President Donald Trump has once again lashed out at the press — this time calling two female reporters “stupid” and “dumb” in a matter of minutes on Tuesday. Experts in political science break down the incident and what they believe it says about his leadership style.
Trump was taking questions from journalists on the White House South Lawn before he departed for his trip to China. When MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner asked Trump about the rising price of his White House ballroom project, the president responded by calling her a “dumb person.”
“You wanted [Federal Reserve Chair] Jerome Powell fired for cost overruns; how is that different than your ballroom and the reflecting pool?” Gardner had asked.
Trump responded by claiming that the ballroom has doubled in size because “we obviously need that” and that the project is “on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule.”
When Gardner pressed further, saying that projected ballroom costs had doubled, Trump said: “I doubled the size of it, you dumb person ... You are not a smart person.”
