Protecting the Innocence: Why Children of Political Figures Should Be Off Limits

Please hear me when I say this.
Unless they choose to become political figures themselves. Candidates,
children should be off limits to everybody.
I am talking about Gus. I am talking about Baron.
And I’ll say right now
that my democratic friends have not been fair to Barron Trump at all.
At least back when he wasn’t as political as he is now,
because now he’s been like a delegate to the RNC.
Things are a little bit different.
But children should absolutely be off limits.
These are young human beings that did not ask for this spotlight,
who have no control
over whether their parent decides to pursue a candidacy
on a national platform. Regardless of what they think,
how they feel, they are now public people.
They will be scrutinized just beyond.
And when I say becoming political figures,
I don’t mean showing up to conventions
to speak in favor of their parents.
We don’t know if they’re being compelled to do that.
If they have to do that.
It’s also okay to just love your parent and want to talk about them,
and that doesn’t make you political.
Wanting to support your mom and dad
doesn’t mean that you’re making a statement about politics
and that now
you’re open game for the political shit that we do to one another.
But it’s so wild to see people do this to minors,
which is so beyond wrong. Like,
I just can’t even explain to you how wrong that Is,
but also to adult children who didn’t choose this life,
who didn’t opt in for this,
who now have to live.
They are public people for the rest of their lives.
Like, they will always have to fear for their safety.
They will always have to, like,
have security around them.
They will never be normal.
And that’s because of a choice that their parents made
and whether they made it together as a family.
You don’t have power as a teenager to say, dad, mom,
I’d really prefer if you didn’t run for president.
I’d really prefer if you didn’t make me a national figure.
I just can’t imagine
having to go through the most formative years of my life,
like, being 15 to 25 years old on a public stage
and having to be, like, scrutinized,
held to this high standard of, like,
well, your mom is the president,
your dad is the vice president,
blah, blah, blah.
That would be a crazy amount of pressure to live with,
especially pressure that I didn’t ask for and I didn’t opt into.
And I would imagine you’re gonna mess up a lot,
just like many of us who didn’t grow up in the spotlight
messed up a lot during those years.
So I just think, like,
a good rule of thumb is those kids are just off limits,
like, until they become political on their own.
You know, if they’re doing interviews on CNN about political issues.
Yeah. You kind of forego your.
Your solitude there if you pursue candidacy yourself.
Yeah, but someone’s child who just has to be there
by nature of who their parent is,
they are off limits. They are so off limits, they.
They didn’t ask for any of this.
And even if they did,
they probably had no idea what exactly they were signing up for.
Their lives will look different forever because of this.
They will never get to be normal people.
We should give them Grace and we should leave them alone.