All for one and one for all. Teamwork makes the dream work. We’re all in this together. United we stand, divided we fall. For White House correspondents? Not so much.
Everybody’s heard about the repeated incidents in which President Trump has insulted reporters, primarily female reporters, for asking legitimate questions he doesn’t want to answer.
If you hit a nerve, he lashes out, calling you stupid and fatty and a bad reporter before moving on to insult the organization for which you work.
Maybe he’ll even slam his palm on his desk for emphasis. And he’ll never answer the question, because somehow his profane refusals are quite effective at ending the conversation, if he doesn’t just end the press conference right then and there. He thinks he can get away with it, and he’s right, because he keeps insulting people with ad hominem attacks and nobody in the room steps forward to object.
They’re cowards. They’re worried that they’ll be Acosta’d, getting their credentials pulled because the Big Guy doesn’t like them.
But if you’re out in the real world with friends and someone goes after someone in your entourage, you’d at least say something, right? You might even slug someone. (Not endorsing violence here, but that’s how a lot of fights start.) You defend your own against blowhards, or you literally walk away. Even if you choose de-escalation, you at the very least respond to the provocation in some way. Trump resorts to name-calling and crude behavior and what does the White House correspondents pool do?
Nothing. Someone asks a different question, and they hang the insulted reporter out to dry. Later, after the conference is over, they may complain, tsk-tsking in op-ed pieces nobody reads, but nothing is otherwise done and everybody moves on as if this is perfectly normal behavior by a perfectly sane person. Nothing to see here. Credentials still in effect. We’re good.
This is normalization. It allows toddler-like (or worse) behavior by officials to continue, lets those officials off the hook, and leaves at least one person in the room a ripe target for the trolls you see daily on social media. Crude bullying is accepted because, well, that’s just Trump — we all know he says whatever’s on his mind — and, besides, I gotta get outside for a live hit on MSNBC or MS NOW or whatever the hell it’s called these days.
So the President’s bad behavior is rewarded, a colleague takes a hit, and, soon enough, he’ll do it again. Why wouldn’t he? Nobody hits back, and it embellishes one of the policies that got him the job in the first place: making the media into the enemy unless they bend the knee and praise him.
What should they have done? If someone doesn’t answer your question, ask it again. If you don’t get an answer, or if the result is a barrage of insults, the next reporter he calls upon should ask the exact same question. Every reporter should ask the same question until they get an answer. And someone in the room should directly respond to the insult and make him squirm or yell or whatever he does when he’s upset. If you let him get away with it, not only will he repeat the performance at future press gaggles, but it gives other officials free rein to use the same tactic to avoid tough questions. You KNOW Pete Hegseth took notes.
It’s come down to having to treat the President of the United States as if he’s an unruly toddler. He’s not a toddler, though — he’s a crude, badly behaved adult, and he needs to be humbled when he calls reporters “fatty.”
Maybe they should make him look in a mirror. He’s not exactly svelte, his skin is badly spray-oranged, his hair is odd, and he can’t dance. There. Imagine a reporter telling him that in a press conference. Sure, it’s a guaranteed way to lose your credentials, and maybe your job, but someone has to do it and you’ll sleep better at night.
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Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.
News Flash! Americans love his transparency not to mention your ratings are low for a reason, nobody but the left digests your propaganda anymore. Yes I work in the media.
Sorry Dan. If you actually believe that calling a reporter”Piggy” is “transparent” and acceptable behavior you are as bad as him. It’s not left vs right dude..it’s about a crude narcissist that acts like a six year old on a playground.