First Lady Melania Trump made headlines on Tuesday after sharing a photograph that she took with 13-year-old DJ Daniel.
People all over the country fell in love with DJ, who has brain cancer, when President Donald Trump called him “a young man who truly loves our police” during a moment at his Joint Address to Congress last week.
Trump also made the child cancer survivor an honorary member of his U.S. Secret Service protective detail in a viral speech moment that Americans loved.
“Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police. The doctors gave him five months at most to live. That was more than six years ago. Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true,” Trump said at the address.
Then he sent Sean Curran, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, to give DJ a certificate that made him an honorary agent.
Below is the image of Melania Trump giving DJ a hug at the White House:
Democrats who disrespected Trump at his joint address to Congress have made an enemy of Daniel.
“They make me mad. If you’re not going to say something nice, you don’t need to be there. Honestly, if it was up to myself, and I was the president, I would literally stop what I was doing, escort [disrespectful people] out and have them banned. They wouldn’t be allowed back in. My dad says that you can’t reward bad behavior,” the 13-year-old cancer survivor told The New York Post.
“Even if they don’t like President Trump, they need to respect the position,” Daniel added.
DJ was sworn in before Trump’s speech last Tuesday.
Rep. Al Green’s (D-Texas) disruption, which resulted in his expulsion from the House chamber and criticism from other lawmakers on Thursday, resonated deeply with him.
“[Al Green] embarrassed us; he’s from our congressional district,” said DJ, who lives with his dad in Houston. “I’d tell him that he was very disgraceful and very disrespectful.”
DJ and his dad, Theodis Daniel, a retired Navy man, also joined Trump in the Oval Office late last week for a sit-down with President Trump.
“As soon as I saw him, I gave the president a big hug,” said DJ. “He said that he’s proud of me and handed me a signed hat.”
But “I’m not going to wear it,” he added. “It’s a collector’s item and is valuable.”
DJ Daniel has been made an honorary member of nearly 1,000 police departments around the US, including ones in New Jersey and New York.
“I was in Joisey,” he said, putting on a “Sopranos” accent. “[Officers there] can be a little feisty and they kind of rubbed off on me.”
DJ met a lot of people in Washington, DC, while he was there as a VIP. Even though he doesn’t like to pick winners—”They were all great,” he said in a polite way—one famous person stood out.
“While in the White House, I was walking around and magically, deliciously ran into Elon Musk; we took a picture,” DJ said of the world’s richest man. “He’s a party dude and strictly business. He has the hands to fix America.”
Asked if he had a message for the man behind DOGE, DJ replied, “Keep doing what you’re doing and keep up the good work.”
He has less encouraging words for Rachel Maddow, who called Trump “disgusting” for highlighting DJ as a cancer warrior.
“If you have nothing nice to say,” DJ scolded, “then don’t say anything at all.”
And his message to Trump? “Thank you for saving the United States.”