Barron Trump, the youngest child of former President Donald Trump, was defended Friday by Chelsea Clinton, daughter of ex-President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after he was the subject of viral online conversation this week.
Barron Trump, the only child from Melania Trump's marriage to the ex-president, turned 18 on Wednesday. He has stayed relatively out of the spotlight as his father again campaigns for president. While Donald Trump and his adult children from his previous marriages have been under fire in the press and online over the years, Barron has largely avoided such criticism.
In a since-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, former NBC senior executive Mike Sington on Wednesday shared a photo of Donald Trump and Barron, writing: "Barron Trump turns 18 today. He's fair game now." Sington told Newsweek via X direct message on Wednesday: "I posted he was 'fair game' now, meaning, as an adult, he's 'fair game' for criticism from the press."
Sington's post drew significant backlash from many critics. Chelsea Clinton on Friday was asked about the online discussion during an interview on ABC's The View.
"I think he's a private citizen. I mean, I feel so strongly that if you are a private citizen, you have an unimpeachable right to privacy, and I think the media should leave him alone," Clinton said.
She went on to say that the older Trump children are actively campaigning for their father, putting them in a different category, in her view. "It's a totally different conversation," Clinton said.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment on Friday.
Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, previously ran against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. He strongly criticized the Democratic candidate and her husband, Bill, throughout the campaign. Trump won the White House, despite losing the popular vote to Clinton by around 3 million votes.
Sington's Wednesday post about Barron was not well-received by Republicans, some of whom called it "creepy."
"This is super creepy," wrote Garrett Ventry, former senior communications adviser to the Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans.
Michael R. Caputo, former assistant secretary of public affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services during the Trump administration, said: "This creepy NBC guy is completely broken. I wonder if he has kids? Nephews? Nieces? How old are they?"
"You sound like a creep dude," wrote Javon A. Price, former aide to GOP Representative Byron Donalds.
Brenden Dilley, a staunch Trump supporter and host of conservative political talk show The Dilley Show, said: "Strong pedo vibe, dude."
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Jason Lemon is a Weekend Editor at Newsweek based in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to taking on the editor role, Jason's reporting focused on ... Read more
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