Melania Trump Speaks Out Against Cyber Bullying While Her Husband Continues Social Media Attacks

On Monday, Melania Trump appeared at a cyberbullying summit in Rockville, Maryland, as part of her Be Best campaign. Be Best, which Trump kicked off last month, focuses on what the First Lady deems as three important issues that American children face today: well-being, opioid abuse and social media use. While the First Lady talked about spreading positivity online, her husband took to Twitter to attack multiple former U.S. government officials including former CIA director John Brennan.

The summit in Rockville was sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that one in five children experience bullying, and that 16 percent of children currently are victims of cyberbullying. Melania’s role at the summit was to encourage technology and social media companies to foster more opportunities for young people to practice safe and healthy online habits.

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Trump cited her meeting with a group of students representatives of Microsoft’s Council for Digital Good as her inspiration. She said that she was impressed by the students’ “deep understanding of how important it is to be safe.” Trump said that she hoped other technology companies would be inspired like she was and that they would follow Microsoft’s example. “By listening to children’s ideas and concerns, I believe adults will be better able to help them navigate this often-difficult topic.” She acknowledged that adults must work together with children to create a safer environment for young people online: “Let’s face it: Most children are more aware of the benefits and pitfalls of social media than some adults, but we still need to do all we can to provide them with information and tools for successful and safe online habits.”

While Melania Trump took a seat to listen to panelists from Facebook, Google, Twitter and the nonprofit Family Online Safety Institute, Donald Trump took to Twitter to completely undercut her message. In addition to the tweet above, Trump also called Brennan a “political hack” and attacked Justice Department official Bruce Ohr. 

Neither Melania Trump nor anybody else at the summit spoke about Donald Trump’s many infamous social media attacks. When asked about contradictory messages between the President and First Lady after Trump’s twitter attack of Omarosa Manigault Newman, Mrs. Trump’s communications director Stephanie Grisham released a statement on her behalf. “She’s addressed this before. She is well aware of the criticism, but that will not deter her from doing what she feels is right. I would hope most people in this country are proud that they have a strong and independent First Lady who only has the best interests of children at heart – I know I am.”

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Back in 2016, Melania Trump was asked about her husband’s social media habits by CBS and she acknowledged how it gets him in trouble. Melania said that she often speaks to her husband about crossing the line, but he makes his own decisions. “I think he hears me. But he will do what he wants to do on the end. He’s an adult. He knows the consequences. And I give him my opinion. And he could do whatever he likes with it.”