Melania Trump's 'Be Best' Campaign Has Familiar Ring
*By Christian Smith*
The Office of the First Lady fired back at news media reports Tuesday that Melania Trump's "Be Best" campaign was plagiarized from materials produced by the Federal Trade Commission during the Obama administration.
As part of her flagship program to focus on childhood well-being in America, Trump's office released a [pamphlet with advice] (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Talking-with-kids-about-being-online-_2018.pdf) for parents about educating their children on cyber bullying. [News reports](https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgomery/melania-trump-cyberbullying-pamphlet?utm_term=.leE5ryNQl#.htvJ4qbQr) were quick to note that the pamphlet contains content from a 2009 FTC pamphlet on the same topic.
The First Lady's communications director, Stephanie Grisham, released a [statement Tuesday] (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-communications-director/) slamming the "opposition media" for turning attention away from the children the First Lady is trying to help.
"Despite providing countless outlets with ample background, information, and on-the-record comments from the FTC, some media have chosen to take a day meant to promote kindness and positive efforts on behalf of children, to instead lob baseless accusations towards the First Lady and her new initiatives," Grisham said in the statement.
This isn't the first time that First Lady Trump has been accused of copying her predecessor. In her speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Trump reused parts of a speech that Michelle Obama gave in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention.
Trump launched her "Be Best" initiative in the Rose Garden on Monday with the goal of improving the lives of children across the country. She said her office will focus on mental health, opioid abuse, and negativity on social media. How she plans to address these issues is slightly less concrete. Erin Delmore, the senior political correspondent at Bustle, said it's a question that she's been asking Trump's office repeatedly.
"We've seen her put out a brochure, a pamphlet that's talking to parents about how to educate their children when it comes to cyberbullying, and we've also seen this quest to really go to neo-natal units to work on young babies who are born with opioid addiction, but we are looking, waiting to see what those critical steps are going to be," Delmore said in an interview Tueday with Cheddar.
Many reports have focused on the fact that the First Lady's announcement comes almost 16 months into her husband's presidency. Other recent first ladies have launched initiatives earlier in their husbands' terms. Laura Bush, for example, initiated her literacy campaign six months into President George W. Bush's first term. Michelle Obama, however, announced her "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity in February 2010, about 13 months after her husband took office.
Delmore said Trump is different from her immediate predecessors because she's new to politics.
"She didn't come from a corporate background, and she hasn't been the wife of somebody active in politics, and being a political spouse is a totally different ball game," Delmore said.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/melania-trump-launches-new-child-focused-initiative-be-best).
The Cowboy State has become one of the world's top tax havens, according to the Pandora Papers, a trove of more than 11.9 million documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and The Washington Post. The papers reveal, among other things, how ultra-wealthy people from around the world move money into the U.S., invest, and spend it under a shroud of secrecy. Allison Tait, University of Richmond law professor, joined Cheddar to talk about Wyoming's laidback tax laws, their impact on the nation's economy, and provided some details on the financial arrangement known as the "cowboy cocktail."
Carlo and Baker preview President Biden's address to the nation as Omicron becomes the new dominant Covid strain. Plus, Trump gets booed for getting his booster and the White House gets a new puppy.
China and Russia are saying they want to work closer together in different areas after a recent call between Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. What are the implications of a close partnership between Beijing and Moscow? Cheddar News breaks things down with expert Hagar Chemali.
Michele Schneider, Partner and Director of Trading Research & Education for MarketGauge.com, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says the spread of the Omicron variant and Jerome Powell's comments following the latest Fed decision are spooking investors heading into the weekend.
Carlo and Baker wrap up another week discussing the latest explosion in new Covid cases in the Northeast, President Biden's stalled agenda and more. Plus, Love, Hate, Ate featuring the question: why did movie dialogue get so hard to understand?
Since July 2021, families with children have received monthly payments from the federal government as part of the expanded child tax credit, a policy that may be expiring this month. Megan Curran, policy director at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, joined Cheddar News to discuss.
During the pandemic, student loan debt repayment was put on pause amid an unprecedented crisis. However, on February 1, 2022, the schedule is set to resume, and currently it looks as though the Biden administration has no plans to extend it. Cody Hounanian, the executive director of the Student Debt Crisis Center, spoke to Cheddar about why he believes the loan collection pause needs to at least be extended as borrowers are still struggling with the resurgent pandemic and inflation. "There's really no good economic or policy or political reason as far as why they're focused on getting payments started now," Hounanian said. "We surveyed 33,000 people with student loans last month. Nine out of 10 told us that they are not ready to resume payments."
As the 2022 midterm elections fast approach, here are some politicians Americans should be on the lookout for. Democratic Massachusetts state senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, who was the first Latina and Asian American woman to be elected to the state's senate, now has her eye on the governorship with Republican Charlie Baker leaving. New Jersey GOP candidate for Congress, Billy Prempeh also bears watching, and while Boston's newest mayor, Democrat Michelle Wu, was already sworn in last month, all eyes will be on Beantown as the first woman and first person of color to hold the office tries to usher in a new era for the city.
