{"id":169195,"date":"2026-02-08T11:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T11:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/169195\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T11:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T11:24:16","slug":"column-trumps-attacks-on-journalists-are-just-tired-political-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/169195\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Trump’s attacks on journalists are just tired political theater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Unlike Kaitlan Collins of CNN, Catherine Lucey<\/a> of Bloomberg, Mary Bruce<\/a> of ABC, Nancy Cordes<\/a> of CBS or Rachel Scott <\/a>of ABC, I have never been yelled at or insulted by a president.<\/p>\n

OK, once, next to an Iowa cornfield, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama made fun of me for shivering in the cold. But I deserved it; the weather was a balmy 50 degrees.<\/p>\n

The sheer number of journalists<\/a> who find themselves the targets of Trump\u2019s childish outbursts demonstrates that he flaunts the kind of personality flaws that most chief executives try to hide. He has a short fuse, has no use for decorum and can\u2019t stand being challenged \u2014 especially by women.<\/p>\n

The journalists, you have probably noticed, almost never take the bait. Nobody chucks a shoe at the president the way Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi <\/a>did in 2008. (\u201cThis is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!\u201d al-Zaidi yelled<\/a> before throwing both of his shoes at President George W. Bush during a Baghdad news conference. Bush ducked. Twice.) <\/p>\n

In any case, American journalists generally don\u2019t take Trump\u2019s attacks personally because they are not in the room for personal reasons. They are professionals who represent their readers, listeners and viewers. They are there to elicit information, not pick fights or get the last word.<\/p>\n

Collins is the most recent journalist to find herself in the crosshairs of Trump, who bristled Wednesday at her question about redactions in the Epstein files: \u201cWhat would you say to the survivors who feel like they haven\u2019t gotten justice, Mr. President?\u201d<\/p>\n

After a brief I-really-don\u2019t-care-do-you shrug of his shoulders, the president went off on Collins.<\/a> \u201cI think it\u2019s really time for the country to get on to something else,\u201d said Trump, whose name appears more than 38,000 times in the most recently released batch of Epstein files.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the worst reporter,\u201d Trump said. \u201cCNN has no ratings because of people like you. \u2026 I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen you smile. I\u2019ve known you for 10 years and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen a smile on your face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins, still not smiling, tried to redirect Trump to her question. Twice. But he was on a roll: \u201cYou know why you\u2019re not smiling? Because you know you\u2019re not telling the truth. You\u2019re a very dishonest organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that day, I read a few social media posts questioning why other members of the media didn\u2019t step in to defend Collins in the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand why colleagues stay silent when this happens,\u201d writer Roxane Gay posted<\/a> on Bluesky.<\/p>\n

To that, another Bluesky user replied<\/a>, \u201cI want at least one reporter, ONE, to be like \u2018Hey, that\u2019s rude, don\u2019t talk to another person like that. Be an adult.\u2019 That\u2019s all it needs to be!\u201d<\/p>\n

I hate to disappoint them, but that would be pointless.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, the experience of former CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta. During Trump\u2019s first term, Acosta often challenged the president for denigrating the media as \u201cfake news.\u201d Shortly after taking office the first time, Trump pouted at a news conference that the media hated him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd just for the record, we don\u2019t hate you,\u201d said Acosta, mistakenly thinking he needed to defend himself. \u201cI don\u2019t hate you.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Trump is never actually talking to the reporters he insults or whines about. He is talking to his base, building an alternative narrative to shift attention away from an unpleasant subject like Epstein, or to undermine reporting he considers unfavorable. His is a tried and true rhetorical strategy that has little to do with individual journalists.<\/p>\n

Back in Trump\u2019s first term, before his lack of restraint was entirely normalized, his exchanges with reporters still had the power to shock. In November 2018, Acosta asked Trump why he mischaracterized migrant caravans from Central America as an \u201cinvasion.\u201d Trump called him a \u201crude, terrible person.\u201d Trump became furious; Acosta continued to press him.<\/p>\n

Finally Trump said, \u201cOK, that\u2019s enough,\u201d and a White House intern tried to take the microphone away <\/a>from Acosta to give it to another reporter. Acosta held fast. The White House later accused him of putting his hands on the young woman, which video clearly shows did not happen. Nevertheless, the White House punished Acosta by revoking his credential.<\/a> CNN sued, a federal judge ordered<\/a> Acosta\u2019s access restored and the White House complied. (Those were the good old days when the White House complied with federal courts.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Last week, many journalists stepped up to defend Collins on social media. Our tone-deaf vice president, JD Vance, on the other hand, defended Trump\u2019s remarks as \u201cso perceptive\u201d and seemed energized by the whole affair.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust have some fun,\u201d Vance told Megyn Kelly.<\/a> \u201cYou can\u2019t always take yourself too seriously.\u201d (Do we really need to explain why telling a woman to smile is sexist<\/a>? Collins\u2019 question, remember, was about girls who had been sex trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein. Fun!)<\/p>\n

Anyway, we do have a record of what happens when a journalist steps up in the moment to defend a colleague against Trump. It\u2019s pointless to argue. <\/p>\n

In 2018, after the president insulted Acosta, he called on NBC\u2019s Peter Alexander. \u201cIn Jim\u2019s defense,\u201d Alexander said, \u201che\u2019s a diligent reporter who busts his butt.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d Trump replied, \u201cI\u2019m not a big fan of yours, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

See what I mean?<\/p>\n

Bluesky: @rabcarian<\/a>
Threads: @rabcarian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlike Kaitlan Collins of CNN, Catherine Lucey of Bloomberg, Mary Bruce of ABC, Nancy Cordes of CBS or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3587,81220,1794,81222,5177,34573,25210,24822,81221,48,52,51,47,50,49,6283,1423,315,1519,81223,1557],"class_list":["post-169195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-abc","tag-acosta","tag-attack","tag-bad-reporter","tag-cnn","tag-epstein-file","tag-fun","tag-journalist","tag-kaitlan-collins","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-president","tag-question","tag-time","tag-trump","tag-white-house-intern","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}