There was one moment in Trump’s press conference a few minutes ago where he was addressing a reporter that I felt was rude. And I’m not the only one.
It comes at the very beginning of this clip:
Asked about the Kavanaugh FBI investigation by @CeciliaVega, President Donald Trump says, "let's do that later."
"What does that have to do with trade? I don't mind answering the question but, you know, I'd like to to do the trade questions," he adds https://t.co/qnfZePV0Mp pic.twitter.com/IYeQeCltsf
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 1, 2018
Ignore what they wrote on the tweet. That’s not what I’m referring to at all.
It was at the beginning when he was noting how shocked ABC Reporter Cecilia Vega was that he had called on her.
She replied “I’m not. Thank you Mr. President.”
But Trump thought she said “I’m not thinking Mr. President” and replied “That’s ok I know you’re not thinking. You never do.”
To which she replied, “I’m sorry?”
Trump just panned his rudeness and told her to ask her question, which she did.
But in my opinion that was totally rude and uncalled for. It’s one thing for Trump to criticize ‘fake news’. But it’s another for him to insult a reporter, especially when they aren’t fighting with him. She was acting conciliatory and he insulted her anyway.
Trump owes her an apology.
But on the other matter of Trump being picky about keeping the trade questions first, I had no issue with that whatsoever. After all, the press conference was on his new trade deal and I don’t blame Trump for demanding the Kavanaugh questions be held until after they answered the on-topic questions. It’s like when I work hard on writing a post and the first person to comment is about something that is completely unrelated to my post. It’s a bit insulting.
UPDATE: It was pointed out to me that she didn’t say she wasn’t thinking, rather she said she wasn’t surprised and then thanked Trump. He misunderstood it but it doesn’t change the fact that he was still rude to her. I’ve corrected the article to reflect that.
UPDATE 2: Some of the left are making this, disingenuously, about misogyny. That’s dumb and I’m certainly not saying that. This was simply about Trump being rude when he didn’t have to. Which is why I took issue with it.