On Jan. 20, the nation watched as the country gained a new president. Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th president, a true shake up for Washington, D.C. for lack of a better term. The world tuned in as he and First Lady Melania greeted the Obama family, who were saying their goodbyes. As 2017 moves forward, Americans are saying goodbye to the family they grew to know over the past eight years, to welcome the fresh, New York- mix family to the White House. Among one of the most historic transitions of power to ever broadcast over the airwaves, the Trump family has a long road ahead of them, and is already facing controversy regarding their youngest son, Barron.
Undoubtedly, the first family will have little to no privacy for the next four years, and as the number of social media outlets increase, more Americans can have access to the total Trump package. Some celebrities however, have already taken privilege of this power and have used Twitter to lash out about the President’s family.
Satirical giant “Saturday Night Live” was recently scrutinized for attacking 10-year-old Barron Trump. Writer Katie Rich was indefinitely suspended Saturday Jan. 21 for tweeting about the 10-year-old, she said, “Barron will become this country’s first homeschool shooter.”
This however is not SNL’s first controversy regarding presidential children. Amy Carter, Jimmy Carter’s daughter lived in the White House in the 1970s. Chelsea Clinton, the Bush twins, and the Obama Sisters were all subject to public opinion during the years of their father’s presidencies, yet people are continuing to berate Barron Trump. SNL is supposed to poke fun at politics, however, many believe this crosses the line. Saying this disrespects all families victim to school shootings, and makes S.N.L. look like they have bad taste.
Comedian Rosie O’Donnell also had much to say about the boy, questioning if he had Autism. O’Donnell flagged Barron for being diagnosed with the disease by sharing a video speculating symptoms and said it would be a great opportunity to bring attention to the Autism “epidemic.” James Hunter, the YouTuber who created this video, apologized, saying he did not intend for the video to impose bullying. For anyone to blindly speculate the complexity of this disorder is crude and would never be accepted had it been any other famous child.
With the start of a new year and a new president, hopefully America can come to realize that people did not elect a 10-year-old for a president. A 10-year-old is supposed to care about riding bikes and playing video games, not be ridiculed by adults who may be upset by the outcome of this election. Newer generations want to end bullying, yet people turn to Twitter to attack presidential children. This is supposed to be a nation of equal rights and fair treatment of all citizens. Does that not include a 10-year-old that had absolutely no say in his father being elected president? As well as Amy Carter, Chelsea Clinton, and both Sasha and Malia Obama. If you encourage children to recognize humans as equal, yet berate presidential children, that resurges a vicious cycle.
Long story short, if people do not have anything nice to say, they should then keep the presidential children out of it too.
