Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard warned US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton about the way in which her opponents would speak about her, referring to the time then-opposition leader Tony Abbott stood in front of a sign reading “Bob Brown’s bitch,” but we don’t think she could have predicted this. American political reporters have tweeted that a school-age child at a Donald Trump rally started yelling “take that bitch down” when Trump mentioned Clinton.

sopan deb tweet

While little is known about the child, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that his mother defended his right to free speech:

“His mother later defended the child’s right to speak and blamed his language on ‘Democratic schools.’

The child, who looked no more than 10, was sitting next to his mother in the media section.

The mother identified herself in a brief interview with a small group of reporters as Pam Kohler of Mount Vernon, Va., but she would not name her son or say how old he is.

‘He’s a minor so he can’t be interviewed,’ Kohler said.

‘I think he has a right to speak what he wants to,’ she said.

Asked where he learned to speak that way, she answered, ‘Democratic schools.'”