Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Katie Rich’s employment status.
On Inauguration Day, the world turned a close and scrutinizing eye on Donald Trump and his family. While most were fixated on the new president and his wife as they moved through the pomp of the ceremony and interacted with the outgoing first couple Barack and Michelle Obama, many focused on the youngest Trump, Barron.
Although the commentary was (for the most part) relatively benign, one tweet in particular from Saturday Night Live writer Katie Rich whipped the internet into a frenzy when she joked that the boy would become the nation’s “first homeschool shooter.” Rich has since been “suspended indefinitely” from the show.
READ MORE: ‘SNL’ pays tribute to Barack Obama with ‘To Sir, with Love’
Amid Barron’s many defenders — who were both in favour and opposed to his father — emerged one unlikely-yet-experienced champion, Chelsea Clinton.
On Sunday, the vice-chair of the Clinton Foundation took to Twitter to defend the boy.
Clinton suffered her fair share of scrutiny during her father’s White House years. As a girl who spent the majority of her childhood in the public eye, she was frequently ridiculed by people on both the right and left sides of the political spectrum.
In 1992, the brash and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh brazenly called 12-year-old Clinton “the White House dog,” while left leaning SNL took aim at her in a Wayne’s World sketch. In it, she was compared to Al Gore’s daughters, who were referred to as “babes,” while Clinton was decreed a “babe in development.”
READ MORE: George W. Bush’s daughters write touching letter to Sasha and Malia Obama
Clinton, who is also friends with Ivanka Trump, was praised for coming to the young Trump’s defence, but also criticized for taking aim at his father in the same breath.
Former first children have made a habit of reaching out across the aisle to one another in a show of support. Earlier this month, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush, twin daughters to George W. Bush, wrote an open letter to Malia and Sasha Obama on the Time website.
A follow-up to another note dedicated to the Obama sisters in 2009 (as their father was to take office for his first term), the Bush twins offered some heartfelt advice on life after the White House.
“Enjoy college,” they wrote. “As most of the world knows, we did. And you won’t have the weight of the world on your young shoulders anymore.”
The Bush sisters publicly suffered through many reports about their college antics, including being caught drinking underage.
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