Miranda Devine on Rep. Engel trailing AOC-backed candidate, first lady scolding TV host's Barron comment
Longtime Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel trails his progressive challenger in the New York primary while first lady Melania Trump blasts a TV host's 'inappropriate' tweet about Barron; New York Post columnist Miranda Devine reacts.
New York Post columnist Miranda Devine said on Wednesday that Food Network host John Henson “should be ashamed of himself for targeting” President Trump’s 14-year-old son Barron in a tweet over the weekend.
“You may hate President Trump, but don't attack his child, his teenage son,” Devine told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday.
Devine was reacting to a Father’s Day tweet where Henson reportedly questioned whether President Trump is Barron’s father. In a tweet, which has since been deleted, The Daily Wire reported that the television host and stand-up comic, wrote, “I hope Barron [Trump] gets to spend today with whoever his dad is.”
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“It's utterly despicable that a Food Network host would use Father's Day to target a child, a 14-year-old boy who has done nothing wrong,” Devine said on Wednesday. “He has no choice about who his family is.”
Melania Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said Henson’s comments about Barron were “inappropriate and insensitive,” according to a statement to the Daily Caller.
“Sadly we continue to see inappropriate and insensitive comments about the President’s son [Barron Trump]. As with every other Administration, a minor child should be off-limits and allowed to grow up with no judgment or hate from strangers and the media," she said.
Devine said that “We’ve seen a pattern of this,” adding that “the first lady is famously very protective of Barron Trump.”
Devine pointed to an incident last December where Stanford Law Professor Pamela Karlan, who testified during the impeachment hearing, used Barron Trump’s name to illustrate her point that President Trump can’t rule like a king.
"The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron," Karlan said in the committee room, prompting chuckles across the room.
“A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics,” the first lady tweeted in response. "Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it."
Karlan apologized for the remark, but not without making another dig at the president.
“I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president’s son. It was wrong of me to do that," Karlan said during the hearing. "I wish the president would apologize for the things that he’s done that’s wrong, but I do regret having said that."
Devine noted that Karlan “ended up having to apologize because she was embarrassed, but it is disgusting.”
Host Brian Kilmeade asked Devine if the fact that Henson is a comedian gives “him cover.”
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“He’s a Food Network host and no one is going to put him in jail for making a really nasty joke, but he should be ashamed of himself for targeting a child,” she said in response.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.