USA: For Trump, The Fight Is With Journalists First And Covid-19 Second
Location: United States, Washington D.C
Date: April 24, 2020Donald Trump has been locking horns with women journalists since before he took up space in the Oval Office. However, his recent skirmishes with reporters trying to cover the pandemic are a cut above his regular antics.
Just a few days ago, he locked horns with PBS Newshour’s Yamiche Alcindor. When she questioned him on earlier statements he had made about medical equipment, Trump responded by refusing to admit he had ever made the comment, and then proceeded to tell the journalist to “act a little more positive”.
Instead of answering questions about his government’s response to Covid-19 and the many glaring gaps that have since emerged therein, he shifted the narrative to the media being untrustworthy, before finally telling Yamiche to “Be nice. Don’t be threatening.”
This is not the first time Trump has told a woman of colour reporting from the White House to basically shut up in not so many words. Yamiche herself took to Twitter to respond: “President Trump today at the White House said to me: 'Be nice. Don't be threatening.' I’m not the first human being, woman, black person or journalist to be told that while doing a job. My take: Be steady. Stay focused. Remember your purpose. And, always press forward."
President Trump today at the White House said to me: “Be nice. Don't be threatening.”
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) March 29, 2020
I’m not the first human being, woman, black person or journalist to be told that while doing a job.
My take: Be steady. Stay focused. Remember your purpose. And, always press forward.
Later, another CBS reporter Paula Reid also asked difficult questions that Trump could neither handle nor appreciated. When Paula refused to back down and kept stating facts around the failure to respond in an adequate and timely manner, Trump resorted to calling her disgraceful and throwing a literal tantrum.
“Look, look, you know you’re a fake. You know that, your whole network, the way that you cover it is fake,” he said.
The ire isn’t saved for journalists that come from networks he doesn’t like. Fox News’ Kristin Fisher’s attempts to question Trump about hospitals running out of material resulted in him throwing another fit.
“You should say ‘congratulations, great job,’ instead of being so horrid in the way you ask a question,” he said.
More recently, Trump tussled with Weijia Jiang as she questioned him on his government’s delayed response to the pandemic. Trump responded by telling a perfectly calm Weijia to “relax” and “keep your voice down”.
Trump’s conduct was called out by CNN’s Dana Bash, who said: “As a woman who has covered the White House, as a woman who covers politics and policy in Washington, we just have to say that the way he treats the female reporters is different.”
LOL -- a half-hour after he got upset because the clip of Andrew Cuomo praising him didn't play all the way through, Trump finally gets his wish and the rest of it is played pic.twitter.com/DEAnKFq22w
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 19, 2020
Why does not a single journalist ever say to Trump during these briefings “do not speak to me this way”??
— Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין (@MairavZ) April 20, 2020
Weija herself responded to the episode on Twitter:
So I asked him about what he was doing in February. (Rallies.)
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) April 20, 2020
And what he has to say to the many Americans who wonder why he did not warn them sooner that the virus was spreading like wildfire at the time.
(He told me to relax.) https://t.co/IW0IKKkBJ7
It is unfortunate that Trump chooses to take this tone with journalists who are simply doing their job. We stand with the women journalists who are continuing their work on the front lines despite the risks, and this includes correspondents and reporters who venture to the White House for updates that all Americans are waiting for.
Trump needs to realize that the real enemy right now are not women journalists, but the pandemic.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.