Chelsea Clinton defends Barron Trump after torrent of memes mock 10-year-old

'Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does - to be a kid,' says Hillary Clinton's daughter

The backlash against the treatment Barron Trump on social media was sparked after Katie Rich, a Saturday Night Live writer said he would be the 'country's first homeschool shooter' (Getty Images)

Chelsea Clinton and Barron Trump might come from families with polar opposite political perspectives but they do have one key thing in common: they are both the offspring of US Presidents.

This might explain why the former First Daughter decided to come to the defence of Donald Trump’s 10-year-old son. On inauguration day, the youngest Trump child was subject to a torrent of memes mocking his facial expressions and accusing him of looking bored.

Chelsea, the only child of Hillary and Bill Clinton challenged those who mocked him, saying: “Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does - to be a kid”.

But she also alluded to the fact some of Mr Trump’s policies might have a detrimental effect on children. “Standing up for every kid also means opposing @POTUS policies that hurt kids,” she said on Twitter.

The outrage against the mocking of Barron was sparked after Katie Rich, a Saturday Night Live writer said he would be the “country's first homeschool shooter“ in a since deleted tweet.

Chelsea and Ivanka Trump, who is said to be the President's “favourite child”, are long-time friends despite the fact their parents have been fierce political opponents. Until recently, they were both based in Manhattan in New York and were introduced by their husbands a few years ago.

On Thursday, Ivanka said while Chelsea is a “very good friend” of hers, the two haven’t talked since the presidential election.

“She’s been a friend of mine long before the campaign, of course will be a friend of mine after,” the mother-of-three told ABC News. “I haven’t spoken about the specific challenges about this next chapter with her just yet but I intend to.”

In July, Mr Trump said he wished his daughter did not like his rival candidate's daughter.

“My daughter likes Chelsea and Chelsea likes my daughter, what are you going to do, that’s the way it is. That’s okay,” he told the audience at a Colarado rally. “I asked Ivanka, I said ‘do you like Chelsea’. ‘I do dad’. ‘Really?’ ‘No I really do’. ‘Ah I wish you didn’t it would be a lot easier’”.

Nevertheless, the real estate tycoon accepted that the pair liked each other and commended Chelsea for her performance at the Democratic convention.