For the second time in recent weeks, President Trump has lashed out at a Black woman journalist questioning his expensive building projects. The latest blowup, over a question about the ballooning cost of the new White House ballroom, adds to a long pattern of Trump attacking female journalists, often women of color, whose reporting he doesn’t like.
Trump calls Black woman journalist ‘you dumb person’
Trump’s latest personal attack against a woman reporter came as the president took questions before departing for a trip to China. In an exchange shared across social media, MS Now reporter Akayla Gardner asked Trump about the ballooning budget of the ballroom that Trump is attempting to build after he controversially tore down the East Wing of the White House.
“I’ve doubled the size of it because we obviously need that,” Trump said of the ballroom project. “And we’re right now on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule.”
As Gardner asked a follow-up question about the cost of the ballroom doubling, Trump cut her off, leaned toward her and snarled, “I doubled the size of it, you dumb person. I doubled the size. You are, you are not a smart person.”
White House defends Trump’s comments
Despite the personal nature of Trump’s comments against Gardner and his long track record of going after women asking him questions, the White House is defending the president’s latest remarks. The Daily Beast reports that White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement, “President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency.”
Jackson further said of Trump’s remarks to Gardner, “This has nothing to do with gender – it has everything to do with the fact that the President’s and the public’s trust in the media is at all-time lows.”
The White House’s Rapid Response 47 social media page also doubled down on the exchange, posting a clip of Trump’s exchange with Gardner and attaching the label “FAKE NEWS” to her accurate remark that the price of the ballroom project has recently doubled from previous estimates.
Growing list of Trump insults against women in journalism
Trump’s remarks against Gardner represent the second time in the past few days that the president has personally attacked a Black woman journalist. Last week, Trump called ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott “one of the worst reporters” and “a horror show” after saying she’d asked “a stupid question” about the cost of construction projects Trump has launched around Washington, D.C., monuments.
These attacks are part of a long list of personal insults launched by Trump against women journalists. Scott herself has been on the receiving end of Trump’s ire before; in December, he called her “obnoxious” and “a terrible reporter” over a question about controversial strikes against alleged drug boats. In other incidents, Trump has referred to women reporters as “stupid” or “ugly” and shouted down one journalist by saying, “Quiet, piggy.”
As Trump pushes controversial projects like the White House ballroom while many Americans remain unhappy with the economy, the war with Iran and other policies, the president can expect more tough questions. If those questions come from women, and particularly women of color, Trump seems determined to personally attack these reporters with comments unbecoming of the president of the United States.