Soon, outgoing First Lady Melania Trump will be leaving the White House along with her husband. On Friday, she posted a message on Twitter looking back at her program “Be Best,” which she kickstarted a few years ago with the stated purpose of supporting children through means like anti-bullying and online safety initiatives. In her Friday video message, Melania spoke about the “legacy” of Be Best… but most people would probably have to be reminded that the program existed in the first place. While, on paper, the program involved very critical policy areas, pretending like credit for success should be shifted from those actually doing the work to Melania Trump and “Be Best” is outlandish.
On Twitter, Melania commented as follows:
‘As the legacy of #BeBest comes to a close at the @WhiteHouse , we must continue to give a voice to our Nation’s children & the issues that impact their lives. It’s the values & spirit of the American people that inspired Be Best & it’s those values that will carry on its mission.’
As the legacy of #BeBest comes to a close at the @WhiteHouse, we must continue to give a voice to our Nation's children & the issues that impact their lives. It's the values & spirit of the American people that inspired Be Best & it's those values that will carry on its mission. pic.twitter.com/fRBTWphmlj
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) January 15, 2021
Talking as though Be Best has a “legacy” seems dubious. In the “well-being” section on the official White House webpage for “Be Best,” the first “highlight” as of Friday morning was that Melania “[partnered] with Second Lady Karen Pence at the Red Cross in Washington, D.C. to assemble holiday comfort kits for overseas troops” and “pitched in to help the Red Cross Pillowcase Project, an emergency preparedness program designed specifically for children.” Assembling care packages for overseas troops is something in which many Americans often participate, and pretending like the First Lady of the United States — who has federal resources at her disposal — deserves any kind of special credit for that community service gesture is definitely questionable, at best.
The first “highlight” in the “online safety” section of the official White House Be Best webpage is that Melania “[visited] a Seattle, Washington, tech company to learn more about their programs and applications meant to teach children online safety, as well as technology innovations meant to help children with disabilities.” She doesn’t get credit for having stopped by a tech company where people were actually doing the work to further the causes that underlie the “Be Best” idea, although this tech company visit is one of the first listed highlights.
Check out Twitter’s response below:
