It used to be that the kids of politicians were out of bounds.
But the old rules don’t seem to apply when it comes to the Trump family.
Eleven-year-old Barron has been attacked by media personalities on numerous occasions, with the latest example happening on Twitter this week.
An economist who lectures at Northeastern University took a mean swipe at young Barron on Monday, and not only has she not apologized or taken down the tweet, she has defended it.
Jodi Beggs, for whatever reason, took issue with a perfectly ordinary t-shirt Barron was photographed wearing while exiting Marine One with his parents on Sunday. The shirt so offended her that she said she threw up in her mouth.
Barron Trump is wearing a shirt that reads "The Expert" and I just threw up in my mouth a little.
— Jodi Beggs (@jodiecongirl) June 12, 2017
Parents of kids in their tweens and teens are quite familiar with this genre of popular but slightly obnoxious kids’ t-shirts. They see them in the stores all the time. Their kids wear them.
Sure, a shirt with the words “The Expert” emblazoned on it is slightly braggadocious — but it’s quite mild compared to some of these:
“Nailed it!” “I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right,” “I’m sarcastic because punching people is frowned upon,” I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry,” “Exercise? I thought you meant extra fries,” etc.
My point is, this type of ironic, slightly obnoxious messaging is extremely common on kids’ shirts, and most people have a sense of humor about it. Most of us don’t look at young Barron wearing a t-shirt that says “The Expert” and think that he literally believes he’s an expert at all the things.
In the wake of the predictable backlash on Twitter, Beggs defended her tweet by saying she was only attacking his parents for allowing Barron to be seen in the awful, awful t-shirt:
Hey Twitter, maybe, just maybe, I'm judging the people that bought him this item and let him wear it in a very public appearance.
— Jodi Beggs (@jodiecongirl) June 13, 2017
And she actually argued that the shirt made the eleven-year-old look like a jerk:
right, so I wish people would tell him not to wear things that make him look like a jerk, since he likely doesn't get it.
— Jodi Beggs (@jodiecongirl) June 13, 2017
Meanwhile, the shirt is reportedly selling like hotcakes.
By Monday, the $29.50 shirt had officially sold out on the J. Crew website.
“We’re sorry. This item has been so popular, it has sold out,” the site says.
Looks like there are going to be a lot of little “jerks” running around out there.
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