After Trump mocked 16-year-old autistic climate activist Greta Thunberg, the First Lady’s anti-bullying hashtag started trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons. Many used Melania’s #BeBest to target Trump after accusing him of bullying the teenager after a viral GIF of the young Swedish activist staring him down as he walked by her in the United Nations lobby. The President then shared a video on Monday night of Ms Thunberg addressing the United General Assembly Climate Action Summit to step up the fight against climate change, he captioned the video with a seemingly sarcastic comment.
It read: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”
Trump’s apparent mocking was not taken lightly by social media users who responded in support of Ms Thunberg.
Many of the tweets were also directed at Melania as the creator of the anti-bullying campaign.
Songwriter Holly Figueroa O’Reilly tweeted Melania: “Hey, @FLOTUS, is this what you meant when you said #BeBest?”
She added how “we on the left” were the first to condemn people who mock Trump and Melania’s son Barron.
Other Twitter users also asked Melania how she would feel if it was her teenage son who was being attacked.
One Twitter user said: “How would you feel if Barron were treated that way by an “adult”?
“Should we put him under that level of scrutiny?”
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Many called on The First Lady to teach her husband a lesson about bullying.
Heidi Stukkie wrote on Twitter: “#BeBest? Start with your husband, @FLOTUS.”
Writer and blogger Andy Ostroy Tweeted to Melania: “Hey @FLOTUS, your sociopath husband is mocking/bullying a little girl.
“Ya probs need to go all #BeBest ‘n ’s**t on his cowardly ass.“
Some Twitter users claimed Melania’s campaign was a failure.
One Twitter user said: “It’s worth noting how much of a failure Melania Trump’s “Be Best” campaign was.
“It might be the biggest failure by a First Lady in American history.”
Nellie Concepcion tweeted Trump: “Your wife @FLOTUS is just as big of a joke with her so called ‘antibulling campaign’.”
Josephine Russo said: “Melania Trump’s Be Best is a joke and has been from the start.”
Another Twitter user said: “It’s painfully obvious @FLOTUS didn’t want to advocate for anything.”
It followed Melania’s visit to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday where she promoted the Be Best campaign.
The campaign focuses on well-being for youth as well as advocating against cyberbullying and drug use, particularly opioids.