She is one of them. She really doesn't care. Do U?

There is a classic dodge that bullies can be relied to fall back on when they abuse someone who is smaller and weaker than they are.

He (or she) asked for it.

First lady Melania Trump, it appears, subscribes to that defense of the indefensible as well.

A day after her husband mocked a 16-year-old girl who has been diagnosed with a disorder that is on the autism spectrum, the White House attempted to square President Trump’s appalling behavior with his wife’s supposed advocacy against bullying. It also asked us to pretend we didn’t see the obvious hypocrisy in the president’s attack on climate activist Greta Thunberg only a week after the first lady expressed outrage at a law school professor who had the temerity to make a play on words with the name of the Trumps’ 13-year-old son, Barron.

What, people wondered, did Melania Trump think of the president’s tweet?

Activist Greta Thunberg on how to make sure the world does not 'give up' the climate fight

After taking a solar-powered boat from England to New York to attend the United Nations Climate Action Summit, Thunberg discussed what activists need to do. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

Now we know. There is a lot to unpack in this four-sentence statement that White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham issued Friday afternoon: “BeBest is the First Lady’s initiative, and she will continue to use it to do all she can to help children. It is no secret that the President and First Lady often communicate differently — as most married couples do. Their son is not an activist who travels the globe giving speeches. He is a 13-year-old who wants and deserves privacy.”

Let us all agree that the last sentence is absolutely correct, and we should give the president’s youngest child some space. After Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan invoked his first name to make a pun during her recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, she recognized her mistake and apologized.