Donald Trump’s long history of denigrating women was on full display recently.
On Air Force One a few days ago, Trump pointed his finger at young female reporter Catherine Lucey’s face and snapped, “Quiet, piggy,” after she asked him about the release of the so-called Epstein Files. Among the trove of emails Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released was a message where Jeffrey Epstein, a child sex trafficker and convicted pedophile, accused Trump of “knowing about the girls” involved in his criminal operations.
Trump denied possessing any such information.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave a less-than-suitable response to a question about what prompted Trump to casually insult a female reporter. Instead of directly explaining what the president meant, Leavitt defended Trump and said he was elected because of his “frankness.”
Lucey’s inquiry was certainly sensible. She was asking for clarification about the release of Epstein’s files, a topic of considerable public interest. Why had the president been stonewalling, she asked, “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files?”
Trump’s response was disrespectful, juvenile, and sexist. He pointed straight at Lucey and told her to stop doing her job. “Quiet. Quiet, piggy,” said the president of the United States. What was even more surprising — and, quite frankly, incredulous – was that none of her fellow colleagues rose to her defense despite such a brazen attack. It was very disturbing to witness their silence.
Trump similarly berated ABC News’s well-regarded reporter Mary Bruce, who asked germane questions about late Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the Epstein files. “I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions,” Trump said. He called ABC a “crappy company” and said its license “should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong.”
Sadly, Trump’s outbursts have become par for the course during his second term.
The president’s most shameless supporters acclaim and applaud such verbally reductive jibes. To this crowd, Trump’s antics are just part of his many demonstrations of the use of the power of the presidency to sock it to and own the supposedly liberal elite. Trump’s attacks on the media are hardly new. He adamantly referred to the press as the “enemy of the American people” shortly after first taking office in 2017, an era marked by routine attacks on journalists and their “fake news.”
However, Elisa Lees Muñoz of the International Women’s Media Foundation remarked the fact that the two recent incidents occurred back-to-back was “chilling,” especially given the timing of Trump’s meeting with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
This isn’t a first for Trump. Alicia Machado, the winner of the 1996 Miss Universe pageant, alleged Trump once called her “Miss Piggy” and made other demeaning comments about her weight. Additionally, the president’s longtime feud with Rosie O’Donnell has involved much public sexism, including descriptions of her as a “big, fat pig” in 2006. In 2015, he stated that Fox News host Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever.”
Trump has a particular animosity toward Black female reporters, and he has often clashed with them. He frequently targeted first-rate journalist Yamiche Alcindor, who covered the White House for the PBS NewsHour. Trump condemned her purportedly “nasty” questions. Most recently, he pronounced Alcindor, who currently works for NBC, “second-rate” and demanded that she, too, “be quiet.” Further, he chastised CNN journalist Abby Philip for her apparently “stupid” questions. He publicly called April Ryan, a veteran White House reporter, “a loser.”
Crass and blunt as his prior comments have been, “Quiet, piggy” takes his rancor to entirely new levels. His rancid commentary should be confronted and challenged.
One can only imagine what the reaction would have been if the majority, or even the minority, of the press corps had voiced their protest and confronted and censured him for spewing such retrograde language. At minimum, Catherine Lucey might have felt supported and the corps members might have experienced renewed solidarity.
Unfortunately, they missed the opportunity to speak up. Perhaps they feared that the president’s personal wrath would be directed at them and they would lose access to future White House press briefings and other perquisites. Their cowardice and lack of unity does not bode well.
The United States needs a vibrant, robust press corps today, and will continue to need one after Trump.
Copyright 2025 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State.
