Oh, Washington Post, you’ve gotta stop moving the goal posts of parody.
On Thursday, the Post ran something titled “‘Do not say mean things’: Kids are writing to Donald Trump, asking him to be a kind president.” Writer Amy Wang spent nearly 1,100 words accompanied by many, many pictures of colorful handwritten letters from kids imploring President-elect Trump to “be kind to all people.”
Oh how cute: a human interest story about concerned local moppets! Er, no. “Dear President Trump: Letters from Kids About Kindness” is a Facebook group out of Seattle started by a mom named Molly Spence Sahebjami. “The idea? To have children write letters to President-elect Donald Trump ‘about the importance of being kind to other people, even if they’re different than you are.’” (Like if they “get bitter and cling to guns or religion?” Or even if they belong in a “basket of deplorables?”)
So it’s virtue-signaling for the first grade set. Even better, it “offers parents a chance to turn a divisive election into a … [Wait for it!] … teachable moment.”
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
Some might say it’s pretty cynical to politicize the innocence and good will of your children. But not the Post – when you’re out to bludgeon politicians and policies you don’t like, any club will do. It’s hard to read these examples and come to any other conclusion:
“Dear Mr. Trump, Kids in my class are very scared. Please don’t kick them out. In my school we get sent to the wall when we’re in trouble. My friends did not do anything wrong. Don’t send them to the wall. Love, Abby age 6.”
And:
“Dear Mr. Trump I won an award at school for kindness and respect. I think you should be kind and do not!! build a wall between Mexico and America. Because we have friends there. Please be kind. Sincerely Henry.”
Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising. The American left is in the midst of an infantile temper tantrum and media outlets pretend that demanding safe spaces and wearing diaper pins while you burn cars is legitimate political discourse. Maybe seven-year-old Kela’s warning, “Don’t talk meanly,” is as good as we’re going to get out of the Post.
