--- title: Donald Trump Jr Tweets Halloween Lesson, Internet Reacts description: The Internet had lot to say about Donald Trump Jr. attempting to teach a lesson about socialism using his child's Halloween candy. canonical: https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-01T14:59:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:19:00.184Z og:title: The Internet Didn't Hold Back on Donald Trump Jr.'s Halloween Tweet About Socialism og:description: "Trick-or-treating IS socialism" og:url: https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3d4405659d89697/6988e41e22fb85c64de237ff/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Donald-Trump-Jr-Halloween-Tweet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Didn't Hold Back on Donald Trump Jr.'s Halloween Tweet About Socialism twitter:description: "Trick-or-treating IS socialism" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3d4405659d89697/6988e41e22fb85c64de237ff/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Didn't Hold Back on Donald Trump Jr.'s Halloween Tweet About Socialism > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8d4df118-f9dd-4e88-a714-cfdf76991377&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump's Lawyer Defends Donald Trump Jr.'s Controversial Meeting [Watch (HLS stream): Trump's Lawyer Defends Donald Trump Jr.'s Controversial Meeting](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/T35WsRpx.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2017-07-16. Jay Sekulow, a member of President Donald Trump's legal team, defended Donald Trump Jr. Sunday following his controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign — arguing that Trump's son did not break any laws_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 1, 2017 2:59 PM UTC Jay Sekulow, a member of President Donald Trump's legal team, defended Donald Trump Jr. Sunday following his controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign — arguing that Trump's son did not break any laws  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 1, 2017 2:59 PM UTC The Internet had lot to say about [Donald Trump Jr.](http://time.com/4975821/trump-jr-kimmel-weinstein/) attempting to teach a lesson about [socialism](http://time.com/4344905/history-socialism-in-america/) using his child’s [Halloween candy](http://time.com/4998824/healthy-halloween-candy-sugar/). The First Son took to Twitter on Tuesday to share a photo of his daughter Chloe holding up her trick-or-treating haul with a caption saying he was going to take half of it away from her. “I’m going to take half of Chloe’s candy tonight & give it to some kid who sat at home,” [he wrote](https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/925495970032443392). “It’s never to early to teach her about socialism.” The tweet drew backlash from some online, with celebrities such as J.K. Rowling, John Legend and Zach Braff calling out Trump Jr. for both his grammar and message. “Fill her bucket with old candy left by her great-grandfather, then explain that she has more because she’s smarter than all the other kids,” [Rowling wrote](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/925645750608060416) in response. “She was given candy for free. You inherited all your money. You met with Russian spies. It’s ‘too,'” [Braff added](https://twitter.com/zachbraff/status/925537508640808960). > [](https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/925495970032443392) > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/925645750608060416) > [](https://twitter.com/zachbraff/status/925537508640808960) See some of the reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/johnlegend/status/925503657629454337) > [](https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/925517855843422208) > [](https://twitter.com/justingrimmer/status/925526435246280704) > [](https://twitter.com/jayduplass/status/925586895710535680) > [](https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/925551359385931778) > [](https://twitter.com/Bearpigman/status/925506848358305792) > [](https://twitter.com/meaganmday/status/925528677823102976) > [](https://twitter.com/espiers/status/925511137894043648) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] But to go back a year later and say this is what should've happened when the meeting itself was 20 minutes and in a series of meetings that took place for days and days and months. I think I don't think that's fair to Donald Trump Jr ., to Jared Kushner, or to Manfort, for that matter, because no one was in a situation of that kind of campaigning In the middle of a presidential election. There's a lot of meetings and a lot of discussions about opposition research coming on all sides, Republican, Democrat, and Independent. Donald Trump Jr. said he disclosed everything about the meeting, but I'm one of the counsel for the President of the United States, who was not involved in the meeting and not aware of the meeting. So from my perspective, my answer stands. And the president was not engaged in this. Was not aware of it. Donald Trump Junior made statements that this was everything. He said that on the air of Sean Hannity's broadcast, and I think, again, it speaks for itself. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/"},"headline":"The Internet Didn't Hold Back on Donald Trump Jr.'s Halloween Tweet About Socialism","datePublished":"2017-11-01T14:59:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T08:19:00.184Z","description":"\"Trick-or-treating IS socialism\"","url":"https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","twitter","halloween","Donald Trump Jr."],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3d4405659d89697/6988e41e22fb85c64de237ff/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3d4405659d89697/6988e41e22fb85c64de237ff/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald-Trump-Jr-Halloween-Tweet","caption":"Donald Trump, Jr. attends the 139th White House Easter Egg Roll on April 17, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Leigh Vogel/WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/","name":"The Internet Didn't Hold Back on Donald Trump Jr.'s Halloween Tweet About Socialism"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump's Lawyer Defends Donald Trump Jr.'s Controversial Meeting","description":"Jay Sekulow, a member of President Donald Trump's legal team, defended Donald Trump Jr. Sunday following his controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign — arguing that Trump's son did not break any laws","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/T35WsRpx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-07-16T19:04:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/T35WsRpx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/","duration":"PT1M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```