Why Donald Trump Can’t Stand Tough Women Journalists
Maybe the former reality-TV host feels a little threatened by tough women who don’t follow the script the way women “should”? It’s possible.
Chip Somodevilla
Every day around 6 p.m., when wandering around the White House drinking Diet Coke and tweeting no longer engages him, the president holds a press conference that is theoretically about the coronavirus but almost always ends up being about Donald Trump. Often during these rallies, he is rude to reporters to excite and delight his base. As more and more American die (45,013 as I write), the president grows more desperate to hold on to his white grievance voters.
This causes him, consciously or unconsciously, to pick big, splashy, tabloid-style fights with reporters. And usually female reporters. On Sunday, the president of the United States said to CBS News’ Weijia Jiang, “Nice and easy. Nice and easy. Just relax.” Trump also told her to “lower her voice.”
It wasn’t the first time the president had been inappropriate with a female reporter. It wasn’t even the first time that week the president had acted out on a female reporter. Trump regularly attacks female journalists—berating them, demeaning them, calling them fake. Some of Trump’s defenders will point to the lame excuse that he is terrible to all journalists. A few weeks ago, he told NBC News’ Peter Alexander that he was “a terrible reporter, that’s what I say.”