Is Donald Trump's insult-driven campaign making children meaner to each other?

[Ebowed]

As we look at this campaign, we should take stock of the effect its rhetoric may have on the young people of the nation.  Children may adopt phrases or sentiments deployed by the campaigns.  Do you think that Donald Trump's racial hate campaign is having the effect of legitimizing this behavior among school children?

[Fuzzy Bear]

You've got to be kidding.

Do you even have kids?  If you do, you'd never post this.

[Blue3]

Yes.

There's already even been studies on this.

And working in a school, we're getting a lot of "but Trump said it!"

[Ebowed]

Yes.

There's already even been studies on this.

And working in a school, we're getting a lot of "but Trump said it!"

Interesting.  Would you mind elucidating what sort of things the children might attribute to Trump?  I have read reports of children ganging up on others of Latino heritage with threats of deportation.  Certainly I understand that people like Fuzzy Bear won't take this seriously, but it leaves me with many concerns.

[ag]

Yes, of course.

[ag]

You've got to be kidding.

Do you even have kids?  If you do, you'd never post this.

My children watch the campaign closely. My elder daughter was watching the first debate a lot closer than I did.

I mean, back in 2012 my then two-year-old called her dolls "foromny" and "forbama" (she heard me mumbling, while going through the county-by-county results).

[Blue3]

Yes.

There's already even been studies on this.

And working in a school, we're getting a lot of "but Trump said it!"

Interesting.  Would you mind elucidating what sort of things the children might attribute to Trump?  I have read reports of children ganging up on others of Latino heritage with threats of deportation.  Certainly I understand that people like Fuzzy Bear won't take this seriously, but it leaves me with many concerns.

Definitely threatening that Hispanic-looking people will get "deported" or calling them a future rapist because they "look Mexican" (even if they aren't).

There's also a small minority of Muslims here too. In the elementary school where my mom works, some of the parents were crying to her at Parent/Teacher night, asking how likely is it that they'll be forced out if Trump becomes President, if there would be a way for their daughter to stay and complete her education in the United States, does he really have a good chance of winning, etc. (And they aren't recent refugees, they've been here for a while, have been identifying themselves as Americans, mostly from Jordan I think).

[ag]

Yes.

There's already even been studies on this.

And working in a school, we're getting a lot of "but Trump said it!"

Interesting.  Would you mind elucidating what sort of things the children might attribute to Trump?  I have read reports of children ganging up on others of Latino heritage with threats of deportation.  Certainly I understand that people like Fuzzy Bear won't take this seriously, but it leaves me with many concerns.

Definitely threatening that Hispanic-looking people will get "deported" or calling them a future rapist.

There's also a small minority of Muslims here too. Not in my case where I work, but in the elementary school where my mom works, some of the parents were crying to her at Parent/Teacher night, asking how likely is it that they'll be forced out if Trump becomes President, if there would be a way for their daughter to stay and complete her education in the United States, does he really have a good chance of winning, etc. (And they aren't recent refugees, they've been here for a while, have been identifying themselves as Americans, mostly from Jordan I think).

It is not clear, whether it is caused by Trump, or by those kids' Trumpista parents.

I have an Indian friend, who is married to a Chinese woman - so the family does not, really, fit into any ethnic enclave in particular. Being rich, they chose to live in a lily-white exurb: you know, good schools and such. Well, long before this election, they overheard parents of other kids on the playground mumbling: "he will grow up to be a terrorist" about their child. Those nice white folks did not need Trump to say these things.

[Blue3]

Yes.

There's already even been studies on this.

And working in a school, we're getting a lot of "but Trump said it!"

Interesting.  Would you mind elucidating what sort of things the children might attribute to Trump?  I have read reports of children ganging up on others of Latino heritage with threats of deportation.  Certainly I understand that people like Fuzzy Bear won't take this seriously, but it leaves me with many concerns.

Definitely threatening that Hispanic-looking people will get "deported" or calling them a future rapist.

There's also a small minority of Muslims here too. Not in my case where I work, but in the elementary school where my mom works, some of the parents were crying to her at Parent/Teacher night, asking how likely is it that they'll be forced out if Trump becomes President, if there would be a way for their daughter to stay and complete her education in the United States, does he really have a good chance of winning, etc. (And they aren't recent refugees, they've been here for a while, have been identifying themselves as Americans, mostly from Jordan I think).

It is not clear, whether it is caused by Trump, or by those kids' Trumpista parents.

I have an Indian friend, who is married to a Chinese woman - so the family does not, really, fit into any ethnic enclave in particular. Being rich, they chose to live in a lily-white exurb: you know, good schools and such. Well, long before this election, they overheard parents of other kids on the playground mumbling: "he will grow up to be a terrorist" about their child. Those nice white folks did not need Trump to say these things.

In my case, in a high school, the kids explicitly mention Trump.

[Santander]

The Obama presidency has destroyed the self-esteem of America, creating a negative environment for children to grow up in. If anything, this is Obama's legacy, not Trump's.

[Badger]

There have been documented cases in at least two instances of high school basketball audiences at a mostly white school hosting a mostly Latino or mostly Lanina/black team chanting "BUILD THAT WALL!!".

[Badger]

Yes.

There's already even been studies on this.

And working in a school, we're getting a lot of "but Trump said it!"

Link(s) please?

[Blue3]

Yes.

There's already even been studies on this.

And working in a school, we're getting a lot of "but Trump said it!"

Link(s) please?

I know there's more, but from a simple search:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-trump-effect-is-contaminating-our-kids--and-could-resonate-for-years-to-come/2016/03/07/594a7f46-e47a-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/us/midwest-trump-school-chants/index.html

https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/splc_the_trump_effect.pdf

[pbrower2a]

The Obama presidency has destroyed the self-esteem of America, creating a negative environment for children to grow up in. If anything, this is Obama's legacy, not Trump's.

Uh, no. If he fosters low esteem it is for low-achieving white people who do little to suggest that they deserve the Good Life.  Losers deserve poor esteem.

[EpicHistory]

Obviously elementary age children follow the debates and election with the same close attention that the pundits do, instead of doing all that normal kid stuff like watch TV or play video games.

Seriously, can the Red Avatars on here attack Trump with stuff at least tangentially related to the election?

[jaichind]

I think most elementary school kids are aware of the campaign but most likely not the rhetoric.  Any thought they have are heavily influenced by their peers which in turn are influenced by what those peers hear at home. Middle school kids I am sure are aware of the rhetoric but I suspect does not care about this campaign which is the furthest from what is important to them. So I doubt that there is any real influence.

My own 5 year old son who follows the campaign by listening to the radio sunday morning when I drive him to various classes/events since the primaries is a #NeverTurmp.  I never talk about the election in front of my son and I was not even aware he understood what was going on until back in Feb he told me he is for Rubio and then Kasich over Cruz and Trump.  His still talks about why Rubio is not back in the campaign and if not him where is Kasich or Cruz.  His hierarchy of preference seems to be Rubio Kasich Cruz Sanders Clinton and Trump.  I try to get him to back Trump over Clinton to no avail.  He seems to detest Trump and I am sure part of it stems from what he hears in school from his peers.  If so it seems to fit my observation in my neighborhood the tide is clearly running against Trump as my son's peers must to hearing things at home to turn them against Trump.  Anyway I had to tell my son that Rubio went back to FL, Kasich went back to OH, and Cruz went back to TX.  This election a good chance for me to teach him all the states in the USA on the map since he kept on asking questions about Rubio Kasich and Cruz.  I actually used the uselectionatlas site and the 538 site as props for this.  A this rate I am sure my son, if he is still interested, will be a partisan for Rubio in 2020 assuming Trump loses.

I did not get any sense that my son nor his peers picked up any negative language as a result of the election.

[Classic Conservative]

As somebody who attended middle school last year and is in high school. This stuff isn't new really, I have heard the racial slurs for a few years now. It might be a little more amplified as this is how our political discourse is going. But it's not as worse as some people on here are saying. In all reality it's actually getting people involved and talking about politics, which is a good thing.

[jaichind]

As somebody who attended middle school last year and is in high school. This stuff isn't new really, I have heard the racial slurs for a few years now. It might be a little more amplified as this is how our political discourse is going. But it's not as worse as some people on here are saying. In all reality it's actually getting people involved and talking about politics, which is a good thing.

Let's be clear,  What you are talking about is pretty much true, like forever.   Kids, especially boys, like insulting each other by whatever means possible and one of ways would be race.  That is true for when I attended elementary and middle school in the 1980s both in ROC (although since everyone there is Chinese race is pretty much off the table as an insult but there are plenty of other avenues of attack) and USA.  This is true with our without elections involving Trump or whatever.

[Xing]

There's definitely evidence suggesting that students, particularly those who are Muslim and Latino, are facing more hostility and slurs than they did prior to Trump's candidacy. Yes, bullying and name-calling has existed in schools for a while (that doesn't mean we shouldn't be addressing it), but Trump seems to have exacerbated the problem.

[Illiniwek]

Seriously, who knows. But it is worth considering whether you want him to be a role model for our children as president.

Btw, keeping aside all of trump's insults of different demographics and women etc., I find it really rich that trump and his cronies complain about Hillary being nasty and mean for insulting him, while they have built their entire political careers around demonizing her and Obama. When have Republicans been anything but "mean and nasty" to Hillary Clinton? By all means if you want to criticize the Hillary campaign for being 95% anti-trump and 5% pro-Hillary, I will hear you out. But it is the ultimate hypocrisy when trump calls her nasty and he has run the most negative campaign since George Wallace.

[uti2]

I think most elementary school kids are aware of the campaign but most likely not the rhetoric.  Any thought they have are heavily influenced by their peers which in turn are influenced by what those peers hear at home. Middle school kids I am sure are aware of the rhetoric but I suspect does not care about this campaign which is the furthest from what is important to them. So I doubt that there is any real influence.

My own 5 year old son who follows the campaign by listening to the radio sunday morning when I drive him to various classes/events since the primaries is a #NeverTurmp.  I never talk about the election in front of my son and I was not even aware he understood what was going on until back in Feb he told me he is for Rubio and then Kasich over Cruz and Trump.  His still talks about why Rubio is not back in the campaign and if not him where is Kasich or Cruz.  His hierarchy of preference seems to be Rubio Kasich Cruz Sanders Clinton and Trump.  I try to get him to back Trump over Clinton to no avail.  He seems to detest Trump and I am sure part of it stems from what he hears in school from his peers.  If so it seems to fit my observation in my neighborhood the tide is clearly running against Trump as my son's peers must to hearing things at home to turn them against Trump.  Anyway I had to tell my son that Rubio went back to FL, Kasich went back to OH, and Cruz went back to TX.  This election a good chance for me to teach him all the states in the USA on the map since he kept on asking questions about Rubio Kasich and Cruz.  I actually used the uselectionatlas site and the 538 site as props for this.  A this rate I am sure my son, if he is still interested, will be a partisan for Rubio in 2020 assuming Trump loses.

I did not get any sense that my son nor his peers picked up any negative language as a result of the election.

The fact that he opposes Cruz so much likely indicates he was listening to that whole narrative of the 'contested convention' talk, the media only went out of their way to slam trump and then cruz, which had an incidental effect of attempting to feed a narrative to a default 'non-trump/cruz' candidate(s). I don't think the cruz opposition was ideological, considering that he had Kasich over Cruz.

You have to remember, nate silver, etc. were constantly hammering the line of 'the party decides', that was the media narrative for months. Trump/Cruz/Carson were all going to fade away, etc.

[ProudModerate2]

CNN story title : 'Trump' as anti-Latino epithet. Ugly incidents at high school games.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/us/midwest-trump-school-chants/

Quote from article : "It's a hate word. The word Trump is now becoming a form of hate," Joe Enriquez Henry, Iowa chapter president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told CNN. "It is easily used by white kids who want to send a message to dark kids. We are having to deal with hate. The only thing Trump has been successful at is making his name synonymous with hate."

[jaichind]

I think most elementary school kids are aware of the campaign but most likely not the rhetoric.  Any thought they have are heavily influenced by their peers which in turn are influenced by what those peers hear at home. Middle school kids I am sure are aware of the rhetoric but I suspect does not care about this campaign which is the furthest from what is important to them. So I doubt that there is any real influence.

My own 5 year old son who follows the campaign by listening to the radio sunday morning when I drive him to various classes/events since the primaries is a #NeverTurmp.  I never talk about the election in front of my son and I was not even aware he understood what was going on until back in Feb he told me he is for Rubio and then Kasich over Cruz and Trump.  His still talks about why Rubio is not back in the campaign and if not him where is Kasich or Cruz.  His hierarchy of preference seems to be Rubio Kasich Cruz Sanders Clinton and Trump.  I try to get him to back Trump over Clinton to no avail.  He seems to detest Trump and I am sure part of it stems from what he hears in school from his peers.  If so it seems to fit my observation in my neighborhood the tide is clearly running against Trump as my son's peers must to hearing things at home to turn them against Trump.  Anyway I had to tell my son that Rubio went back to FL, Kasich went back to OH, and Cruz went back to TX.  This election a good chance for me to teach him all the states in the USA on the map since he kept on asking questions about Rubio Kasich and Cruz.  I actually used the uselectionatlas site and the 538 site as props for this.  A this rate I am sure my son, if he is still interested, will be a partisan for Rubio in 2020 assuming Trump loses.

I did not get any sense that my son nor his peers picked up any negative language as a result of the election.

The fact that he opposes Cruz so much likely indicates he was listening to that whole narrative of the 'contested convention' talk, the media only went out of their way to slam trump and then cruz, which had an incidental effect of attempting to feed a narrative to a default 'non-trump/cruz' candidate(s). I don't think the cruz opposition was ideological, considering that he had Kasich over Cruz.

You have to remember, nate silver, etc. were constantly hammering the line of 'the party decides', that was the media narrative for months. Trump/Cruz/Carson were all going to fade away, etc.

Could be.  For my son I suspect it has more to do with the fact that Trump Cruz and Clinton are more polarizing with commentators and those being interviewed on Sunday talks shows much more likely to attack those three than Rubio Kasich and Sanders.  These attacks every Sunday did seem to have an affect on my son, especially when I was not even aware he was understanding most of what was being said did not talk to him about the election to influence him in other ways.  Back in Feb March  I was for Rubio and then Kasich so when my son spoke to me about the topic by positive body language reaction to my son saying he is for Rubio and Kasich reinforced his initial tendencies and became the basis of his #NeverTrump position today.  

[Mr. Smith]

The Obama presidency has destroyed the self-esteem of America, creating a negative environment for children to grow up in. If anything, this is Obama's legacy, not Trump's.

Teaching humility and respect for the rest of the world ain't a self-esteem destroyer.

But really, it's the Fox News and Bush Admin that truly caused this when they started this "UnAmerican" bs.

[Anna Komnene]

The Obama presidency has destroyed the self-esteem of America, creating a negative environment for children to grow up in. If anything, this is Obama's legacy, not Trump's.

Seeing the eyes of a black kid light up at the mention of President Obama tells a different story.