U.S. President mocks teen climate activist Thunberg

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(SOUNDBITE) (English) TEENAGE SWEDISH CLIMATE ACTIVIST GRETA THUNBERG, SAYING:

"Yes, it is extremely important that we get the science in the school curriculum. But also, that we educate adults."

Teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2019.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) TEENAGE SWEDISH CLIMATE ACTIVIST GRETA THUNBERG, SAYING:

"We need to focus every inch of our being on climate change."

Not everyone agreed with the choice.

The 73-year-old President of the United States attacked the high school student on Twitter Thursday (December 12), writing, "So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!"

The 16-year-old responded by updating her Twitter bio to read, "A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old-fashioned movie with a friend."

The two do not see eye-to-eye.

A camera caught the moment Thunberg and Trump crossed paths at the United Nations in September.

Thunberg was there to deliver a speech, where she angrily denounced world leaders for failing to tackle global warming.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SWEDISH CLIMATE ACTIVIST, GRETA THUNBERG, SAYING (SEPTEMBER 23):

"We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?"

Trump has called the scientific consensus about climate change 'a hoax.'

And he retweeted a clip of her speech, and added, sarcastically, "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP, SAYING:

"As we all know, social media can be both positively and negatively affect on [sic] our children."

Some say Trump's repeated verbal abuse of a child seems to contradict his wife's "Be Best" anti-cyber-bullying initiative.

Thursday's attack is also not the first time Trump has griped about Time Person of the Year, an award he seems to covet.

He claimed to have declined the honor in 2017. Time disputes that.

Trump won in 2016, the year he won the White House.

In 2015 he complained that it went to German leader Angela Merkel, and shared another Twitter user's dismay that he was passed over in 2014 in favor of the doctors fighting an Ebola epidemic in Africa.