After 16 months, first lady Melania Trump finally unveiled her official platform at the White House’s Rose Garden on Monday.
Titled “Be Best,” the first lady’s program will focus on three key problem areas: cyberbullying, well-being, and combating opioid abuse. “As a mother and as first lady, it concerns me that in today’s fast-paced and ever-connected world, children can be less prepared to express or manage their emotions and oftentimes turn to forms of destructive or addictive behavior such as bullying, drug addiction, or even suicide,” she said.
Many saw irony in the first lady’s cyberbullying initiative, given how her husband, President Donald Trump, is one of the more prolific cyberbullies around. If that weren’t enough, the platform’s slogan, “Be Best,” sounded very similar to former first lady Michelle Obama and Oprah’s slogan for men to “Be Better.” (Melania, of course, has a history of lifting ideas from Michelle.)
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“As you know, Michelle Obama’s focus when she was first lady was on healthy eating and exercise, and Melania’s focus is on helping children, too. This is very meaningful to her—you know, her husband is a child,” joked Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel, who recently got into a silly back-and-forth with Trump stooge Sean Hannity after the comedian mocked the first lady’s accent during the White House Easter Egg Roll, devoted a portion of his late-night monologue on Monday to “Be Best.”
“This campaign to help stop bullying is a good cause. It’s something everyone can agree on, whether you’re a Republican like ‘Little’ Marco or ‘Lyin’’ Ted, or a Democrat like ‘Crooked’ Hillary or ‘Crazy’ Bernie, we all know that internet bullying is bad,” cracked Kimmel, invoking the president’s childish nicknames for his political foes.
As for the slogan itself, well, Kimmel wasn’t very impressed.
“‘Be Best’ is the slogan. I think there must be a thought missing, right? There must be a word?” he said. “It was either going to be ‘Be Best’ or ‘Do Goodest,’ and they went with ‘Be Best’… Is DJ Khaled writing slogans for the White House now?” (Khaled’s slogan is “We the Best.”)
Kimmel added: “And on the same day that the first lady committed herself to helping children, her husband was proposing major cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. His slogan is: ‘Be Best or Be Gone.’”
