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Young Texan boy called 'little Hitler' after setting up hot cocoa stall to help Trump raise funds for border wall

'Call that brainwashing, but I call it parenting, because we instill our values in him'

Sarah Harvard
New York
Wednesday 20 February 2019 15:19 GMT
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Benton Stevens, a 7-year-old Texan, was reportedly called “little Hitler” last week while he was selling hot chocolate to raise money for President Donald Trump’s infamous wall on the border of the United States and Mexico.
Benton Stevens, a 7-year-old Texan, was reportedly called “little Hitler” last week while he was selling hot chocolate to raise money for President Donald Trump’s infamous wall on the border of the United States and Mexico. (screenshot via CBS Austin)

A seven-year-old boy in Texas was reportedly called “little Hitler” last week while he was selling hot chocolate to raise money for President Donald Trump’s wall on the border of the United States and Mexico.

Jennifer Stevens, the boy’s mother, told a local NBC affiliate that a man drove by and likened her son to the leader of the Nazi party.

She also said she didn’t understand why people thought Benton, her son, who is fundraising money for a president who called Mexicans “rapists” and ordered family separation policies for migrants, hates “brown people.”

“He was called a little Hitler yesterday,” Ms Stevens said. “A guy pointed at him in his car and then he said that we didn’t like brown people. I don’t understand that at all.”

Ms Stevens said Benton came up with the idea of selling hot chocolate to raise enough money for the border wall after watching Mr Trump’s State of the Union address in early February.

It should be noted that the cocoa tree was domesticated in Mexico and Central America 4,000 years ago.

“He wanted to know about the wall so we explained what it was about and he was like, ‘I want to raise money for the wall,’” she added.

Ms Stevens, a Trump supporter, said critics accused her of brainwashing her son. She calls it “parenting.”

“People think he’s brainwashed,” Ms Stevens added. “Well, of course he supports Trump, because we do, and he hears how we talk and this and that. Call that brainwashing, but I call it parenting, because we instill our values in him.”

Benton raised more than $1,400 from the hot chocolate sales and donations. The president is demanding $5.6bn for the construction of the border wall.

Ms Stevens said there is a GoFundMe page for her Benton’s fundraiser and claimed her family is connected with the Republican National Committee (RNC), allowing them to ensure the funds will be used for the border wall.

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“There’s a GoFundMe page and we’re also part of the RNC, and we’re pretty connected there, so we will 100 per cent make sure it goes towards the wall,” she said.

Although many people did not appreciate his cause, Ms Stevens said Benton raised $231 within an hour outside a mall in Saturday

“I guess some liberals — or whatever you want to call them — they were griping at the owner [of the store] and going in and yelling at him and slamming him on Facebook,” the mother of the seven-year-old boy said, before adding that she and her husband reluctantly decided to shutdown Benton’s hot cocoa stand.

Ms Stevens said Benton and her family were shamed online after photos of his hot cocoa stand appeared online, but she seems unfazed by the backlash.

“That’s the price you pay when you make a political stance.”

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