When a female reporter speaks up

Since the incumbent president likes to brag on things he did not do and also likes to denigrate female reporters as he did recently with CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, let’s marry those two issues and remember a put down by CBS’ Paula Reid. Per an AI search summary:

”In August 2020, then-CBS News White House correspondent Paula Reid challenged President Donald Trump during a press conference regarding his repeated false claims that he passed the Veterans Choice program.

The Claim: President Trump frequently claimed he was responsible for creating the Veterans Choice program, often stating he achieved it after others failed for “50 years”.

The Confrontation: During a press conference at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, Reid confronted Trump, asking, “Why do you keep saying that you passed Veterans Choice? It was passed in 2014…it was a false statement, sir”.

The Facts: The Veterans Choice program was signed into law in 2014 by President Barack Obama, not Trump. While Trump signed the VA MISSION Act in 2018, which expanded and modified the existing program, he did not create it.

The Reaction: When pressed by Reid, Trump attempted to call on another reporter, but she persisted with the correction. Trump then abruptly ended the press conference.

This incident was widely noted as a direct challenge by a reporter to a false statement made by the President regarding legislative accomplishments. “

I guess she did not smile enough for him using one of his criticisms of Ms. Collins.

Only smiling women allowed

Let’s all give a smile to the courageous CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins who was ridiculed by he-who-shall-not-be-named for asking him questions about the Epstein files. Among his denigrating comments he implied he never saw her smile so she must be lying. He was demeaning a woman who had the temerity to ask him questions about his demeaning of women and girls. Of course his accusing someone of lying is funny in its own right.

Per The New York Times, here is more of the story:

”President Trump laced into the CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins in the Oval Office on Tuesday, calling her ‘the worst reporter’ and scolding her for not smiling as she tried to ask about the latest release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

‘She’s a young woman — I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile,’ Mr. Trump said in a sarcastic tone, while sitting at the Resolute Desk. ‘I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face.’

Ms. Collins noted that she was asking the president about Mr. Epstein’s sexual assault victims, but Mr. Trump interrupted her. ‘You know why you’re not smiling? Because you know you’re not telling the truth,’ he said.

Mr. Trump has often singled out female journalists for attacks and insults; last year, he cut off a Bloomberg News reporter by barking, ‘Quiet! Quiet, piggy.’”

Just to set the record straight, in the eyes of he-who-shall-not-be-named, it is OK to grope and kiss a woman without her permission (his words), it is OK to befriend a registered sex offender and attend his parties with underage girls and young women, it is OK to intentionally walk in on partially nude beauty pageant contestants (including teens) as he shared on Howard Stern, and it is OK to denigrate women for just about anything – asking questions, their looks, their demeanor, etc. We should consider the source of such denigration. He-who-shall-not-be-named.