How to deal with Trump-the-bully

Many things about politics today make me sad. I came of age in the 1960s and 1970s when we had conflict, yes, but also hope and a real belief in the words “peace and love.”

And I’ve seen “peace and love” in action through the years, too, under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, for instance. And I truly believed that this country was on a forward trajectory, that things would get better as the years went by. I believed that the United States would continue to be a force for good in the world and help other countries to the best of our considerable abilities.

But then the Trump administrations came along.

I’m not going to detail everything I find morally abhorrent and objectionable under his leadership because we would be here all day. But I am going to focus on just a few cases where the president of the United States has shocked me to my core with his casual, cruel, and frankly astonishing behavior.

The first event that I was aware of occurred in 2015 when a disabled New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski, asked Trump a question. Kovaleski suffers from a congenital defect that impairs movement of his arms. Trump can be seen waving his arms on a YouTube video as he mocks the reporter.

I never in my life thought I’d see the president making fun of someone’s disability and doing it publicly with no shame whatsoever.

That, of course, was just the beginning of his rampage against reporters. I am singling out Trump’s treatment of female reporters since I am a member of that tribe.  

I take it personally when Trump-the-bully attacks one of my own, but you should, too, because it is not acceptable.

“Quiet, Piggy,” he ordered Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey in 2025 when she attempted to ask him a question about the release of Epstein files.

He called Mary Bruce ABC a “terrible reporter” after she asked Trump about his family’s business in Saudi Arabia and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Over the past 10 years, he has called  Kaitlan Collins of CNN  all kinds of names, including “dumb and unhappy,” “stupid,” “nasty,” and singled her out for not smiling. Collins asks viewers not to focus on the insults but instead to “focus on the non-answers we get.”

He walked out of a live interview with Kristin Welker  on NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this year suggesting she was either  “crooked or stupid.”

He refers in print to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman as “maggot.”

Are there people in this country who are impressed by Trump’s tactics – to refuse to answer tough questions by insulting the woman who is doing the asking?

Many people wonder why these reporters don’t respectfully talk back to Trump. I am quite sure they want to. There are a couple of reasons why they don’t.

The first is professionalism. These women know they are not the story. If they get into a fight with the president, that’s a story. They are at the press conference, or on Air Force One, to ask tough questions on behalf of the public, not to fight with the president.

The second is fear. If one of these reporters talks back to Trump, he can make sure they individually, and the newspaper or wire service they represent, is barred from access to the White House, press conferences, or briefings. They don’t want that to happen; their bosses do not want that to happen.

News organizations have protested Trump’s rudeness, but to no avail. I hope these abused women are getting some sort of compensation or hazardous emotional duty pay for having to undergo Trump’s public abuse.

By not responding to insults, they are handling the bully beautifully.

I always respected Michelle Obama’s response to political bullying.

“When they go low, we go high,” she said.

I wish I could do the same, but I can’t. I have another revenge fantasy in mind.

At the very last press conference in the White House briefing room, right before Trump leaves with his lackeys and sycophants, I wish the entire press corps would turn around… and moon them.