Donald Trump has a well-documented and consistent pattern of targeting the press, but in recent weeks, his highly visible criticism has become disproportionately aimed at female reporters in the White House press corps.
The escalation of personal and gendered insults has drawn renewed scrutiny and, in turn, prompted pointed responses from the journalists themselves.
“Nothing to Do With Gender”: The White House Defense
There was a time when it would have been unthinkable for a U.S. president to publicly use schoolyard insults, call a journalist “ugly,” or label an elected official with an ableist slur. But what once constituted a national scandal has, for many, become simply another day in the landscape of American political discourse.
In recent weeks, President Trump has come under renewed scrutiny for a series of highly personal and verbally aggressive attacks aimed at reporters during press gaggles and on social media.
Crucially, nearly all of the journalists who have recently drawn the president’s most severe anger have been women, though the White House maintains a firm stance that his comments have “nothing to do with gender.”
The severity of the language intensified last month. In November, Trump sparked widespread outrage when he told a Bloomberg White House correspondent, “Quiet, piggy,”
after she pressed him with a follow-up question regarding the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files—a topic he clearly did not want to address publicly.
The verbal hostility did not cease there.
Days later, he aimed fresh insults at another female journalist, a CNN reporter, calling her “nasty” and “stupid.”
Personal Insults and Slurs Define Thanksgiving Week
Thanksgiving week brought no pause to the administration’s hostility toward opponents and journalists.
In a string of venomous Truth Social posts, Trump lashed out at political rivals and public figures. He referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz with an ableist slur, and then quickly targeted Rep.Ilhan Omar with an Islamophobic remark, calling her “the worst ‘Congressman/woman’ in our Country… always wrapped in her swaddling hijab.”
The confrontations continued in person. When another female journalist questioned him about the suspect in an attack on National Guard members in Washington, D.C.—an Afghan national granted asylum under his own administration—Trump snapped back aggressively:
“Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?”
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, the network’s chief White House correspondent, became a further focal point of his ire. During a press conference, she questioned the president about renovations at the White House, specifically a new ballroom Trump claims is privately funded.
Hours later, he took to Truth Social, deliberately misspelling her name and writing:
“Caitlin Collin’s of Fake News CNN, always Stupid and Nasty…”
He then defended the construction project, stating it was “under budget and ahead of schedule,” “much bigger and more beautiful than originally planned,” and “fully paid for by private donations.” He finished the post with another broadside against
“FAKE NEWS CNN.”
The Journalists Fight Back
CNN responded swiftly and directly to the president’s attack on their chief correspondent, issuing a statement that read: “Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional journalist… audiences around the world know they can trust.”
Collins herself delivered a quiet but pointed correction on her personal Instagram account, noting: “Technically my question was about Venezuela.” Her reference highlighted the serious nature of her actual inquiry, which concerned a deadly bombing off the Venezuelan coast that killed more than 80 people—an attack widely condemned after reports of a possible “double tap,” which international law considers a war crime.
The Pentagon has since denied any wrongdoing, stating: “Our current operations… are lawful under both US and international law.”
Meanwhile, questions about Trump’s own physical stamina and fitness for office have resurfaced.
After The New York Times reported that the president was showing “signs of fatigue” and facing the “realities of aging in office,” Trump fired back online at the newspaper itself:
“The Creeps at the Failing New York Times are at it again… I have never worked so hard in my life.”
He added that while “there will be a day where my energy will run out,” his recent medical tests show “that won’t be anytime soon.”
The Times stood firmly by its reporting. “Name-calling and personal insults don’t change that,” said spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander. “Our journalists will not hesitate to cover this administration.”
Even though the president’s use of belittling, schoolyard-style insults toward female reporters has noticeably escalated in recent weeks, the White House maintains that his comments are entirely devoid of gender bias.
“President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Independent
. “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.”
