Once again, President Donald Trump clashed with a Black female journalist, and he used a stereotype to do so. The incident occurred last Friday (December 12) at a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House, and it involved NBC News Washington correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.
Their interaction started off more cordial, as Alcindor asked him, “Do you intend on seizing more oil assets from Venezuela?” Trump deflected, replying: “Well, I wouldn’t tell you that. It wouldn’t be very smart for me to tell you that.” He then added, “You’re a very big-time reporter, and I don’t think I want to tell a big-time reporter, or a small-time reporter that.”
Alcindor then tried to ask a second question, calling out “Mr. President!” Trump told her, “No, no, wait, wait, wait. You have to be nice and easy,” before turning to someone standing behind him and stating, “She’s very aggressive.” He then called upon another reporter to answer their question.
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It’s not the first time that Trump has attacked Alcindor. When the journalist queried him about his “going to war” remarks concerning federal authorities conducting sweeps to detain immigrants in Chicago in September, he lashed out, saying: “Be quiet, listen. You don’t listen. You never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate.”
Trump has also attacked ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, after she attempted to ask him about the release of a controversial video showing U.S. naval forces conducting a strike on an alleged drug smuggling vessel. He called her “obnoxious” and “terrible”, and that her network was “fake news”. During his first term, he had clashes with veteran correspondent April Ryan, telling her to “sit down” after she asked him about identifying as a “nationist” and seeming to give cover to white nationlists.
He would also clash with Alcindor at that time as well, alleging that she asked “such a racist questIon.” Trump’s battle with the media, particularly journalists who are women, has come to the forefront more. He snapped at a female reporter from Bloomberg last month, telling her “Quiet,Piggy!!” after she asked about his connection to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, and he also called The New York Times writer Katie Rogers “a third-rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out”. That was spurred by her co-authoring a story questioning Trump’s mental health and fitness.
