People magazine and former Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi have made separate lists of insults President Donald Trump has recently lobbed at female reporters. It doesn't matter how the journalists behaved because apparently, women can't possibly be ill-mannered in press conferences. Or they think you can't possibly be as rude as Trump.
The list of outrages started with "Quiet, piggy" to Bloomberg's Catherine Lucey. She was hogging the spotlight and asking more than one question. Trump could have said something without an animal insult, like, "You're done" or "Enough," but when reporters are "on a roll," what works?
There were more. Trump told ABC's Mary Bruce she was "a terrible person and terrible reporter." We can state, based on years of evidence, that Bruce consistently polished Joe Biden's apple, asked sappy questions and was willing to be manipulated so her questions could go on to one of those infamous note cards for the feeble Biden. Now she's a relentless shark by comparison. So she's a certain kind of reporter -- a female George Stephanopoulos, working to help one political party win the day.
Likewise, ABC's senior political reporter Rachel Scott pestered Trump about a video of a drug-boat strike, and he said, "You are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place ... a terrible reporter." Scott is also a raging partisan daily.
Some of the insults came in Truth Social posts. New York Times reporter Katie Rogers was part of a team writing a preposterous article about how Trump could be losing his grip as president -- not comparing Trump to Biden, but comparing Trump's first term to his second. He called her "ugly, both inside and out."
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CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who's a White House reporter and a prime-time host, was called "always stupid and nasty" at "Fake News CNN." At a ceremony where Trump was awarded a "peace prize" by an international soccer federation, she asked if Trump's actions in Venezuela suggested he didn't deserve the award.
When I tweeted back at Farhi that calling someone "piggy" or "stupid" is not as vicious as cable news jerks comparing him to Hitler, he shot back: "You think a bunch of talking heads on a basic cable network is the same as the president of the United States?"
Jonah Goldberg offered me a similar reply: "Thank God MSNOW isn't president of the United States ... I just don't get this argument. Some media outlet says something rude/stupid so (the) President of the United States should behave as bad or worse." He suggested it was "comparing apples to cinder blocks."
So let's compare apples to apples. Did Goldberg lament when Biden called Fox News reporter Peter Doocy a "stupid son of a b---h" in 2022?
Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) tweeted at the time, "Have we ever seen a President attack and malign the free press like Joe Biden has??"
Goldberg shot back: "You don't have to be a troll. You have a real job, you know." At least he seemed to acknowledge Banks was mocking the liberal insistence that one must never "malign the free press" -- unless they're Fox News, of course.
I think it's fine to wish for a president to set the tone of civility. But the Bushes and Romneys did that and they were still compared to Hitler and slaveholders and whatnot. That's why Republicans want a leader who pushes back on the press for pushing hostile narratives on behalf of the Democrats.
Many Republicans like the JD Vance approach, shaming the reporter more gently, asking them if they realize that they sound silly. But partisan reporters deserve more than a little ... resistance.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM
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