Former Democratic presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lashed out at current first lady Melania Trump’s “Be Best” program, criticizing the White House program for being hypocritical.
Considering the many ways that Trump’s husband, President Donald Trump, has behaved in office so far, it’s not hard to see why Clinton made the comments she did.
Appearing this week on the Bravo program “Watch What Happens Live” with host Andy Cohen, Clinton was asked to give her views on Trump’s signature program as first lady.
“I think she should look closer to home,” Clinton said of Trump’s efforts.
According to the White House’s website, “The mission of BE BEST is to focus on some of the major issues facing children today,” including, among other traits, encouraging kids to live with “kindness” in their day-to-day lives.
“It is our responsibility as adults to educate and reinforce to them that when they are using their voices—whether verbally or online—they must choose their words wisely and speak with respect and compassion,” the program states.
However, critics have often lambasted the “Be Best” program for failing to address one of the biggest perpetrators of bullying (online and offline) that currently works in Washington D.C. — President Trump himself.
Trump’s examples of bullying behavior are too numerous to write out. He has, for example, complained and led crowds in booing climate activist Greta Thunberg after she won TIME magazine’s Person of the Year honors, besting him for the award.
Trump also tweeted out what many considered to be racist comments about four congresswomen of color, telling them they should “go back” to their countries of origin, to fix their problems first, before complaining about what he’s doing as president (three of the four women were born in the United States).
….and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
And he frequently belittles lawmakers he disagrees with by issuing them out childish nicknames on Twitter.
Melania Trump has said in the past that she understood when she started the “Be Best” program that critics would make their voices heard.
“It is not news or surprising to me that critics in the media have chosen to ridicule me for speaking out on this issue and that’s OK,” she said in 2018.
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