MaddowBlog-Lashing out at women in media, Trump can't seem to help himself [View all]
In a trend that seems to be getting worse, the president is struggling to treat women who cover the White House with any modicum of respect or professionalism.
December 2014: Barack Obama holds a press conference, fields questions exclusively from women journalists, breaking new ground.
December 2025: Donald Trump repeatedly lashes out at women covering the White House, breaking a different kind of new ground. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-09T16:09:09.160Z
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/lashing-out-at-women-in-media-trump-cant-seem-to-help-himself
That was in December 2014. In December 2025, Donald Trump is also breaking new ground with his interactions with the women who cover his White House, although the Republican incumbent is making a very different kind of point. The Hill reported:
President Trump on Monday lashed out at an ABC News reporter after she pressed him on his comments about controversial military strikes on alleged drug boats, marking the latest instance in recent weeks of the president criticizing a female journalist.
ABCs Rachel Scott did not deserve a presidential tantrum. She reminded Trump about his own position from five days earlier regarding the release of a Pentagon video of a second strike that targeted the survivors of a Sept. 2 assault on a civilian boat in international waters.
The president pretended he didnt say what everyone had already heard him say, before lashing out the ABC correspondent who asked a perfectly reasonable question.....
The harangue was ugly and unnecessary, but it was also familiar. Consider the list from the past few weeks.
Nov. 14: En route to Florida for his latest golf weekend, Trump fielded a few questions from reporters on Air Force One, and a Bloomberg journalist took the opportunity to ask about one of the Jeffrey Epstein emails. When she tried to ask a follow-up question, the president snapped, Quiet, piggy.
Nov. 18: When Mary Bruce, ABC News chief White House correspondent, asked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabias de facto ruler, about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump whined that the reporters question might embarrass his guest, seemingly unaware of the fact that its not the job of the press to protect the feelings of foreign authoritarians. He went on to describe the question as insubordinate, as if journalists were somehow employees of the Saudi royal family, before telling Bruce shes terrible.
Nov. 26: When The New York Times ran an article about the presidents stamina, Trump published an online tantrum that concluded with the Republican saying the reporter who wrote the article is ugly, both inside and out.
Nov. 27: Trump told a reporter she was a stupid person for asking a question he didnt like about his asylum policies.
Dec. 6: The president slammed CNNs Kaitlan Collins as stupid and nasty.
.....Trump remains exactly who he has always appeared to be.
Hes the man in the E. Jean Carroll case. Hes the one on the Access Hollywood recording. Hes the Republican who suggested some of the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct werent attractive enough to assault. Hes the politician who vowed to protect women from the White House, whether the women like it or not.
Hes also the one who struggles to treat the women who cover the White House with some modicum of respect and professionalism.