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Katinfl

(624 posts)
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 04:07 PM Dec 8

When did it become common to insult female reporters with no backlash at all?

Just heard on MS NOW how he insulted yet another female reporter asking him a legit question. I don’t care who he is, he needs to be put in his place once and for all. I know this is too much to ask but he has to be confronted once in a while. The fact that the press corps walks it back just proves how far we have been degraded. In what world would this ever have been accepted?

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When did it become common to insult female reporters with no backlash at all? (Original Post) Katinfl Dec 8 OP
When the media, network, CEOs allow it.................. Lovie777 Dec 8 #1
When pushing back would cost your job and the likelyhood of future employment DBoon Dec 9 #53
They're just women. Fair game. Ocelot II Dec 8 #2
Wouldn't surprise me if he grabs female reporters whenever he can. Irish_Dem Dec 8 #10
They would so kick his ass! BidenRocks Dec 8 #35
when I heard he'd said that Skittles Dec 8 #43
They showed they had no pride or integrity back when they let him get away with rolling out "fake news" unblock Dec 8 #3
the term "Fake News" was co-opted by MFer. maxsolomon Dec 8 #15
I'd characterize it more as: they abuse the pretense of journalism and objectivity to excuse their bias unblock Dec 8 #45
Yours is the eternal DU complaint. maxsolomon Dec 9 #47
my main issue is with the overall coverage, which i guess would put it at the editorial level. unblock Dec 10 #59
... the only tune that the fiddle would play was --- Oh, the wind and the rain struggle4progress Dec 8 #4
He shameless at advertising his lack of character. I'll give him that Torchlight Dec 8 #5
dems and reporters are less than sternly worded Tetrachloride Dec 8 #6
And no strong, brave, white, Christian man stood up for a verbally abused woman? usonian Dec 8 #7
I've said this before but it bears repeating... littlemissmartypants Dec 8 #14
The weakness of the media... Escape Dec 8 #8
Admonish him OrangeJoe Dec 8 #9
Where have you gone, oh Sam Donaldson? Ligyron Dec 8 #20
Him and Helen Thomas Wednesdays Dec 9 #48
WH press corps regularly viciously attacked mcar Dec 8 #11
Women are permanently invisible.... Hope22 Dec 8 #12
There's an energize movement towards that. Toxic "masculinity" is a key to MAGA underpants Dec 8 #29
In the nowatimes. Iggo Dec 8 #13
I'm sure Matt Gates will get right on that. littlemissmartypants Dec 8 #16
what would constitute "backlash" for you? maxsolomon Dec 8 #17
I would love to see someone stand up to him and give him push-back. Katinfl Dec 8 #23
It would be very satisfying. maxsolomon Dec 8 #26
I would love to see the lot of them turn and walk away, refusing him the attention he is addicted to Attilatheblond Dec 8 #34
The Washington Post has been highly critical each time POTUS has insulted a female reporter. Martin68 Dec 8 #18
That's literally the bare minimum they could do. W_HAMILTON Dec 9 #52
Did you read their statements? It was not the bare minimum. It was highly critical and very visible. Martin68 Dec 10 #58
And once again, no fellow reporters, male or female, came to her aide. Gimpyknee Dec 8 #19
I doubt that would have accomplished anything of subtance. Torchlight Dec 8 #27
But, but what about Biden and Obama? rubbersole Dec 8 #21
It has always been so, with brief exceptions. n/t TygrBright Dec 8 #22
Just once I would like to see one reporter talk back to him. Glaisne Dec 8 #24
"When did it become common?" 2016 lastlib Dec 8 #25
Since reporters (male and female) senseandsensibility Dec 8 #28
Jan 20, 2025 edhopper Dec 8 #30
We Women better face up to the facts REAL fast... slightlv Dec 8 #31
I would argue there isn't any real need for guns jfz9580m Dec 8 #39
One thing you might keep an eye on for next Nov. '26, is... electric_blue68 Dec 9 #50
Thanks electric_blue68 jfz9580m Dec 9 #56
YW. Hopefully you'll find something that'll speak to you, and join in. electric_blue68 Dec 9 #57
He'll probably ban female reporters Blaukraut Dec 8 #32
Seriously?! yellow dahlia Dec 8 #33
Welcome to the Trump era peppertree Dec 8 #36
The last 15 years or so have been terrible for feminism jfz9580m Dec 8 #37
trump is not even trying to hide the fact that he is a racist sexist asshole LetMyPeopleVote Dec 8 #38
Trump don't give a shit LilElf70 Dec 8 #40
I really want some reporter to ask him, "What the hell is *wrong* with you?" Ocelot II Dec 8 #41
Female reporter: "Pres Trump, many allege that you have a tiny penis. Like miniscule tiny. Your thoughts?" flvegan Dec 8 #42
Love it! Ocelot II Dec 8 #46
What the hell is wrong with you? Captain Zero Dec 9 #51
Unfortunately, his staff/zoo handlers would take her to the ground about the time she got to the word 'believe.' Xavier Breath Dec 9 #54
2016. he insulated Megyn Kelly, and the country did not see that as disqualifying. In fact, she's one of his biggest Takket Dec 8 #44
And the male reporters remained silent. Stay classy guys. nt Hotler Dec 9 #49
It takes a brave man to hide behind SS protection and call doc03 Dec 9 #55
When motherfucker got elected. And then inexplicably reelected. Initech Dec 10 #60

DBoon

(24,709 posts)
53. When pushing back would cost your job and the likelyhood of future employment
Tue Dec 9, 2025, 04:28 PM
Dec 9

The owners of media are very pleased with Trump's tax cuts and merger approvals. Angering Trump displeases media owners.

We make heroes out of those who do the right thing, but the fact is these heroes suffer greatly. The Enron Controller who broke their fraud never found a full time position again.

Ocelot II

(129,011 posts)
2. They're just women. Fair game.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 04:10 PM
Dec 8

They're lucky he doesn't grab them by the p&ssy, which he can do because he's famous.

Irish_Dem

(79,732 posts)
10. Wouldn't surprise me if he grabs female reporters whenever he can.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:33 PM
Dec 8

I assume they keep their distance when around him.

Skittles

(169,486 posts)
43. when I heard he'd said that
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 07:36 PM
Dec 8

I asked guys I worked with if that fell into "locker room talk". They all said no, aw HELL NO, you'd get your ass kicked. Guys have sisters, daughters, mothers, they don't care for perversion.

unblock

(55,904 posts)
3. They showed they had no pride or integrity back when they let him get away with rolling out "fake news"
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 04:16 PM
Dec 8

The fact that they didn't destroy his career after maligning the entire industry, bashing their entire product and premise of their business model, showed how deeply they were already in the bag for Donnie, and it's only gotten worse since then.

maxsolomon

(38,157 posts)
15. the term "Fake News" was co-opted by MFer.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:41 PM
Dec 8

it was gaining usage in 2016 to describe RW bullshit, and Trump started hurling it at mainstream news orgs.

the MSM is less "in the bag" for Trump as they're hobbled by their adherence to Journalistic Objectivity. they've gotten buried by a tsunami of lies.

"flood the zone with shit" -s. bannon

unblock

(55,904 posts)
45. I'd characterize it more as: they abuse the pretense of journalism and objectivity to excuse their bias
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 07:43 PM
Dec 8

There's nothing objective about continually normalizing lies, propaganda, crimes, constitutional violations, corruption, threats of violence, abuses of power, impeachable offenses, bribery, cheating, extortion, and severe mental illnesses in a president, hus party, and his administration.

There's nothing objective about covering and largely dismissing scandals when they Donnie does them 10 times worse than anything democrats did, while relentlessly attacking democrats to the point of ending careers for even nothingburgers.

Yes, they do use things like false equivalencies, then pretend it's to be objective. But they're not doing objectivity or journalism properly, they're selectively applying or ignoring those principles in a biased fashion.

maxsolomon

(38,157 posts)
47. Yours is the eternal DU complaint.
Tue Dec 9, 2025, 12:23 PM
Dec 9

Last edited Tue Dec 9, 2025, 02:36 PM - Edit history (1)

The MSM is biased against Dems, and for Repukes, for Trump, for Conservatives.

After Nixon was forced out, Cons were so convinced of the exact opposite that they bought themselves an entire media ecosystem to put out explicitly biased news and opinion. Now it crowds out "traditional", "objective" journalism.

Can you tell me who at the NYT, to name DU's main Bete Noir, is biased for Trump, and against Dems? AG Sulzberger? The editors? The individual reporters? Is it all of them working in concert?

unblock

(55,904 posts)
59. my main issue is with the overall coverage, which i guess would put it at the editorial level.
Wed Dec 10, 2025, 03:27 PM
Dec 10

and my beef isn't necessarily with the nytimes in particular, although they have been getting worse and worse. they do still have their moments of integrity.

but therein lies the problem. the stories selected, the extent of the coverage, the ways the issues are framed, all the bias is strongly and pretty consistently right-wing.

a quick review of "scandals" should make it clear.

massive coverage was devoted to the hillary email nonsense that should have barely been a story at all. she set up a private server to handle non-classified information. without any probable cause of a crime, without any indication of a hack, without any indication of any leak of any classified information, and after 11 investigations and an insane amount of government money and time devoted to laboriously sifting through mountains of emails, they decided to retroactively deem a few items classified and claimed this was the scandal of the century. zero indictments later, hillary lost the election in large part due to the relentlessly negative coverage. the nytimes was only a part of this journalistic malfeasance, though a key player.

meanwhile, donnie has been blatantly and objectively far worse handling materials clearly labeled classified, including stealing them, keeping them poorly secured, sharing them with random guests, etc. he's also been convicted of 34 felonious counts. clearly far worse than anything hillary was accused of. yet the media, nytimes included, treats all this as a mere footnote. they covered those stories and moved on. some how hillary's molehill was a major scandal, but donnie's mountains were remarkable and forgettable.


bill clinton got savaged for his fling with monica. donnie has raped (oh excuse me, sexually assaulted in a way that the judge said amounted to rape) at least one woman, been accused of various kinds us sexual assaults by at least two dozen more, but again, those are just footnotes. hardly worth a mention if you ask the media.

oh, they said what really bothered them about the monica affair was the lying. yeah, except donnie is the most thoroughly documented liar in the history of the world but to the media, that's just donnie being donnie.


the media knows how to destroy political careers with scandals, even if there's not there there. they do it all the time to democrats. gary hart, al franken. the dean scream. meanwhile, donnie is one mind-blowingly massive scandal after another, yet the media refuses to give him the scandal treatment. hell, they hardly ever even use the word scandal.


donnie's entire political career involves the media bending any remaining journalistic principles to give him extensive and undeserved coverage. rule number one in journalism is dump any source that lies to you. spin is one thing, but just plain lies are another. yet the media is happy to go back to the lie machine over and over again.


oh, the hillary email thing? a truly balanced view would have given at least equal coverage to the angle that this was a corrupt abuse of congressional power by republicans to smear a political rival. that was the real and obvious story, but that angle was barely mentioned, and if it was, it was always just presented as the view of a few partisan democrats and hillary supporters.

then when donnie was being tried and convicted of his 34 felonies, he was allowed to rant for 10 minutes or so every single day of the trial in front of the cameras about how the trial was unfair because they found some relative of the judge was a democrat. i think donnie got more time on air to make up baseless complaints about the fairness of the trial than hillary ever got to point of facts about how corrupt the republican investigations into her emails were.


the bias is all over the place. they simply don't treat republicans and democrats the same.





struggle4progress

(125,327 posts)
4. ... the only tune that the fiddle would play was --- Oh, the wind and the rain
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 04:19 PM
Dec 8

The only tune that the fiddle would play was -- Oh, the dreadful wind and rain

Torchlight

(6,304 posts)
5. He shameless at advertising his lack of character. I'll give him that
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 04:25 PM
Dec 8

I'll also give him credit that he convinced many otherwise intelligent people to place the blame on the media for his behavior and actions.

usonian

(23,513 posts)
7. And no strong, brave, white, Christian man stood up for a verbally abused woman?
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 04:44 PM
Dec 8

Moral midgets. Do they let strangers beat their wives and kids? Kick their pets?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Here's their stance.



They must need knee pads for all the standing up for decency they do.

Verbal abuse is abuse.

littlemissmartypants

(31,609 posts)
14. I've said this before but it bears repeating...
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:41 PM
Dec 8

We're all currently in an abusive relationship with our government.

It's this:

Verses this:

Escape

(374 posts)
8. The weakness of the media...
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:21 PM
Dec 8

is as preposterous as Trump's behavior. If they, or others in the room, won't stand up to him, we can't blame him anymore for the bullying.

Is there not a SINGLE brave reporter in this country? This is getting ridiculous and it's going to get worse every time they let him get away with it.

The reporters seem to think they are limited by some kind of ethical framework. There are no ethics now. There are no rules.

Yell, scream, cuss, argue, insult, threaten the sick sonofabitch every time he opens his lying fucking mouth.

Do something!

OrangeJoe

(555 posts)
9. Admonish him
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:30 PM
Dec 8

While it would undoubtedly be very satisfying to curse him out that’s just playing his game. A reporter ( preferably a man) needs to just put on his best dad or teacher voice and after he insults one of the women just say “What is wrong with you? Didn’t your parents teach you to respect others? Do you think acting like a 14 year old brat is appropriate?” And at that point the press corps needs to fold up their note pads, turn off the cameras and walk out en mass.

mcar

(45,659 posts)
11. WH press corps regularly viciously attacked
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:36 PM
Dec 8

press secretaries in Dem administrations. When it's an R in the WH, they are compliant and complicit. Gotta get those book deals!

Hope22

(4,467 posts)
12. Women are permanently invisible....
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:36 PM
Dec 8

It won’t be long until they can’t vote. Forced to carry their rapists spawn at this point. Most Men in general are not willing to help defend our rights. Rights that others fought for with their blood and souls. We can’t do it alone so it will not be. I have to guess this is the way they want it. Iraq has come home to roost.

underpants

(194,834 posts)
29. There's an energize movement towards that. Toxic "masculinity" is a key to MAGA
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:26 PM
Dec 8

It tues in with child rapists like Dave Portnoy and bridges over to the child rapist Andrew Tate world.

maxsolomon

(38,157 posts)
17. what would constitute "backlash" for you?
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:44 PM
Dec 8

who is supposed to put the POTUS "in his place"?

belligerent cruelty is what Americans stood up on their hind legs and voted for.

Katinfl

(624 posts)
23. I would love to see someone stand up to him and give him push-back.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:02 PM
Dec 8

Someone to tell him they don’t have to stand there and take his crap. Someone to tell him they are NOT nasty, low IQ or any of the other names he calls them. He really is so childish it’s laughable. Only in this day and age is it tolerated and I find that frightening. None of this will happen, of course, but I can dream.

maxsolomon

(38,157 posts)
26. It would be very satisfying.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:14 PM
Dec 8

I fear Trump would begin yelling over the top of them almost immediately.

That reporter would burn their career to the ground. They'd be out of the WH press corp that day. The news org they work would probably lose access - which none of them are willing to risk.





Attilatheblond

(8,274 posts)
34. I would love to see the lot of them turn and walk away, refusing him the attention he is addicted to
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:48 PM
Dec 8

It's not like he's going to say anything real. Just do not attend the lying jackass

Martin68

(27,033 posts)
18. The Washington Post has been highly critical each time POTUS has insulted a female reporter.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:44 PM
Dec 8

Martin68

(27,033 posts)
58. Did you read their statements? It was not the bare minimum. It was highly critical and very visible.
Wed Dec 10, 2025, 09:02 AM
Dec 10

Glaisne

(621 posts)
24. Just once I would like to see one reporter talk back to him.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:06 PM
Dec 8

Instead of just taking it. Call him out on his lies, BS, and insults.

lastlib

(27,528 posts)
25. "When did it become common?" 2016
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:13 PM
Dec 8

Maybe 2015.

When AnusMouth started fucking up everything.

I get your drift. I wish SOMEBODY in that press room would yell at him to pick on somebody his own size--like Pootin.

senseandsensibility

(24,237 posts)
28. Since reporters (male and female)
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:20 PM
Dec 8

decided their meal tickets (a cushy low demand job that pays millions) was worth more than their integrity. And I'm speaking mostly about the WH Press corps.

slightlv

(7,438 posts)
31. We Women better face up to the facts REAL fast...
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:36 PM
Dec 8

they've stripped us of our bodily autonomy, our rights, our civil liberties, and they're coming after our vote. Next, it'll be our lives. we'll be nothing more than Islamist women... not daring to go out of the house for fear of being beaten for having done so. These NAR Dominionist preachers are just right there with their Islamist Jihadi Imams. There isn't an inch worth of different between them. Look at Afghanistan... Look at Iraq... look at any of the smaller islamist states. You'll see exactly what's heading for women in the United States unless we start doing something drastic... maybe even violent.

Remember... they don't think we CAN be violent. They think we're stupid and suicidally empathetic. They don't expect violence from us. But WE were born of the same violent revolution as the men were... all traceable to 1776. It didn't skip our genetics, in fact I think freedom is bred further into OUR genes than that of the men. If it weren't the men wouldn't stand for what has happened in this country for over 10 years. Maybe there ought to be a huge run on guns bought by women for women in all 50 states! I say, let's get serious about taking back our rights!

jfz9580m

(16,573 posts)
39. I would argue there isn't any real need for guns
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 07:11 PM
Dec 8

These guys are more scared of a woman who stands up for herself unarmed and nonviolently .
I am certainly very much in the non-violent camp always. It terrifies them when a woman just refuses to bend to their will.

To me at least it signals weakness to see these guys armed to the teeth and bullying their way forward with weapons, hacking and psychological games.

You just have to stand there and refuse to back down, refuse to compromise..

I love the style of older women like my ex mother in law or my mom etc when they turn out in full force without weapons or bloodshed. Public school teachers, old women who have been activists forever..People who I now realize, got us all the rights we enjoyed.

People of my generation (Gen X ;-/) and in white collar jobs don’t really know how to do that. The millennials even have their version which is too alien to me since it involves tech platforms which I loathe.

The older women of my mom in law’s generation knew how to go about it.

I am kinda trying to find my feet as a Gen Xer who mostly went: ..wait, what now? What just happened? I thought we had rights..

I really liked a couple of posts by DUers CrispyQ and BigmanPigman (both involving Indivisible). Because I can’t find my feet in the tech and influencer heavy world.
Grassroots activism is different.

I keep repeating that word like I just found it, because it clicked finally. I used to feel so bleak seeing this world where everything results in another tacky “tell all” grift or Ted tech talk or some unrelatable response. Till it percolated through my head enough that it finally clicked..grassroots activism..that’s the one.

Now if I could figure out the next step..

electric_blue68

(25,797 posts)
50. One thing you might keep an eye on for next Nov. '26, is...
Tue Dec 9, 2025, 04:02 PM
Dec 9

doing volunteer phone work for GOTV- getting the vote out.
I messed up in '24, but did it in '22, and will do it next year.

Basically several organizations set up phone banking at designated times to GOTV. You hook into their system, and they automatically dial numbers. You read a short script to thecaller.

You can also see what organizations in your town/city are doing what ever kind of influence work, etc in issues that are important to you.

Hope this helps. 👍

jfz9580m

(16,573 posts)
56. Thanks electric_blue68
Tue Dec 9, 2025, 09:39 PM
Dec 9



I should really see if there are any locally taking on light and sound pollution. And flooding quiet residential areas with junk and overcrowding quieter parts of the city needlessly. That’s one of my daily annoyances.

Blaukraut

(5,981 posts)
32. He'll probably ban female reporters
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:37 PM
Dec 8

from his press pool soon and nobody will fight him on that, either.

peppertree

(23,127 posts)
36. Welcome to the Trump era
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:52 PM
Dec 8

Nothing can be too bigoted, misogynist, fascist, incompetent, corrupt - or just plain vicious.

jfz9580m

(16,573 posts)
37. The last 15 years or so have been terrible for feminism
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:57 PM
Dec 8

As I point out and will keep hammering home from here on out, it isn’t only Trump though he displays it in its ugliest form.

This accelerated attack on democracy and women’s rights, environmental protections and safety nets started with the rise of this present version of technofascism.

They were (apparently) sneakier than their predecessors in big Agra, the fossil fuel industry, big pharma etc.

I am so glad that with Trump 2.0, tech has dropped the mask and now we can attack the roots of this Trump cancer. They are contemptuous of women on a scale I couldn’t have imagined as I found out painfully over the last 15 years.

These are people who collect large amounts of data on us all. Fortunately, they are pretty inept. But with an unsuspecting population, even the crudest social engineering works at first.

It’s up to us to pushback now. I am.

LilElf70

(1,375 posts)
40. Trump don't give a shit
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 07:16 PM
Dec 8

He has always insulted people his entire life. It comes natural to this loser. He thinks it's good for theatrics and feeds his narcissistic requirements. He has no clue what in the hell he is doing, nor cares who he offends. He never did. And nothing will change.

I say, challenge his ass. What's he gonna do now?

Ocelot II

(129,011 posts)
41. I really want some reporter to ask him, "What the hell is *wrong* with you?"
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 07:25 PM
Dec 8

He'd respond in his typical crass, crude, insulting way, but that basic question would be hanging out there. WHAT. THE. HELL. IS. WRONG. WITH. YOU?

flvegan

(65,755 posts)
42. Female reporter: "Pres Trump, many allege that you have a tiny penis. Like miniscule tiny. Your thoughts?"
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 07:30 PM
Dec 8

The stroke inducing rage would be unfortunate.

Captain Zero

(8,736 posts)
51. What the hell is wrong with you?
Tue Dec 9, 2025, 04:18 PM
Dec 9

"I asked you a legitimate question in follow-up to xyz --- and you stood here and verbally abused me. It's not hard at all to believe you would physically assault a woman in a dressing room like you were convicted of doing."

Xavier Breath

(6,470 posts)
54. Unfortunately, his staff/zoo handlers would take her to the ground about the time she got to the word 'believe.'
Tue Dec 9, 2025, 04:36 PM
Dec 9

Takket

(23,473 posts)
44. 2016. he insulated Megyn Kelly, and the country did not see that as disqualifying. In fact, she's one of his biggest
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 07:38 PM
Dec 8

supporters now!!!!!!!

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