on social media, as well as community and educational figures to step up on behalf of children.
CNN's Dana Bash found it all very ironic. While she should be commended for her remarks, Bash wondered how the first lady could ask for her fellow adults to be role models and live by the Golden Rule, when her husband does anything but.
“Listening to her talk about – remember our kids are watching and listening, remember that they need to follow our own examples – those of house have kids and can’t show them some of the retweets by the president of the United States because we don’t think it’s appropriate to condone hitting a golf ball at a former competitor and knocking them over, see that there’s more than a little bit of irony here. She should be commended, but come on.”
"Maybe the message was to her husband," Bash mused.
Sure, we all know Donald Trump is unorthodox, especially in terms of presidential protocol. But his tweets and his rhetoric should not minimize the efforts his wife is making on behalf of bullied kids.
The Trump ladies cannot catch a break today.