Updated 9/29/16
Weston Imer, the co-chair of the Trump for President campaign in Jefferson County, is at it again.
Imer is a 12-year old 7th grader at Golden View Classical Academy. Last month, when the Trump campaign opened the Jeffco office, one of a handful of stand-alone campaign offices, Imer was the center of a media frenzy. Think of it! A 12-year old politically-savvy child who has been all over the state for Trump, including setting up a Facebook group to help defend kids who are bullied for supporting the Republican presidential nominee. Imer got face time on CBS, CNN, The Hill (a political blog based in Washington, D.C.), several international news outlets and virtually every Denver TV station.
After the first round of media attention in August, the Trump campaign tried to shut down the interviews, even though Weston and his mom seemed perfectly comfortable with the media attention.
That hasn’t stopped Weston. Today, The Guardian published a video interview with him, where he said he hopes to run for president in 2040, and that Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is “a criminal.”
Weston also helps his mom, Laurel, who’s the field coordinator for the Jeffco office, with finding youth volunteers.
Comments on The Guardian’s Facebook page were, in general, not kind, but those comments were directed mostly at the Trump campaign, with a few that criticized Weston. More than 500 comments hit the Facebook page in the first two hours after the interview was published, some stating that having a 12-year old in charge of a campaign office shows what a “s***-show” the Trump campaign is running.
“When Trump spoke about creating jobs in America, I didn’t realise this included child labour,” said a commenter, who identified himself as Jack Marshall. But several others criticized the media for exposing a child to online criticism.
Weston appears to be used to it. He explained last month that he had been bullied for supporting Trump during the last school year, when his classmates supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Weston had the last laugh, since he headed back to school this month with his candidate not only winning the nomination, but tied or nearly tied with Clinton over the past several weeks.
Weston also started a club of sorts, Colorado Kids for Trump, designed to help kids who are being bullied for supporting Trump, and told The Independent he had found co-chairs in Denver and Arapahoe County to help. He said he would look for help from the Trump campaign, suggesting campaign officials in Colorado could write letters to schools where kids are being bullied for their Trump support.
Update: the Trump campaign in August said Imer was not the co-chair of the Jeffco office, but now says he is co-chair.
Photo: Allen Tian for The Colorado Independent
Put a lid on a kid whose “academy” uses public money for religious instruction, and whose site administration, or headmaster would allow (and be allowed) such an overt candidate endorsement. Talk about puppetry. Using your children to do your political work? Hm. Do I hear an echo bounce off the wall of hypocrisy?
Any other actual public school would be chastised, punished, sanctioned, targeted, ridiculed, questioned, written up, lampooned, defunded, because public schools are not allowed to publicly endorse candidates. I believe that employees and most “public” institutions, keep a clear distance from this kind of behavior.This isnt blurring the policy line, this is crossing it and smiling back at the daring step.
(Am I correct in my understanding that if GVUC accepts any mil or bond money, that it can lose its tax exempt status?)
Could GVAC eventually lose its charter when its advertised preferred candidate loses? Jeffco voters, eyes open.