It is ever in fashion to defend one’s political preferences by insisting that they are best for children or, better yet, that children themselves have voiced support for one’s views. This is so much the case that it has become a Twitter meme in recent years to articulate one’s over-stated political views from the point of view of a young child, based on an emerging trend of adults sincerely tweeting about the supposedly trenchant political commentary their children have offered them — commentary nearly always aimed squarely at Trump and conservatives.


On issues such as climate change, immigration, and gun control in particular, the Left asks us endlessly to think of the children, as if acknowledging the existence and rights of young Americans necessarily leads one to take a progressive position on every policy question.

Over the weekend, the presidential campaign of former mayor Pete Buttigieg indulged in a similar tactic. At a campaign event in Colorado, a nine-year-old boy praised Buttigieg for his bravery and asked the candidate to “help him tell the world he’s gay, too,” before joining Buttigieg on stage to talk about being gay.

The child, of course, deserves nothing but sympathy — and certainly shouldn’t be mocked or condemned. His parents, and Buttigieg, ought to have known better than to let a child involve himself so personally in what was so obviously a political moment.