It began with Dylan. He is a 9-year-old kid who goes by the nickname Pickle, lives in California and had a Donald Trump themed birthday party. He wrote a letter to the president explaining how much he liked him and asked if President Trump would be his friend.
On July 26, Sarah Huckabee Sanders took to the podium and read Dylan’s letter to the assembled reporters, and by the next day they had found and interviewed Pickle. This letter dominated part of the news cycle shared with President Trump’s tweet about banning transgender servicemen and women, attacking his Attorney General for not replacing “a [James] Comey friend who was in charge of the Clinton investigation” and the Senate rejecting another proposal to repeal ObamaCare.
It was no surprise that Sanders announced that Frank Giaccio, an 11-year-old from Virginia, would be coming to mow the Rose Garden lawn just as the Senate began drafting a bill to protect FBI Director Robert Mueller and his investigation from President Trump’s interference. While these human interest stories may provide a temporary distraction from current political blunders, they do not humanize the Trump White House, as the administration shows a lack of concern for the American minorities currently under threat from President Trump’s policies and rhetoric.
Since taking office a little less than nine months ago, many of President Trump’s policies have targeted the civil rights of ethnic, religious and other minorities. It seems insincere that while the president congratulates Giaccio on his desire to become a Navy SEAL, he has drafted a memorandum preventing Giaccio’s transgender peers from also serving their country in this capacity. Such contradictions are the hallmark of his presidency.
He tweets about keeping the American dream alive for the next generation as he moves to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which grants children of illegal immigrants the opportunity to defer deportation and apply for work permits. He signs the “Religious Freedom” executive order, while his ban on travel from primarily Muslim countries continues to be blocked by appellate courts. Pickle may benefit from his “Make America Great Again” tagline, but it is apparent that President Trump will not make the United States better for every resident.
Why is Sanders only reading self-congratulatory letters from her podium? Why is she not taking the time to answer the questions of children who are frightened or confused by President Trump’s verbiage and actions? These are easy questions to answer. We all understand that Sanders would damage the president’s public image by reading these children’s fears out loud. However, these concerns exist even if they are not acknowledged. Why can’t Pickle or a mown lawn humanize our leader? Because, as a nation, we understand Trump’s presidency promises harm to some of our country’s most vulnerable children.
