Melania upset that her son’s name was used by Liberal Professor attempting humor

Pamela Karlan, a law professor at Stanford University, speaks before the House Judiciary Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 4, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A law professor’s reference to Barron Trump, the 13-year-old son of President Donald Trump, during the impeachment hearing on Dec. 4 sparked an immediate backlash.

“While the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron,” Pamela Karlan, a law professor at Stanford University, said during the hearing in Washington.

She said she was using an example of how American presidents are not kings.

“Let me also suggest that when you invoke the president’s son’s name here—when you try to make a little joke out of referencing Barron Trump—that does not lend credibility to your argument. That makes you look mean,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told her later in the hearing.

Others also took issue with Karlan’s reference to the teen.

“Classless move by a Democratic ‘witness.’ Prof Karlan uses a teenage boy who has nothing to do with this joke of a hearing (and deserves privacy) as a punchline. And what’s worse, it’s met by laughter in the hearing room. What is being done to this country is no laughing matter,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) said in a statement: “Just when you thought this impeachment hoax couldn’t get any more ridiculous, the witness invited by Democrats is throwing cheap shots at the 13-year-old son of @realDonaldTrump. Gross and shameful!”

Trump’s 2020 campaign said in a statement: “Democrats chose liberal professor Pam Karlan as their star impeachment witness. She just went out of her way to mock and attack Barron Trump, the President’s 13-year-old child. Democrats have disgraced themselves by giving a platform to this unhinged, petty kook.”

Conservatives noted Karlan’s past statements, including her telling the crowd at an event that she crossed the street, instead of walking in front of, a Trump hotel because of how much she loathed the president.

And Baron’s mother was not at all pleased by her son’s name being used as a joke by the liberal professor. Saying the professor “should be ashamed” and that she was exhibiting “obviously biased public pandering”.

A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it.

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) December 4, 2019