President Trump’s Thursday morning tweet criticizing 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has sparked considerable backlash among Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates.
In his tweet, Trump said it was “ridiculous” that Thunberg had been named Time’s “Person of the Year,” adding that she needed to “work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend!”
“Chill Greta, Chill!” Trump added.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a front-runner in the field of Democrats vying for the party’s nomination next year, tweeted that Trump “could learn a few things from Greta on what it means to be a leader.”
Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) mocked Trump, tweeting “nothing says ‘mature temperament’ like getting rankled by a 16 year old activist.”
Other Democrats noted that by going after Thunberg, Trump was undercutting first lady Melania Trump’s “Be Best” campaign, which encourages children to be kind on social media and speak “with respect and compassion.”
Melania Trump last week criticized legal expert Pamela Karlan after Karlan mentioned the Trumps’ teenage son, Barron, during testimony as part of the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Karlan later apologized for her remarks.
“Melania, we agree. Children are off limits,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) tweeted Thursday. “Tell your husband to #bebest and go enroll himself in anger management instead of attacking such a brilliant and courageous teenager fighting for climate change.”
The Trump campaign on Thursday tweeted an edited cover of Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” issue that depicted the president’s face on Thunberg’s body. The tweet suggested the magazine had erred in giving the annual award to Thunberg and listed accomplishments of the administration.
This isn’t the first time that Trump has attacked Thunberg on Twitter. After the activist made her impassioned speech before the U.N. General Assembly in September, Trump mocked her, saying she “seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”
Thunberg, like she has with much the criticism that has come her way, took Trump’s latest criticism in stride. She changed her Twitter bio to read: “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.”