Melania Trump: American culture 'has gotten too mean and too rough'



Pledging to be a champion for women and children as first lady if Donald Trump is elected president, Melania Trump on Thursday delivered an address strikingly at odds with the rhetoric of her husband’s campaign.

“We must find better ways to honor and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media,” said Trump, campaigning for the GOP nominee for the first time. “It will be one of the main focuses of my work if I’m privileged enough to become your first lady. I will also work hard to improve everyday life for women.”


Oddly enough, social media has been Donald Trump’s preferred platform to launch attacks at everyone from Hillary and Bill Clinton to Republican leaders and his primary rivals to the media and anyone else who dares to criticize him, including a former Miss Universe.

Campaigning in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Trump delivered a 15-minute speech, often staring directly into the teleprompter as she read her remarks. Outside of a few interviews, it was the first time she had spoken publicly since she delivered a partially plagiarized address at the Republican National Convention in July.

Her remarks condemning cyberbullying, ironically, could be used to rebuke her husband’s behavior. As a full-time mother to her son, Barron, Trump highlighted the topics they discuss at home — a little politics, she said, and a lot about life, sports and homework, like most American families — as she made the case against bullying.

“We need to teach our youth American values: kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation,” she said.

Of course, fact checks on the 70-year-old GOP nominee show numerous lies, falsehoods and mischaracterizations, and the real estate mogul has come under fire for using Trump Foundation funds to purchase a 6-foot self-portrait. He has relentlessly used his Twitter account to rip his critics.

“Technology has changed our universe. But like anything that is powerful, it can have a bad side,” Melania Trump said. “We have seen this already. As adults, many of us are able to handle mean words, even lies. Children and teenagers can be fragile. They’re hurt when they are made fun of or made to feel less in looks or intelligence. This makes their life hard and can force them to hide and retreat.”

She decried an American culture that she said “has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers,” though some of the headlines her husband has generated throughout this election cycle in newspapers and network chyrons have likely contributed.

“It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when that happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it’s done by someone with no name hiding on the internet,” she said. “We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other.”

As for women, she hailed them as “incredible” people who are “strong, intelligent, generous, committed, determined,” another contrast from her husband, who has called them pigs and denied sexual assault allegations by suggesting the accusers weren’t attractive enough to have gotten his attention.

Women can achieve anything if they’re given the opportunity, she said, acknowledging that some have been left behind, with many in poverty, some without health insurance and others who are forced to choose between rent and food.

“This cannot be,” she said. “We cannot afford to have more of the same. We must break with the failures of the past and embrace a future that is worthy of this great nation and her beautiful people. We must win on Nov. 8, and we must come together as Americans. We must treat each other with respect and kindness, even when we disagree. I will be there to support my husband’s efforts to help all Americans when he’s president.”

Trump briefly detailed her immigration and naturalization to the U.S., calling it “the greatest privilege in the world.”

“America was the word for freedom and opportunity,” she said, sharing her thoughts on America as a young girl from Slovenia. But she stressed that she was on the trail to support her husband.

“I have come here to talk about this man I have known for 18 years, and I have come here today to talk about our partnership, our family and what I know for sure in my heart about this man, who will make America great again,” she said.

“He certainly knows how to shake things up, doesn’t he?” she quipped at one point. “He knows how to make real change. Make America great again is not just some slogan. It is what has been in his heart since the day I met him.”