First lady Melania Trump was booed Tuesday while delivering a brief speech about America’s opioid epidemic to the B'More Youth Summit outside of Baltimore.
The booing began with heckling that lasted for roughly one minute and continued with “raucous, [audible] speaking" throughout her speech, according to CNN.
During the address, the first lady appeared to ignore the reaction of the audience.
"I am so proud of you for the bravery it takes to share that you have been strongly affected by the opioid epidemic in some way,” she told attendees.
The first lady’s office later sent a statement to CNN attributed to Trump.
“We live in a democracy, and everyone is entitled to their opinion,” she said. “But the fact is we have a serious crisis in our country, and I remain committed to educating children on the dangers and deadly consequences of drug abuse."
At the time of this writing, President Donald Trump has not commented on Twitter about the booing of his wife. Other conservatives, however, have made their displeasure known.
“Our wonderful @FLOTUS is booed by students in Baltimore. Can you imagine if the same was done to Michelle Obama?” Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren tweeted Wednesday morning.
During a later appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Lahren told the co-hosts: “I think this is not only, of course, because she is Melania and her last name is Trump. But this is also just a lack of respect from young people. But where do they learn that from? Where do they learn that disrespect? Where do they learn that it is OK to boo the first lady of the United States?”
She continued, “Well, they learn that, because they don’t believe that they have to respect Melania or anyone with the last name of Trump. Because the media and congressional leaders and Democrats have told them that they don’t have to — that it’s their moral right to do those things. So this is an epidemic in this country — not just of people not liking anyone with the last name of Trump — but just with young people being completely disrespectful.”
Lahren spoke with Salon in July about her belief in the need for civility in politics, although she did not feel that her own rhetoric had contributed to that incivility problem, including her frequent references to liberals as "snowflakes." Describing someone that way, Lahren responded, "is not the same as labeling a Trump supporter racist, homophobic, sexist, irredeemable and deplorable. The adjectives are on opposite ends of the spectrum."
Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham also denounced Tuesday's booing of Melania Trump, tweeting that “they are too angry and stupid to realize that this booing of @flotus just ends up helping @realDonaldTrump.”
Republican blogger and podcast host Wayne Dupree expressed similar thoughts, tweeting that “the First Lady didn't do anything to receive this hate response from Balt students.”
Trump has had a difficult relationship with the city of Baltimore. While criticizing the city’s late congressman Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, Trump tweeted that the city was “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and a “very dangerous & filthy place.”
He later said in a speech, “ If you look at it statistically, it’s like, the number of shootings, the number of crimes, the number of everything — this morning, I heard a statistic: Baltimore is worse than Honduras.”
Ironically the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, owns properties in the city that were responsible for more than 200 code violations in 2017 alone, according to investigations.
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