Clearly trick-or-treating is about more than just sweets in the Trump household.
As children the length and breadth of America were out celebrating Halloween, Donald Trump Jr decided to use his daughter’s candy stash to make a point.
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. pic.twitter.com/3ie9C0jv2G
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 31, 2017
Trump Jr tweeted a picture of his daughter, with the words: “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.”
If he was hoping to get a rise out of the left, which presumably he was, he certainly succeeded.
Scores of people, including Harry Potter author JK Rowling, pointed out what they perceived to be the flaws in his analogy, made comments on the Trump family or offered alternatives of their own.
Fill her bucket with old candy left by her great-grandfather, then explain that she has more because she's smarter than all the other kids. https://t.co/0lbhHYyFe4
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 1, 2017
You literally took her door-to-door demanding free handouts. https://t.co/DGwsw2a7MB
— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) October 31, 2017
Revealing conflation of "good honest graft" with "being given stuff because you're a kid" here. https://t.co/hmanbsLnXP
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) November 1, 2017
I'll take 1/2 my kids candy, store it in a Cyprus tax shelter, then declare bankruptcy to teach her about capitalism https://t.co/7OAOjFYjQx
— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) November 1, 2017
My man, "socialism" was her getting that free candy in the first place. You taking half for reasons she can't understand is capitalism https://t.co/w9x9zB0xLA
— 💀👻The News👻💀 (@Bearpigman) October 31, 2017
Having inherited all my candy, I’ll pass laws to take candy from as many poor kids as possible and give it to Chloe. https://t.co/95UZUbrDO1
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) November 1, 2017
Or you could just take 99% of Chloe’s candy, eat it and tell her to wait for it to trickle down. https://t.co/B24iOoLXpU
— Amir (@AmirAminiMD) November 1, 2017
And then, of course, there was the spelling.
It's also never too early to teach her basic English. Like the difference between to, two and too. https://t.co/dD3wEsynz5
— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) November 1, 2017
Others considered taking his words literally.
giving away candy to some kid stuck at home would be a really kind thing to do. https://t.co/yYJxfjrkOc
— Sam Stein (@samstein) November 1, 2017
And some thought it was surprising for a parent to suggest to his child that sharing might be bad.
Imagine thinking that teaching your child to share is bad. https://t.co/tVa3Uw4x3R
— 박주현 (@Hermit_Hwarang) October 31, 2017
It’s not the first time Trump Jr has tried to use sweets to make a political point.
Last year he posted an image containing the caption: “If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful? That’s our Syrian refugee problem.”
That tweet sparked a huge backlash, not least from Skittles’ parent company, Wrigley, which released a statement saying: “Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don’t feel it’s an appropriate analogy.”