A 7-year-old Texas boy is attracting some attention — both positive and negative — after setting up a hot chocolate stand to raise money for President Donald Trump's border wall, KXAN-TV reported.

Jennifer Stevens told the station her son Benton watched Trump's State of the Union Address earlier this month and asked about the controversial wall.

Image source: KXAN-TV video screenshot

'I want to raise money for the wall'

"He wanted to know about the wall so we explained what it was about and he was like, 'I want to raise money for the wall,'" she added to KXAN.

As it happens, Stevens and her husband Shane are active members of the Republican National Committee, she told the station, and they like to talk politics with their children.

"People think he's brainwashed," Stevens told KXAN. "Well, of course, he supports Trump because we do, and he hears how we talk and this and that. Call that brainwashing, but I call it parenting, because we instill our values in him."

She added to the station that Benton begged her to let him set up a hot chocolate stand to help raise money for the border wall, so his older brothers helped him make the signs, Mom helped him make the hot chocolate, and Benton set up his stand Saturday at a Steiner Ranch strip mall, which is near Austin.

Image source: KXAN-TV video screenshot

It might not come as much of a surprise that there was some conservative humor connected with the operation — as customers could buy "Nancy Pelosi" marshmallows for 50 cents.



Image source: KXAN-TV video screenshot

And the tiny "Beto" [O'Rourke] marshmallows? Well, they were free.

Image source: KXAN-TV video screenshot

Benton did business for just an hour and netted $231 in sales, Stevens told KXAN — but not everybody thought Benton's fundraiser was cute.

'Little Hitler'

"He was called a little Hitler yesterday," Stevens added to the station. "A guy pointed at him in his car, and then he said that we didn't like brown people. I don't understand that at all."

During the time Benton was selling hot chocolate, Stevens told KXAN a photo of him and his stand hit Facebook and then a lot of people sounded off.

"It seems like there are more people supporting it than against it," she told the station, "but the people that are against it keep going and going and going."

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While some slammed them for using their son to make political statements, others applauded them. One donor matched the money he raised on Saturday. When the Stevens' told Benton about the mixed reactions, Jennifer says it "fired him up," and so they set up the stand on Sunday as well.



Online, Stevens says she and her husband were criticized for their actions, but she said, "that's the price you pay when you make a political stance."

More donations poured in — along with some changes of heart

But Stevens told the station in a follow-up story that some people who initially criticized the family have apologized.

"Amazing things are happening in our community," she said. "People who were originally very mean have started apologizing for what they said and sticking up for Benton."

And now Benton is even "thinking about doing a free hot chocolate stand for people from both sides of the debate since there are so many people sticking up for him," Stevens added to KXAN.

All told nearly $5,000 has come in for his fundraiser through hot chocolate sales and from people around the country who've donated to his Venmo account called @Bentonshotchoclatestand, the station noted.

"We're going to get it into the wall," Stevens told KXAN in regard to the money's intended destination. "There's a GoFundMe page, and we're also part of the RNC, and we're pretty connected there, so we will 100 percent make sure it goes toward the wall."

Business Insider noted that while money can donated to the federal government, there's no way to earmark funds for specific projects.