Melania Trump vows to take on cyberbullying as first lady
2016-11-04 16:43
BERWYN, Pa. Nov. 4 : (AP) - Donald Trump's wife, Melania, made a rare appearance on the campaign trail on Thursday, pledging to focus on combatting online bullying and serve as an advocate for women and children if her husband is elected to the White House.
Her description of the perils of social media seemed at odds with her husband's divisive and bullying rhetoric throughout the campaign.
"Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers," said Mrs. Trump, delivering a get-out-the-vote speech in the Philadelphia suburbs with less than a week to go before Election Day. "It is never okay when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked" in the school yard, she argued, but it is "absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. "
"We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other," she said. The highly personal speech, which also touched on conversations with her young son, her marriage and her own experience as an immigrant, appeared aimed at humanizing her husband in front of an audience of suburban women who are critical to Trump's hopes in Pennsylvania and other key states.
For years, Trump has used his Twitter account to berate and insult his rivals along with reporters, pundits and others who he feels have slighted him. Some educators have even described a so-called "Trump effect" increase in bullying inspired by Trump's bombastic rhetoric.
Nonetheless, Mrs. Trump told the audience, "We need to teach our youth American values: kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation."
The appearance came as Trump's rival Hillary Clinton and her allies have tried to paint the Republican nominee as anti-women, a strategy Democrats see as the best hope for rattling him and driving female voters away.
Her description of the perils of social media seemed at odds with her husband's divisive and bullying rhetoric throughout the campaign.
"Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers," said Mrs. Trump, delivering a get-out-the-vote speech in the Philadelphia suburbs with less than a week to go before Election Day. "It is never okay when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked" in the school yard, she argued, but it is "absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. "
"We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other," she said. The highly personal speech, which also touched on conversations with her young son, her marriage and her own experience as an immigrant, appeared aimed at humanizing her husband in front of an audience of suburban women who are critical to Trump's hopes in Pennsylvania and other key states.
For years, Trump has used his Twitter account to berate and insult his rivals along with reporters, pundits and others who he feels have slighted him. Some educators have even described a so-called "Trump effect" increase in bullying inspired by Trump's bombastic rhetoric.
Nonetheless, Mrs. Trump told the audience, "We need to teach our youth American values: kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation."
The appearance came as Trump's rival Hillary Clinton and her allies have tried to paint the Republican nominee as anti-women, a strategy Democrats see as the best hope for rattling him and driving female voters away.
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