Melania Trump received a chorus of boos from an audience of children in Baltimore on Tuesday, where she appeared to promote her anti-bullying campaign in a city her husband once called a “rodent-infested mess.”
Children in the crowd booed and grumbled as Trump took the stage at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, video from the audience shows. There were also a few cheers among the crowd.
Booing is not a new sound for Melania Trump, who was alongside her husband, U.S. President Donald Trump, when he was booed at the World Series last month. The president received a mix of cheers and boos at a UFC event in early November, followed by cheers when he appeared at a college football game in Alabama.
Tuesday’s booing session lasted for approximately one minute. Melania eventually pressed on with her remarks to the crowd, who were gathered for the B’More Youth Summit on opioids.
“Thank you to all of the students who are here. I am so proud of you for the bravery it takes to share that you have been strongly affected by the opioid epidemic in some way,” she said.
“I am in this fight with you and I am fighting for you.”
The crowd was noisy throughout her five-minute address.
Melania Trump has remained largely on the sidelines throughout her husband’s presidency, except to promote her signature cause, the Be Best anti-bullying campaign.
The campaign’s stated goal is to help children deal with “the evils of the opioid crisis and avoid negative social media interaction.”
However, the campaign’s anti-bullying message has failed to take root with the man seemingly closest to home. Her husband attacks his opponents — both real and perceived — through social media on a daily basis.
Melania Trump delivered her speech on Tuesday in the home city of late Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, whom Donald Trump attacked on Twitter over the summer amid criticism over Trump’s planned border wall. The president described Baltimore as a “rat and rodent infested mess” in his attack on Cummings.
Unlike her husband, Melania Trump generally refrains from verbally attacking people.
She’s faced controversy in the past, like when she wore a seemingly insensitive jacket on a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The jacket read: “I don’t really care, do u?”
She offered an encouraging message to the youthful crowd in Baltimore on Tuesday.
“I know each one of you has hopes and dreams for the future, whether it is college, joining the military or playing a sport,” she said.
“Your future will be determined by the choices you make.”
—With files from The Associated Press
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