Donald Trump complimented a Fox News host’s looks right after being asked about the welfare of civilians in war-torn Iran.
Trump phoned into The Five on Thursday afternoon for a friendly interview, during which co-host Dana Perino inquired about how Iranian dissidents are faring and whether the civilian population as a whole has access to basic necessities.
The U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran, which is well into its fourth week, has killed more than 1,492 civilians there, the Human Rights Activists News Agency says.
“I think it is alarming that we have not been able to see or hear from any of the Iranian people, and I imagine that is because their internet is shut down, and I think there is some general worry about them,” Perino began. “Obviously, their government treats them terribly—killed tens of thousands of them in January... Do you have any insight as to how they are doing? Do they have drinking water? Do they have food? It’s upsetting."
“I do,” Trump replied, before shifting gears entirely.
“But first,” he said, “remember when we had lunch years ago in the base of Trump Tower when it was a brand new building?”
“It was a long time ago,” said Perino, the married former George W. Bush administration press secretary.
It wasn’t clear which meeting they were referring to.
“You haven’t changed,” Trump added, as Perino smiled. “I’m not allowed to say this. It’s the end of my political career, but you may be even better looking, okay? So, I don’t know what you’re doing.”
Perino, 53, replied, “Fox hair and makeup has a lot to do with it.”
Trump, 79, continued: “I will not say that because that will end my political career. You are not allowed to say a woman is beautiful anymore.”
“You know that, Jesse,” Trump added, speaking to co-host Jesse Watters. “You have to be careful.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Fox for comment.
While Trump has been known to compliment female members of the press he deems politically in line with his administration, he has targeted the appearance of those he views as critical. He called Katie Rogers of the New York Times “ugly” after she reported on his light second-term schedule, and when Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey asked about the delayed Jeffrey Epstein files release last November, Trump shouted, “Quiet, piggy!”
Trump eventually came back to Perino’s question, but didn’t directly address her points about food and drinking water. Instead, he highlighted the dangers of protesting the Iranian government.
“When you look at what has happened, they are petrified, because the one side has guns, and they have very nasty guns, the worst guns and machine guns, and what they do is they shoot you,“ he said. ”And the people are brave, but they are not brave when they see people going down left and who you are, I don’t care how brave, unless you are really stupid, you can’t really protest, and the only reason they are not protesting is because they are being shot, one after another."
He added: “They are doing it with snipers, where they have snipers and buildings—not that they have to be snipers because they have, you know, free range."
Since last December, the Iranian government has killed thousands of protesters.
