The constant bleating and caterwauling from Democrats and media figures directed at President Trump and his administration is bad enough, and might even be expected. But common decency should dictate that their spouses and children would be off-limits.
It should, but it hasn't worked out that way. Families are now considered fair game.
The most recent example came late last week from alleged comedian Jimmy Kimmel during his parody of a WHCA Dinner speech.
"Welcome to the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner!" he began.
When a clip of Melania Trump appeared, he added, “Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow."
A few days later a gunman attempted to shoot his way into the actual WHCA Dinner, presumably to make the first lady a widow and take out a few members of the president’s administration in the process.
The first lady let Kimmel know how she felt.
"Kimmel's hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue
about my family isn't comedy — his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America," she said.
"People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him."
The first lady concluded, “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
A CNN host also found the rhetoric very problematic and dangerous — Melania Trump's rhetoric, that is, not Kimmel's.
“The First Lady wants ABC to take action against Jimmy Kimmel:” began Brian Stelter.
“Now we're right back to where we were last September, with the government (in this case the president's wife using her @FLOTUS account) pressuring Disney's ABC to punish Jimmy Kimmel over a comment on his show. Another free speech test is underway."
But what if the "joke" had been made about Michelle Obama or Jill Biden? Would it still
have been “funny” — especially if two attempts had been made on their husbands' lives?
They're also ignoring the fact that Kimmel has been mocking Melania since Trump's first
term, primarily making fun of her accent — despite the fact that she likely speaks four
more languages than what he does.
The Trumps' son Barron has also been ridiculed mercilessly. When he turned 18, former NBC senior executive Mike Sington announced that he was now "fair game."
Really?
Barron made his political debut a short time later by simply appearing at one of his father's campaign rallies. When his name was announced he stood, waved to the cheering crown, and returned to his seat. That’s all, but it was enough to prompt hate on social media.
One X user shared a clip of Barron's "debut" and wrote, "F*** Barron Trump and the evil that spawned him. Gloves off. Kid stepped into the ring. He deserves full exposure and ridicule."
Another commented, "There’s something not quite right about this kid. Can't put my finger on it, but there’s an aura of 'not right' about him. On the bright side: he’s got bigger hands than daddy."
A third person labeled the Trump kid, "The spawn of Satan."
Vice President JD Vance's wife and young family aren't immune either.
Earlier this month, Michigan Democratic Senate frontrunner Abdul El-Sayed ridiculed second lady Usha Vance during an interview on "The Allen Analysis Show" podcast.
After making crude, sexually-oriented jokes about Usha, he turned his attacks to the vice president’s children.
"JD Vance has brown kids who he thinks are less American than everyone else," he claimed.
"That’s wild to look at your own kids and be like, 'You don’t actually belong as much in this country that I brought you into.'"
Rev. Jordan Wells observed, "This isn’t politics. This is personal, cruel, and straight-up disgusting."
He concluded, "Attacking a man's wife and mocking his kids' American identity? That's the kind of gutter tactic that shows exactly who Democrats are willing to elevate."
Politics has become all too toxic between the candidates and against office-holders, with some people openly complaining because the gunman who interrupted Saturday's WHCA Dinner didn't hit his target.
The first step to cooling the rhetoric has to be to make the family off-limits.
It’s the only decent, responsible thing we can do — it's a line we can never cross again.
It’s called being civil.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read more Michael Dorstewitz Insider articles — Click Here Now.
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