President Donald Trump has escalated his contentious rhetoric against female journalists, publicly branding a White House correspondent for The New York Times as “ugly, both inside and out” in a social media outburst. The attack on reporter Katie Rogers comes less than two weeks after the President was widely criticized for snapping “Quiet. Quiet, Piggy” at another female reporter aboard Air Force One.
The latest salvo was launched by the 79-year-old President on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, November 26, when he slammed The New York Times and specifically targeted Rogers. His lengthy post appeared to be a furious reaction to a story Rogers co-contributed to, which explored the “realities of aging in office” by noting his reportedly reduced pace of domestic travel compared to his first term. The story also referenced a viral moment where the President appeared to doze off during an official event, which he has subsequently denied.
The Attack and the Defense of Fitness
In his tirade, Trump accused the newspaper, calling them “The Creeps at the Failing New York Times,” and specifically zeroed in on Rogers, who authored the story alongside Dylan Freedman. He wrote: “The writer of the story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out.” He did not reference the male co-author.
Trump used the rest of the post to aggressively defend his personal energy and his second-term performance. He incorrectly claimed he pulled off a “landslide” victory in the 2024 presidential election, asserting he had won “all Seven Swing States, the Popular Vote, and the Electoral College by a lot.“
Offering a highly positive account of his second term to date, Trump claimed, “I settled 8 Wars, have 48 New Stock Market Highs, our Economy is Great, and our Country is RESPECTED AGAIN all over the World, respected like never before.” He insisted that he has brought inflation “down to normal” and that prices, including groceries, are coming down. “To do this requires a lot of Work and Energy, and I have never worked so hard in my life,” he wrote, directly contradicting the implication of the NYT story.
Seemingly reversing course after recently acknowledging his approval rating had sunk to a new low for his second term (polling aggregators show his approval rating is currently near his lowest levels on record), Trump incorrectly claimed he currently had his “highest Poll Numbers, ever.” He concluded by offering assurance of his physical capabilities: “There will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone, but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (‘That was aced’) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now!”
White House and Media Reactions
A spokesperson for The New York Times swiftly defended its correspondent in a statement, asserting: “The Times’s reporting is accurate and built on first hand reporting of the facts. Name-calling and personal insults don’t change that, nor will our journalists hesitate to cover this administration in the face of intimidation tactics like this.”
The White House, however, defended the President’s personal attack. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated: “President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency. This has nothing to do with gender – it has everything to do with the fact that the President’s and the public’s trust in the media is at all time lows.“
This latest incident follows an already tense period. Less than two weeks prior, on November 14, Trump had a terse exchange with Bloomberg’s White House press correspondent Catherine Lucey while aboard Air Force One. When Lucey asked a follow-up question regarding Jeffrey Epstein and the release of the Epstein files, Trump cut her off, snapping, “Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.”
The White House defended that earlier remark, telling reporters in a statement: “This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane. If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.”
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on this defense during a November 20 press briefing: “The president is very frank & honest with everyone… He calls out fake news when he sees it. He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him… And so I think the president being frank and open and honest to your faces, rather than hiding behind your backs, is frankly a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration.”
Trump’s repeated use of highly personalized and gendered insults against female journalists continues to draw heavy criticism from media organizations and civil rights groups.
