I have reached a point where Donald Trump's treatment of women, particularly women journalists, is so predictable that I can almost anticipate the script before he opens his mouth. A woman asks him a question he does not like, the substance of the question becomes irrelevant, and suddenly we are no longer talking about politics, government, corruption, foreign policy, accountability or whatever issue she actually asked about. We are talking about her face, her personality, her intelligence, her appearance, her supposed attitude, her smile, her weight, her competence, or some humiliating nickname he has decided to throw at her. It is an incredibly old tactic, but watching it happen to women who are simply doing their jobs is still infuriating because it is such a familiar experience for women everywhere. The message underneath it is not complicated. Stay pleasant. Do not challenge me. Do not make me uncomfortable. Do not ask the question again. Do not look too serious. Do not push too hard. Smile.
What makes this particularly disturbing to me is that these women are not confronting him in some personal argument at a dinner party. They are journalists. Asking difficult questions is literally their job.
And when a powerful man cannot answer the question, attacking the woman asking it is a remarkably convenient escape route.
The "quiet piggy" moment
One of the most grotesque recent examples happened in November 2025, when Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey was questioning Trump aboard Air Force One about the Epstein files. Lucey was trying to ask why Trump was behaving as he was if there was supposedly nothing incriminating in the files, and before she could even finish her follow-up, Trump pointed at her and said, "Quiet. Quiet, piggy."
I keep coming back to that incident because "piggy" is not an argument, and it is not a rebuttal, and it certainly is not an answer to a question about government transparency. It is an insult about a woman's body used to humiliate her in front of other people, and it is particularly revealing that the insult arrived precisely when she was asking a question he did not want to answer.
Imagine the workplace equivalent. A female employee asks her boss a difficult question about something important, the boss cannot or does not want to answer, so he points at her and calls her "piggy." We would immediately understand how degrading and inappropriate that would be. The fact that the man doing it is the president does not somehow transform the behavior into leadership.
It is also worth remembering that "piggy" fits into a much older pattern in Trump's treatment of women. His insults toward women have repeatedly involved comparisons to animals and attacks on their physical appearance, something documented for years by the Associated Press, PBS and other outlets.
Kaitlan Collins apparently needs to smile
Then there is CNN's Kaitlan Collins, whom Trump has repeatedly attacked over the years.
In 2026, Trump complained publicly that Collins "never smiles," describing her as a young, attractive woman and telling her to smile because she had "a nice position" at CNN.
This one really gets under my skin because women have heard this nonsense forever. Smile. Why are you so serious? You would be prettier if you smiled. You seem angry. You need to soften your expression. You have a nice position, so why don't you look happier?
Imagine a male political correspondent being publicly evaluated by the president according to whether he smiles enough.
The problem is not that smiling is inherently bad. The problem is the expectation that a woman who is doing serious work should also make herself visually pleasant for a powerful man. Collins is not standing there to decorate the room. She is there to ask questions.
Trump has also attacked Collins as a "nasty" and "stupid" reporter, and in 2026 he escalated his criticism of her, calling her among the worst reporters while continuing to focus on her demeanor and personality rather than simply answering her questions.
The fixation is revealing. When a woman asks an inconvenient question, suddenly the conversation becomes about whether she is nice enough.
Megyn Kelly and the "blood" comment
Perhaps the most famous example is Megyn Kelly.
During the 2015 Republican presidential debate, Kelly asked Trump about his history of referring to women he disliked as "fat pigs," "dogs," "slobs" and "disgusting animals." Trump responded by claiming he had only used those descriptions toward Rosie O'Donnell, before the exchange continued.
After the debate, rather than simply engaging with Kelly's questions, Trump attacked her personally and said that when she had questioned him, "there was blood coming out of her eyes" and then added "blood coming out of her wherever."
He later said he had "zero respect" for Kelly and called her highly overrated.
The remarkable thing about this entire episode is that Kelly had done exactly what a journalist is supposed to do. She asked a presidential candidate about his own words and his own treatment of women.
She did not need to be sweeter. She did not need to smile. She did not need to make him feel respected while challenging him. She needed to ask the question.
April Ryan was told to stop asking questions
April Ryan, a veteran White House correspondent, also experienced Trump's hostility firsthand. During a 2017 press conference, Ryan asked Trump about his administration's plans concerning the Congressional Black Caucus. Trump responded by asking her to set up a meeting with them, apparently treating her as though she were somehow connected to the caucus simply because she was a Black journalist asking about it.
When she attempted to continue, Trump told her to "set up the meeting." The episode became another example of how Trump's hostility toward female reporters could turn a substantive political question into a confrontation about the journalist herself. His broader history with Ryan included repeatedly dismissing and attacking her as a reporter.
This is one of those moments where I think women recognize the dynamic immediately. You ask a legitimate question, the person in power does not like where the question is going, and instead of answering it, they start trying to put you back into your place.
Yamiche Alcindor and the accusation that she asked a "racist" question
Yamiche Alcindor also became a target of Trump's hostility during a 2018 press conference when she asked him about his rhetoric toward people of color and whether he had emboldened white nationalists.
Trump responded by telling her her question was racist and accusing her of being provocative. Again, notice what happens. The journalist asks about racism. The president does not simply answer. The journalist becomes the problem.
That pattern is worth paying attention to because it is one of the easiest ways powerful people avoid accountability. If you can convince everyone that the person asking the question is rude, biased, stupid, nasty, disrespectful or somehow morally defective, you can shift the entire conversation away from the thing you were asked.
Mary Bruce gets called a terrible reporter and a terrible person
ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce has also been on the receiving end of Trump's attacks.
In the continuing controversy over the Epstein files, Trump called Bruce a "terrible reporter" and a "terrible person" after she questioned him about the subject.
I find that combination particularly telling because "terrible reporter" at least pretends to be a professional criticism, while "terrible person" is something else entirely. It is an attack on character.
This is a recurring Trump technique. The question becomes irrelevant and the person asking it becomes the target.
Kristen Holmes and the latest version of the same performance
This behavior has not disappeared with time.
In August 2026, CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes asked Trump about a critical comment from Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. Trump dismissed her as a "fake reporter" and called her "very disrespectful." The White House then escalated the attack online, criticizing Holmes personally and even bringing her children into the political fight. CNN defended Holmes and described her as a respected journalist doing her job.
We can't dismiss these episodes as merely Trump being Trump.
A president has enormous power. Journalists are one of the mechanisms through which the public gets to question that power. When a president repeatedly singles out journalists for humiliation, particularly when the attacks become personal and are directed at women who challenge him, the behavior is not merely unpleasant. It contributes to an environment in which intimidation becomes normalized.
And once intimidation becomes normal, everyone learns the lesson.
The attacks are not limited to women journalists
Trump's misogynistic history obviously goes much further than his treatment of female reporters.
He has repeatedly commented on women's bodies, appearances and sexual desirability, including describing women in degrading terms and making remarks about their looks. His 2015 comments about women he disliked being "fat pigs," "dogs," "slobs" and "disgusting animals" became part of the public record, while his 2016 "Access Hollywood" recording included his infamous comments about grabbing women without their consent.
He called former Miss Universe Alicia Machado "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping," mocked her weight and publicly attacked her appearance after she gained weight during her reign. His history of attacking women's appearances has also included calling Stormy Daniels "horseface," another example of reducing a woman to an insult about how she looks.
He attacked Mika Brzezinski by referring to her as "low IQ" and making a deeply personal comment about her appearance, including the infamous description of her as having been "bleeding badly from a face-lift" when she visited Mar-a-Lago. The episode caused widespread criticism, including from people who otherwise had political disagreements with Brzezinski.
He has also made comments about women's sexuality, attractiveness and bodies throughout his career, and a comprehensive compilation published in 2026 documented dozens of examples spanning decades, involving journalists, politicians, celebrities, contestants and other women.
Taken individually, someone can always try to explain one away. That's the point of explaining away one incident at a time. You say he was joking. You say he was angry. You say the journalist was rude first. You say he treats men badly too. You say he is just blunt. You say people are too sensitive. You say the media hates him.
After enough incidents, however, the argument that every example is unrelated becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.
He does it to men too, but that does not erase the gendered pattern
I know the response that will come immediately from some people because I have heard it before.
"Trump insults men too."
Yes.
He absolutely does.
Trump has attacked male journalists, politicians and critics with plenty of insults, and his general relationship with the press is notoriously combative. His hostility toward journalism is not exclusively about women.
But that does not erase the specifically gendered nature of many of his attacks on women.
When a female journalist asks a difficult question, the response can become an attack on her appearance, her smile, her attractiveness, her personality, her body or whether she is "nasty." The substance of her work gets replaced by judgments about whether she is sufficiently pleasant.
That is different from merely saying, "Your reporting is wrong."
And women know the difference.
The "smile" thing is bigger than Trump
The reason the Kaitlan Collins incident bothers me more than a random insult is because "smile" is such a familiar command to women that it almost sounds harmless.
Women have been told to smile by bosses, strangers, coworkers, dates, men on the street, customers, relatives and complete idiots who think they are entitled to supervise our facial expressions. I was said that in a club.
A woman can be exhausted and be told to smile. A woman can be grieving and be told to smile. A woman can be concentrating and be told to smile. A woman can be furious because something genuinely terrible happened and still be expected to make her face more comfortable for everyone else.
So when the president tells a female journalist that she never smiles and should smile, I don't hear an innocent observation about her personality. I hear the same old demand women have been hearing forever, delivered by one of the most powerful men in the world.
Make yourself more pleasant. Make yourself less intimidating. Make yourself easier for me to deal with. And preferably, stop asking questions that make me uncomfortable.
"Nasty woman" and the punishment for refusing to be agreeable
Trump's famous description of Hillary Clinton as a "nasty woman" during the 2016 presidential debate also belongs in this conversation, particularly because it captured something larger than one insult.
Clinton had just been talking about taxes, Social Security and Trump's refusal to release his tax returns when Trump interrupted and said, "Such a nasty woman."
It became one of those moments where the word "nasty" seemed to function as a punishment for a woman who refused to perform agreeableness. A man can be aggressive and be called strong. A man can interrupt and be called assertive. A man can be confrontational and be called tough.
Women are constantly navigating the narrow space between being too passive to be taken seriously and too assertive to be considered likable.
Trump's treatment of women has repeatedly played directly into that double standard.
The bigger problem is what happens after the insult
What bothers me most is what the insult accomplishes.
When Trump calls Catherine Lucey "piggy," we are talking about Catherine Lucey's body instead of the Epstein files.
When he tells Kaitlan Collins to smile, we are talking about Kaitlan Collins's facial expression instead of her journalism.
When he calls Mary Bruce a terrible reporter and terrible person, we are talking about Mary Bruce instead of the substance of her question.
When he calls Kristen Holmes a fake reporter and attacks her personally, the discussion moves away from what she asked him.
That is an extremely effective distraction. You do not have to answer the question if you can make the questioner the story.
Women should be allowed to be difficult
I think this is the part I want women to remember. You are allowed to be difficult. You are allowed to ask the uncomfortable question. You are allowed to have a serious face. You are allowed to not smile. You are allowed to interrupt when someone is avoiding your question. You are allowed to challenge a powerful man without worrying about whether he thinks you are nice. You are allowed to be ambitious without making yourself smaller so other people can feel comfortable around you. You are allowed to be a journalist whose job is to make the president uncomfortable. In fact, if you are a journalist questioning the president, making him uncomfortable may be exactly what you are supposed to do. A free press is not supposed to exist to make politicians feel good about themselves.
This is why I don't find "he's just joking" convincing
One of the most exhausting defenses of Trump's behavior is that he is just joking, or that this is simply his personality, or that everyone knows he is provocative.
I understand that Trump uses humor, exaggeration and insults as part of his political persona, but calling something a joke does not automatically make the underlying behavior harmless.
A joke can reveal what someone thinks is funny. A joke can reveal what someone thinks is an acceptable way to humiliate another person. A joke can also be used as an escape hatch when the reaction is negative. If the audience laughs, great. If people object, it was only a joke. If the woman being targeted becomes upset, she is too sensitive. If journalists criticize it, they are biased. It is a very convenient system.
I am tired of women having to earn the right to be respected
What I find exhausting about misogyny is how often women are expected to provide a flawless justification before anyone will agree that a man treated them badly.
Was she polite enough? Was she smiling? Was she wearing something provocative? Was she too aggressive? Did she interrupt? Did she ask the question nicely? Did she have a good attitude? Was she respectful? Did she perhaps provoke him?
I would rather ask a much simpler question.
Did she have the right to ask?
If the answer is yes, then the powerful person being questioned needs to deal with the question. A female journalist does not owe a president a smile before she is allowed to ask him about his conduct. She does not owe him admiration. She does not owe him warmth. She does not owe him emotional comfort.
She owes the public journalism. And he owes the public answers. That is the relationship.
Not "you smile and I will tolerate your presence." Not "you flatter me and I will treat you nicely." Not "you ask the approved question and you are a good reporter."
The job of journalism is not to make powerful men feel comfortable. It is to make sure powerful men know that somebody is watching.
When that somebody is a woman who refuses to be intimidated, refuses to smile on command, refuses to stay quiet and refuses to accept an insult instead of an answer, I think she deserves considerably more respect than the man yelling at her.
Thankful for your presence, Neja
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