Donald Trump Jr. tried to use Halloween to teach his daughter – and Twitter – about socialism. Twitter users, however, were not amused.
“I’m going to take half of Chloe’s candy tonight & give it to some kid who sat at home. It’s never to early to teach her about socialism,” the president’s eldest son tweeted Tuesday.
Socialism is defined as an economic system where goods are controlled by the collective or government rather than through competition and a free market system. Examples of socialist ideas in practice are public schools, universal healthcare and public libraries.
Within hours, Trump Jr.’s socialism tweet generated over 50,000 replies, with some people arguing the concept of Halloween is socialist (giving candy for free to someone who does not have it).
Others pointed that giving candy to children who weren’t able to go out trick-or-treating would be considered an act of kindness.
Some Twitter users also pointed out that Trump Jr.’s tweet had a grammar mistake.
Colbert says ‘don’t bring kids into this’
On the Late Show Wednesday evening, Stephen Colbert fired back at Trump’s tweet saying “there’s a simple rule in politics, you don’t bring the little kids into this.”
“Yes, it’s never too early to teach kids the danger of sharing,” Colbert said. “Also, it’s never too early to learn the proper spelling of ‘too.'”
He points out the fact that on Halloween kids go door-to-door to get free candy from the neighbours because the kids don’t have it.
“That’s socialism,” Colbert said.
Donald Trump Jr. fires back
On Wednesday evening, Trump Jr. took to Twitter to respond to all the posts.