Melania Trump To Attend Cyberbullying Summit One Week After President’s ‘Dog’ Tweet
It’s been a notable quirk of the Trump presidency that the president engages heavily and often in a combative manner with his detractors on Twitter, while the First Lady has made cyberbullying of the main components of her platform. USA Today reports that just one week after one of his most controversial social media exploits, Melania is set to attend the Federal Partners in Prevention of Bullying Summit on Monday in Rockville, Maryland.
The First Lady is expected to share remarks about how social media impacts youth in both positive and negative ways, and will be discussing her #BeBest campaign, which has drawn some criticism as her husband continues to use social media as a weapon.
The president is not shy about using Twitter to express what he really thinks about, well, anyone in the world. Recently, he earned backlash for referring to former staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman as a “dog” on Twitter.
When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
The tweet references the fact that Manigault Newman had worked as an aide for the Trump administration. Trump and Manigault Newman were also acquainted from The Apprentice, The Celebrity Apprentice, and All-Star Celebrity Apprentice. Trump hired her as the Director of Public Communications for the Office of Public Liaison at the White House, where she worked from 2016-2017.
Manigault Newman competed on Celebrity Big Brother and since leaving the White House, recently released a tell-all memoir about her time working for President Trump titled Unhinged.
The President responded to her claims by lashing out on Twitter, causing many to, in turn, criticize the First Lady for not publicly taking a stand on or dealing with her husband’s cyberbullying. This has been a longstanding criticism, and it’s not the first time the juxtaposition of the President’s social media use and the First Lady’s championing of anti-bullying seemed way out of alignment.
At a roundtable with corporate leaders from Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and others in March, she addressed the critiques in her opening remarks.
“I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic,” Trump said. “I have been criticized for my commitment to tackling this issue, and I know that will continue. But it will not stop me from doing what I know is right.”
The First Lady is maintaining her commitment to ending cyberbullying, while many wish she would start at home. However, the President shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to his Twitter rants.
