Trump trashing female reporters was despicable. The other reporters not standing up to Trump was inexcusable
Corporate media failed us again
We saw Donald Trump on Friday--and again yesterday--personally smear and berate female reporters for simply during their jobs. That was despicable. But what we also saw was that not one member of the corporate media at those events stood up for these reporters. And that is both inexcusable and tells you so much about the horrible state of corporate media.
On Friday, Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey took the opportunity during an Air Force One flight to push Trump on his long relationship with convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Lucey asked, “Mr. President. What did Jeffrey Epstein mean in his emails when he said, ‘you knew about the girls?’” Trump dismissed the question, claiming he knows “nothing about that,” but then went on to list Democrats whose names appeared in other Epstein emails.
Lucey then asked, “If there is nothing incriminating in the files…” Trump angrily interrupted her, leaned in while pointing his finger in her face. That is when Trump despicably barked, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.” (See clip below)
In a sea of vile and despicable actions by Trump, this was especially jarring. Trump had the female reporter cornered in the tight space of the plane as he menacingly mocked her. For me at least, Trump’s threatening conduct conjured up Trump’s history of being an adjudicated a rapist, of bragging about grabbing women by the genitals without their consent and the allegations by so many women of Trump’s sexual misconduct.
Then just days later, Trump again angrily berated a female reporter. This time it was Mary Bruce, ABC News’s chief White House correspondent. This incident was equally disturbing in that it occurred when Trump was sitting next to Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman—a man who US intelligence determined was responsible for ordering the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi for being critical of the Saudi regime.
Bruce first asked about Trump’s family profiting off business deals with the Saudi government while he is President. She also touched on the killing of Khashoggi.
Before Bruce could complete the question, however, Trump repeatedly asked, “Who are you with?” When she responded, “I’m with ABC News, sir,” he called it “fake news” and “one of the worst in the business.” From there Trump defended the murder of Khashoggi as “things happen.”
When Bruce later asked Trump why he wouldn’t simply release the Jeffrey Epstein files on his own, Trump launched into an angry stream of personal attacks on Bruce. Trump bellowed, “I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who is highly respected asking him a horrible insubordinate and just a terrible question and you could even ask that same exact question nicely.” He soon added, “you’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.”
Clearly triggered, Trump then threatened to strip ABC of its broadcast license because of Bruce’s questions, declaring “I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong.” He then directed his FCC chair Brendan Carr--who was the one that pressured ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel--to take action, stating, “And we have a great commissioner, the chairman, who should look at that.”
These incidents have two things common. First, it’s yet another reminder of Trump’s contempt for both the First Amendment and for women.
Second, the painful silence of fellow journalists to push back on Trump reminds of the corruption of corporate media. Sure, after the incidents, we saw a handful of corporate media journalists take to social media to defend the reporters. For example, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins wrote, “My colleagues in the White House press corps, @marykbruce and @catherine_lucey, both do a great job.” And CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla wrote that Trump’s response to Bruce explained “everything about how Trump sees press freedom.”
But the White House Correspondents’ Association did not respond to requests for comment from numerous media outlets. In fact, the most ferocious backlash came not from corporate journalists or media organizations but from people online and pundits.
The failure of the journalists on Air Force One and in the Oval Office to stand up to Trump when he was berating reporters tell us so much about the state of corporate news today. There is no doubt these reporters have the courage to challenge Trump. After all, they wouldn’t be White House correspondents for major news outlets if they lacked that quality.
But being creatures of corporate media, they get that standing up to Trump comes with a price. And that price could be less of access to the White House—meaning the end of their position that have worked many years to attain.
This is the very climate Trump wanted to create when earlier this year he banned the Associated Press reporters from the White House because the news outlet refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” A federal Court of Appeals panel in a 2 to 1 ruling--with two Trump appointees siding with Trump--found that Trump could ban the AP from several key areas where presidential press events are typically held, including the Oval Office, Air Force One and the president’s home in Mar-A-Lago.
Every White House reporter and their bosses are aware of what that ruling means as a practical matter. If you anger Trump by standing up to him or pressing too hard, you and your media outlet will lose access. And to corporate media journalists, access is the equivalent of blood for a vampire. Without it, they are done.
Interestingly, some corporate media reporters in the time of Trump have actually bandied together to take a stand to protect freedom of the press. We saw an example just last month when Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanded that journalists covering the Pentagon agree to new rules that would subject journalists to expulsion if they sought to report on information that had not been approved by Hegseth for release. In response, dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon in protest.
That was a courageous and righteous decision in support of freedom of the press. But when it comes to those who have made it up the ladder to the coveted position of White House correspondent, we don’t see that same commitment to the cause given the downside is hurting their own career.
Trump is awful. He is vile, sexist and a threat to our freedoms—including freedom of the press. But journalists remaining silent in the face of Trump’s misconduct is also horribly wrong. It’s time they stand up. And if they refuse, then let independent media journalists take their places at the White House. I can assure you that we will never back down.
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Are we referring to President Piggy? It suits him
Bloomberg should be standing up to him!!!