You likely have seen this clip, from Thursday, where a reporter asks President Trump why he blames the Biden administration for Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s rampage, since, after all, the Afghans imported by Biden were all thoroughly vetted. Trump asks the reporter whether she is a stupid person:
Trump just made this reporter reevaluate her life
Q: "Why do you blame the Biden Admin?"
Trump: "Because they let them in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? And you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person!"
pic.twitter.com/s97shKW0yd
— Sara Rose
(@saras76) November 28, 2025
This is a good example of the kind of Trump behavior that many people regard as unpresidential, and which sometimes makes me wish he wouldn’t do it. Ann Althouse comments:
I’m giving this my “civility bullshit” tag because the topic of “civility bullshit” is in play. That is, Trump doesn’t fall for civility bullshit. You can’t persuade him to be civil because he (correctly) observes that the other side will not be civil toward him and he will not unilaterally disarm. I think his incivility invariably — or almost invariably — comes only after someone has shown incivility toward him.
I think that is right. Trump treats liberal reporters as the enemies they are. They have lied about him, time after time. They cheered on the Democrats who brought absurd criminal charges against Trump and tried to imprison him. They collaborated in the Democrats’ efforts to get Trump killed. They are his enemies; why should he treat them otherwise?
His predecessors–the Bushes, Mitt Romney, John McCain–were badly abused by liberal reporters and press outlets, but never really fought back. They always seemed to want to gain the approval of people who hated them, and would always hate them, no matter what they did. Trump has left those days behind, and I think future Republican presidential candidates will follow in his footsteps, although perhaps with a little more finesse. Think JD Vance.
On a related note, the White House web site has a new Offender Hall of Shame section that calls out press outlets for stories that are misleading, biased, and outright false. So, fact checking the press:
The entire legacy media — led by the Post — created their own “fact check” departments to serve the same function as the Trump admin’s “Hall of Shame.”
Sure feels like turnabout is fair play here. https://t.co/pB6sqjLN6D
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 29, 2025
Note the Washington Post’s sneaky characterization: “stories President Trump disagrees with.” Trump disagrees with being lied about.
