Ivanka Trump gets schooled by retired general over children's fitness tweet, says Trump admin has done nothing yet
President Donald Trump's daughter and senior White House aide, Ivanka Trump, was schooled by a retired army general on Sunday after she tweeted a post advocating youth fitness and nutrition.
Retired General Mark Hertling also reminded Ivanka of former first lady Michelle Obama's efforts to promote youth fitness, sports and nutrition, an area which has completely died down under the Trump administration.
The senior White House aide, on Sunday, tweeted: "We need to promote healthy lifestyles for America’s youth. In a recent survey, 9.5 million U.S. children reported that they did NOT once participate in any of over 100 sports or activities listed."
Her tweet, however, was slammed by Hertling, who quote-tweeted her and said that the President’s Council on Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition, which used to thrive under former President Barack Obama has now been completely obliterated. Hertling authored the book 'Growing Physician Leaders: Empowering Doctors to Improve Our Healthcare.'
"Ummm...there’s this thing called the President’s Council on Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition. Been around 60 years. Used to have 25 appointees...I was one of them. @MichelleObama helped & generated momentum in this area. No one is on the Council now. @FitnessGov. Check it out,” the retired general tweeted.
Hertling was appointed to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition under Obama in 2013.
According to the webpage of the council, which was reviewed last year on March 21, its co-chairs and council members are "to be announced."
Reports state that under the Obama administration, a public awareness campaign called "Let's Move!" was launched to improve children's health. During the end of Obama's term, the campaign reported that it had secured healthier school meals and snacks for 50 million children, and upgraded the nutrition facts labels on 800,000 products within a seven-year period.
"One more thing...it falls under @HHSGov Ask their Secretary...oh, never mind," Hertling also tweeted. It is not clear what the retired general meant by his second tweet but it is possible that he was referring to a controversy regarding the leadership within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), reports state
Former HHS head, Tom Price, — a Trump nominee — resigned after reports that he used over $1 million of taxpayer money for his travels, which included taking a military aircraft and a personal jet.