One of Melania Trump's State of the Union guests is a 6th-grader named Joshua Trump she says gets bullied because of his name
- The list of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump's guests attending the State of the Union was released on Monday night - and one of those has a familiar last name.
- Sixth grader Joshua Trump from Wilmington, Delaware will be in attendance. Joshua loves animals, art, science, and history, according to the White House, and he admires his uncle who serves in the U.S. Air Force.
- Joshua has been invited in a display of patronymic solidarity from the first lady.
- The full list of guests is below.
The list of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump's guests attending the State of the Union was released on Monday night - and one of the guests has a familiar last name.
Sixth grader Joshua Trump from Wilmington, Delaware will be in attendance. Joshua loves animals, art, science, and history, according to the White House, and he admires his uncle who serves in the U.S. Air Force.
"Unfortunately, Joshua has been bullied in school due to his last name," the White House statement also explains. "He is thankful to the First Lady and the Trump family for their support.
The list doesn't specify if Joshua is related to the first family, and INSIDER reached out to get confirmation. According to Delaware Online, Joshua is not related to the president.
In December of 2018, a Pennsylvania-based organization Teach Anti Bullying awarded Joshua Trump the Teach Anti Bullying Medal of Courage, as Joshua has reportedly dealt with teasing due to his last name. The bullying led to school officials using his father's surname Berto rather than his mom's last name, which is Trump.
One of the first lady's initiatives known as Be Best focuses on stopping bullying.
Invitees often have political significance, and in 1982, President Ronald Reagan began the tradition of acknowledging guests during the State of the Union address.
In addition to Joshua, the president and first lady's guests include a first responder who was wounded during the Pittsburgh synagogue attack, along with a survivor of that shooting, a former inmate who was released as a result of the First Step Act - the criminal justice reform bill passed by the House and Senate and signed into law last year by the president - the family of a couple killed by an undocumented immigrant, and several others.
Democratic lawmakers are also making political statements with their SOTU guests; an undocumented immigrant who used to work at one of Trump's golf clubs will be in attendance, along with the woman who confronted former Sen. Jeff Flake over Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation.