Another week of Trump's fury against journalists: insults, disparagement, and a threat

WASHINGTON — "Quiet, quiet! What's wrong with you? Are you sick? I think something's wrong with you." In the middle of an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office last Tuesday, Donald Trump became visibly rattled and lashed out at British journalist Andrew Feinberg after The Independent's White House correspondent attempted to ask him a question about his golf courses and his new federal program for reporting government fraud. Moments earlier, the US president — accustomed to tense clashes involving insults and put-downs of journalists — had snapped a warning at Feinberg: "Hey! I don't know who the hell you are, but you'd better be careful." The harsh exchange was even celebrated by Vice President JD Vance, who wrote on his X account that Trump had "destroyed the 'journalist' imbecile Andrew Feinberg for misbehaving in the Oval Office." The scene, which took place in the presidential office considered the most influential center of political power in the world, is not an isolated case. Trump — whom Javier Milei has elevated as his main international ally — has a long history of clashes with journalists, restrictions on press coverage, and even lawsuits against media outlets. However, he has never reached levels of violence like those of the Argentine president, who this Friday listed a series of journalists who, according to him, "should be burned at the stake." President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. Julia Demaree Nikhinson - AP On various occasions, Trump's responses have included personal attacks directed at journalists who asked him about specific decisions of his administration. The clashes generally take place in the Oval Office and on the South Lawn of the White House, when the president usually answers questions before boarding the Marine One helicopter. The magnate has repeatedly attacked Kaitlan Collins, 34, CNN's chief White House correspondent, whom he has called "stupid and nasty" and criticized for "never smiling." He has also said he saw "hatred in her eyes." Last Wednesday, he added another chapter to his attacks on Collins. "You don't know what you're talking about. You have a low IQ, you're stupid, and you work for CNN," he told Collins, one of the network's journalists. Last Friday, in another episode of his attacks, Trump went after NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba, whom he called a "horrible little reporter" on his Truth Social platform after repeatedly telling her to be quiet as she tried to ask him a question about his defense of a controversial political ad targeting Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio. Trump had backed an ad from his Republican rival, Vivek Ramaswamy, which featured Acton's mother — with whom she has a distant relationship — despite bipartisan criticism of the ad's use of a painful family history of abuse. "But don't the sexual abuse allegations mean anything to you?" Alba asked Trump. The president gestured for her to be quiet, raising his index finger, while the reporter insisted on asking about the matter. The magnate asked her which outlet she worked for and, when she answered "NBC News," called the network "one of the worst there is." In fact, the "worst," according to the president's own view, is ABC News. He made that clear to Karen Travers, a reporter for the network, last Wednesday. "Are you a stupid person? Who do you work for?" the president asked, after Travers questioned him about the lifting of sanctions against Russia to secure the release, after four years, of retired American professor Stephen Hubbard, detained by Kremlin forces during the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "ABC News," the reporter replied. "You're a stupid person. And by the way, your network is the worst of all," the magnate then told her. With threats, insults, intimidation tactics, and even lawsuits, the constant confrontation with the press has marked Trump's second term, and a ban last month barring journalists from three outlets — CNN, MS NOW, and Politico — from accessing the White House escalated the offensive to new ground. A judge temporarily blocked the ban, which was considered a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. The US president has repeatedly shown irritation at coverage by several media outlets that, he claims, portray his administration in a very negative light. Recently, Trump has filed multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuits against The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, obtained settlements of nearly $15 million from the networks CBS and ABC News, and even blocked Associated Press (AP) journalists' access to the Oval Office and Air Force One in February of last year, after the agency refused to adopt the renaming of the "Gulf of Mexico" to the "Gulf of America" following an executive order by the magnate. AP took the case to court. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Julia Demaree Nikhinson - AP The front has also expanded into regulatory and judicial territory. Last August, for example, Disney sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for carrying out a "campaign of retaliation" against its subsidiary network ABC and threatening its licenses for "disapproving of what the network broadcasts." Trump has also targeted CNN for helping spread accusations that he conspired with Russia during his first term (2017-2021) and for the dissemination of photos and documents linking him to the magnate convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019. By Guillermo Idiart