A 7-year-old boy in Texas has raised more than $2,200 for President Donald Trump’s border wall through a hot chocolate stand, but he and his parents say not everyone approves, with one person even calling the boy “little Hitler.”
The parents of 7-year-old Benton Stevens say their son wanted to start a fundraiser after watching Trump’s State of the Union address in early February, so he begged to set up a hot chocolate stand.
“Every day, he would get off the bus and say, ‘Mom, can we go do my stand?'” said Benton’s mother, Jennifer Stevens.
Benton set up Saturday and Sunday at an Austin, TX, strip mall in order to raise money for the proposed border wall. His older brothers helped him make signs stating the mission, and his mother helped him make the hot chocolate.
Benton and his parents say the reaction to the stand was mixed.
“A guy pointed at him in his car and then he said that we didn’t like brown people. I don’t understand that at all,” Jennifer Stevens said.
But Benton’s mother says when they explained the reactions to their son, it only “fired him up.”
“Some people were mad and calling me a ‘little Hitler’ and stuff, and some people were really happy,” Benton said.
According to his father Shane Stevens’ Facebook page, Benton’s efforts have so far raised more than $2,200.
Both Shane and Jennifer Stevens are members of the Republican National Committee and say they talk about politics with their children.
“People think he’s brainwashed,” said Jennifer Stevens. “Well, of course he supports Trump because we do, and he hears how we talk and this and that. Call that brainwashing, but I call it parenting because we instill our values in him.”
Benton says he wants to mail the money he raises for the wall to the president or go to Washington and give him the money in person.