Donald Trump Keeps Insulting Female Reporters

By Marni Rose McFall

News Reporter

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“Are you a stupid person?” “quiet, piggy” and “terrible reporter” are all words that President Donald Trump has directed toward female journalists in recent weeks, in instances that have raised questions over the treatment of women in the field.

Dr. Amy Tatum, a lecturer in communication and media at The Bournemouth Media School in England, told Newsweek, “President Trump may feel emboldened to speak this way about women as there has been little outcry or backlash to such comments he has made, or those made by other politicians or people in power. “

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

Why It Matters

These instances have drawn renewed attention to Trump’s treatment of journalists, an issue that has repeatedly surfaced as his relationship with the press has at times been adversarial.

Female journalists around the world face mounting attacks, both on and offline and are subjected to specific and disproportionate threats, according to UNESCO.

A 2021 report from UNESCO found that nearly three-quarters of female journalists surveyed had experienced violence online, and one-fifth said that they had been attacked or abused offline in connection with online violence.

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What To Know

The incidents involving Trump and female journalists have all been in response to different questions and varied in nature, yet have maintained a consistent tone.

While traveling on Air Force One on November 14, Trump told Catherine Lucey of Bloomberg to be “Quiet, piggy” after she asked him a question about Jeffrey Epstein. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later defended these remarks and praised the president's “frankness,” in this instance.

A few days later, in the Oval Office, Trump dubbed ABC News’ Mary Bruce a “terrible reporter” after she asked three direct questions to Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which referenced the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and whether it was appropriate for the Trump family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia.

Then on November 26, Trump took aim at New York Times journalist Katie Rodgers in a post on Truth Social, writing that she is “a third rate reporter,” who is “ugly, both inside and out.”

The president's remarks came in response to an article in The Times that reported signs of fatigue in Trump.

The next day, CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes asked Trump at Mar-a-Lago, “Your DOJ IG [Department of Justice Inspector General] just reported this year that there was thorough vetting by DHS and by the FBI of these Afghans who were brought into the U.S. So why do you blame the Biden administration?”

To this, Trump replied, “Because they let them in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?”

Of these incidents, Tatum told Newsweek over email, “The idea that if a question is not liked by the president, the first line of attack is to criticise the appearance of the women asking them. This speaks to the gender stereotype of women being expected to be physically appealing and conventionally attractive to men. By using appearance, Trump is diminishing these women’s expertise and roles, and instead he is implying they do not make the grade in terms of their role as a woman.”

Beyond this, Tatum pointed to the wider implications of these comments on the world stage: "The women in question are being insulted in front of global audiences. This potential public humiliation speaks to the open way in which men are permitted to criticise and attack women with little, if any, penalty for doing so."

Dr. Emily Harmer, a senior lecturer in media at the University of Liverpool, told Newsweek that "the gender politics is quite complex because sometimes misogyny is just a convenient way of attacking and discrediting a perceived opponent because sexism is so entrenched in public life."

“But many of Trump’s previous actions clearly demonstrate that he has a particular problem with seeing women as equals,” Harmer said, before referencing the president's comments on the infamous Access Hollywood tape.

Ahead of the presidential election in 2016, a tape of Trump and Billy Bush, then host of Access Hollywood, having an inappropriate conversation about women on their way to film an episode of the show in 2005, was leaked.

The audio recording has Trump saying that as a celebrity, he was able to "grab" women by their genitalia, a comment that was widely condemned. Trump said afterward that the recording was simply "locker room talk" and did not accurately reflect the way he treats women.

“Attacking female journalists in particular also has a political upside of reinforcing conservative ideas about gender,” Harmer said, which she described as “red meat,” to the MAGA contingent.

What People Are Saying

Dr. Emily Harmer told Newsweek: “I think these attacks are a symptom of the administration’s escalating authoritarianism. We’ve seen similar attacks against women journalists elsewhere in the world (India, Philippines, Argentina, to name a few) with the presumed aim of undermining their credibility and to deter scrutiny of the administration’s actions, as well as a convenient way of putting women in their place for the gratification of his conservative base.”

Dr. Amy Tatum told Newsweek: “Women’s voices in the public sphere remain outnumbered, underrepresented and under-respected. By the president repeatedly displaying a dismissive and aggressive attitude toward women in public, he is demonstrating a tone that has the potential to encourage similar displays by other men in power, but also in everyday conversations. Research has shown that online spaces are full of misogynistic rhetoric and hate speech towards women, and to see the president engage in this so publicly has the very real potential to encourage and embolden such speech in both public and private spheres.”

What Happens Next

“The impact of his recent behaviour remains to be seen,” Tatum told Newsweek.

But as for the potential precedent being set, she said, “The potential of it to encourage misogynistic comments and aggression towards women in every day life is something that should be highlighted, seeing someone in such a powerful position speak this way without recourse has the potential to encourage and permit others to follow suit, and it is women who will pay the price for this in their every day environments.”

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