Donald Trump Couldn’t Keep His Disdain for Women in Check During Today’s News Briefing

This afternoon, Donald Trump addressed reporters in a rare solo news conference. He was there to speak about his revamped NAFTA agreement, which is now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, because it wouldn’t be a Trump deal if it weren’t basically the same as the original, just renamed and signed at the last minute so he could brand himself a hero for “saving” the thing he was the sole threat to in the first place.

But it was Trump’s interactions with those reporters, maybe more than the not-NAFTA news itself, that’s gotten attention. First, there was this bizarre interaction with reporter Cecilia Vega. He mocked her for being in “a state of shock” that he called on her. She replied that she wasn’t, and he decided to fix that by making a joke about her “not thinking” as his response.

In true misogynist fashion, it seems he was too consumed by displaying his superiority to a woman to realize that he was only making himself look like an idiot, unwittingly mocking himself for mishearing “I’m not, thank you” as “I’m not thinking.”

As you can see in that clip, when Vega finally did manage to ask him a question, he refused to answer it. She asked him about reports that the White House is limiting the scope of the FBI’s investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, to which he replied, “What does that have to do with trade?” He said he’d be fine answering the question but wanted to focus on trade first, even though that is 100% not how news conferences work.

After a few questions, he still wouldn’t address the subject and talked down to the next reporter who brought it up, Kaitlan Collins. (Yup, also a woman. It’s almost like he has a serious problem with women or something.) He actually waved his finger at her, telling her, “That’s not nice.” He still can’t understand that it’s not every woman’s job to be nice to him.

By the way, he does not do this to male reporters when they ask about Kavanaugh.

But wait, there’s more! This next reporter isn’t even asking about Kavanaugh, but about gun control. Still, she is a woman challenging him, so he feels it necessary to cut her off and wave her away.

Also, a big “fuck you” to every man standing behind him.

(image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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