Oh, for pity’s sake:

Donald Trump said his youngest son watches graphic violence on television and in movies. Speaking at a bipartisan meeting of Congress Wednesday to discuss cracking down on gun violence, Trump said: ‘The video games, the movies, the internet stuff, it’s so violent.

Speaking at a bipartisan meeting of Congress Wednesday to discuss cracking down on gun violence, Trump said: ‘The video games, the movies, the internet stuff, it’s so violent.

‘It’s so incredible, I see it, I get to see things you’d be amazed at ‘I have a very young son. I look at some of the things he is watching and I say ‘How is that possible?’ and I think you maybe have to take a look at it.’

 

Hey big guy, guess what: BE A PARENT! The kid has a father and a mother. You walk in, see the boy watching inappropriate content — you tell him no, and turn the TV off. Or tell his nanny to tell him no. This is a pain, but it’s possible. They’ll whine about it, but your role as a father (and your wife’s role as a mother) is to set rules for your kids and enforce them. Yes, entertainment media is a cesspool. But media is not the force of gravity. You can resist it on your child’s behalf.

Trump is far from alone in his cognitive dissonance on this. It never, ever fails to shock me how quick so many parents are to complain about the content of the media they allow their children to use, but then act all helpless when it comes to regulating their children’s media access.

I applaud what the UK is about to do to deny access to Internet pornography for those under 18.  It won’t be a perfect system, but it’ll be a lot better than what exists now. We should think about doing that in the US. I suspect that it will be easy to get bipartisan support for the measure. I think that the state ought to help parents when it can — but there will never, ever be a law that can substitute for engaged parenting.