Donald Trump has a well-documented pattern of going after the press, and lately his criticism has been aimed most often at female reporters.
Now, one of the women he’s gone after is firing back.
“Nothing to do with gender”
There was a time when it would’ve been unthinkable for a U.S. president to publicly call a journalist “ugly” or label an elected official “retarded.” But what used to be a national scandal has become just another day in American politics.
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has come under renewed scrutiny for a series of attacks aimed at reporters. Nearly all of the reporters who’ve drawn the president’s anger lately have been women, though the White House maintains his comments have “nothing to do with gender.”
In November, Trump sparked widespread outrage when he told a Bloomberg White House correspondent, “Quiet, piggy,” after she asked him about the Epstein files, a topic he clearly didn’t want to address.
It didn’t stop there. Days later, he aimed fresh insults at a female CNN reporter, calling her “nasty” and “stupid.”
“Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?”
Thanksgiving brought no pause to the hostility. In a string of Truth Social posts, Trump lashed out at political rivals and public figures. He referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz with an ableist slur, and then targeted Rep. Ilhan Omar with an Islamophobic remark, calling her “the worst ‘Congressman/woman’ in our Country… always wrapped in her swaddling hijab.”
And yet, even that wasn’t the end. When another female journalist questioned him about the suspect in an attack on National Guard members in Washington, D.C., Trump snapped: “Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?”
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, the network’s chief White House correspondent, became another focal point of his ire.
During a press conference, she pressed the president about renovations at the White House, including a new ballroom Trump claims is privately funded. Hours later, he took to Truth Social, misspelling her name and writing:
“Caitlin Collin’s of Fake News CNN, always Stupid and Nasty…”
CNN’s reply
He then defended the project, saying it was “under budget and ahead of schedule,” “much bigger and more beautiful than originally planned,” and “fully paid for by private donations.” He finished with another broadside against “FAKE NEWS CNN.”
CNN responded swiftly:
“Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional journalist… audiences around the world know they can trust.”
Collins herself replied with a quiet but pointed correction on Instagram, noting:
“Technically my question was about Venezuela.”
Her reference was to a deadly bombing off the Venezuelan coast that killed more than 80 people, an attack widely condemned after reports of a possible “double tap,” which international law considers a war crime. The Pentagon has denied any wrongdoing, stating:
“Our current operations… are lawful under both US and international law.”
”The Failing New York Times..”
Meanwhile, questions about Trump’s own stamina have resurfaced. After The New York Times reported that the president was showing “signs of fatigue” and facing the “realities of aging in office,” Trump fired back online:
“The Creeps at the Failing New York Times are at it again… I have never worked so hard in my life.”
He added that while “there will be a day where my energy will run out,” his recent medical tests show “that won’t be anytime soon.”
The Times stood by its reporting.
“Name-calling and personal insults don’t change that,” said spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander. “Our journalists will not hesitate to cover this administration.”
Even though the president’s use of belittling, schoolyard-style insults toward female reporters has noticeably escalated in recent weeks, the White House maintains that his comments are “nothing to do with gender.”
“President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Independent. “This has nothing to do with gender – it has everything to do with the fact that the President’s and the public’s trust in the media is at all time lows.”