I ABSOLUTELY AM THE ONE BEING BULLIED FOR TELLING U THEE- ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

THE EAST WING

Melania Trump’s Spokeswoman Prefers That You Not Call the First Lady’s Platform a “Cyberbullying Campaign”

The East Wing is now shying away from the word.

KENZIE BRYANT

MARCH 30, 2018 2:44 PM

By Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images.

No matter what you’ve heard, the East Wing of the White House is not working on a “cyberbullying campaign.” Despite the general perception that the initiative was the First Lady’s signature issue, Slate contributor Ruth Graham spoke with Melania Trump’scommunications director, Stephanie Grisham, about the matter. Grisham has a point of clarification for how her boss’s work is publicly portrayed, and it comes down to semantics. “Cyberbullying,” it seems, is far too focused a word. “We really want people to stay away from saying it’s a cyberbullying campaign,” she told Slate.

To back up briefly, in the waning months of her husband’s presidential campaign, Trump announced she would “honor and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media” as First Lady in a speech given at a gathering in Pennsylvania. She reiterated that “cyberbullying” would be a focus of her team in an interview with Anderson Cooper soon thereafter, and mentioned it in speech at the U.N. after the election. But now, as Grisham takes care to remind us, it’s one year and two months into her husband’s presidency, and Trump still hasn’t formally announced a platform yet. When she does, her work will take a more holistic approach to the well-being of children, and address “everything they’re facing as a group.” For example? Social-media and online safety, yes, but also nutrition, and drug, prescription pills, and opioid abuse, all with the goal of developing “morally responsible adults.”

This re-set—or immense zoom out—echoes a quote Grisham gave to CNN after Trump met with executives at major technology and communications companies in February. “We have focused on opioid abuse and addiction, healthy living, kindness and compassion, nutrition, and the importance of education. Today’s topic of social media and technology is no different,” Grisham said. The East Wing has been trying to tamp down the social media-specific emphasis for some time.

While Grisham didn’t discuss the motivation for the shift, it’s safe to assume that the irony of Melania Trump’s original call to arms is not lost on the East Wing team. The wife of the world’s most prominent hurler of Twitter insults is not the most unimpeachable person to go after cyberbullying. Melania Trump herself appeared to have acknowledged there has been confusion over her interest, telling those executives gathered at the roundtable in February, “I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic. I have been criticized for my commitment to tackling this issue, and I know that will continue. But it will not stop me from doing what I know is right.”