Caffeinated Politics

We have come to the point where we must stop pretending that the degradation of our institutions is just another day at the office. That point arrived the moment Donald Trump again unleashed yet another tirade at a female reporter doing her job. This time, it was ABC News’ Rachel Scott, a strong, confident Black woman. Two demographics that Trump loathes.

On Thursday (7 May), Scott was met with an absurd reception when she asked Trump why he is continuing to focus on restoration projects amid the ongoing Iran war during a visit to the Washington, D.C. reflecting pool, which Trump is repainting.

“You know why? Because I wanna keep our country beautiful and safe. Beautiful also,” he snapped, before blasting Ms Scott as a “horror show” reporter.

“Such a stupid question that you asked… This is one of the worst reporters. She’s with ABC fake news.”

Her unforgivable sin was asking legitimate, necessary questions. Once again, we see the biological mistake now sitting in the White House displaying a grotesque abuse of power that should chill anyone who cares about a free press when forced to confine his ill-advised changes to D.C. with highly questionable price tags.

This outburst from Trump wasn’t an isolated outburst. It was part of a well‑documented pattern. We recall his abusing another female reporter by saying “quiet, piggy” during an exchange on Air Force One. The misogyny isn’t subtle. It isn’t coded. It’s weaponized. Trump cannot stand strong, determined women. So, he uses his angry white male tactic to deliberately try to belittle, intimidate, and delegitimize women who dare to question him.

Scott’s question was not only fair; it was essential. She asked why the renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool were being made amid the war in Iran and high gas prices. There are many reasons the change Trump is seeking in the pool runs counter to logic and environmental rationale.

“Mr. President, you are here against the backdrop of the war in Iran. Why focus on all these projects right now? We’re still seeing gas prices soaring?” Scott asked as Trump interrupted.

Trump then rambled on about “dirt” and how “disgusting” Washington, D.C. was before he called in National Guard members to collect trash and take up various beautification projects—things that the National Park Service was meant for, but whose funding he cut.

Trump then got personal with Scott.

“That’s such a stupid question that you asked. We’re fixing up the reflecting pond,” Trump said, again getting the body of water wrong, “to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and you say, ‘Why are you fixing it up?’ Because you can understand dirt, maybe, better than I can, but I don’t allow it.”

For a man who let a Russian prostitute piss on him, his concept of dirt or filth is far different from that of the vast majority of Americans.

Trump said Scott’s question is a disgrace to our country.

This is the oldest misogynistic trick in the book. When a smart, confident, and skilled woman challenges Trump, he attacks her personally. He has called women reporters disrespectful and terrible. Anything to avoid the question. Anything to reassert his ugly male dominance. Anything to remind her, every woman watching, that he believes he decides who gets to speak.

The White House Press Association cannot continue to treat these eruptions against female reporters as unfortunate footnotes. They are assaults on the very standards that make journalism possible. When Trump treats a reporter so disrespectfully because the question came from a woman, that is not mere bluster. It is an authoritarian impulse. And again with Scott, we can clearly recognize the stench of gendered contempt.

Other reporters must stop sitting in silence while a colleague is verbally pummeled. When he shows his boorish bastard side to the press so openly, he is testing the entire press corps to see who would flinch. The correct answer must be none of them. They should have followed up with the same question. They should have refused to move on. They should have stood beside her, not behind their notepads.

Rachel Scott showed professionalism and composure in the face of a tantrum that was based on his frontotemporal dementia. But she should not have had to. The burden should not fall on individual women to withstand public humiliation from the most powerful office in the country. Or the most odious effluvium to have ever stepped foot in the White House.

The press must band together loudly, publicly, unapologetically, and tell this biological mistake that his behavior is unacceptable. His misogyny is unacceptable. This abuse of power is unacceptable. Because if they don’t, the attacks will continue. And each time they do, the foundation of a free press cracks a little more.

This is not normal. It is not tolerable. And it damn well should not stand.