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Anderson Cooper; Donald Trump; Kaitlan Collins.Credit:Â
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Kevin Dietsch/Getty; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Anderson Cooper is standing up for fellow CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins after Donald Trump lashed out at her once again.
The 79-year-old president criticized Collins and her physical appearance when speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, calling her a âcorrupt reporterâ as well as a âyoung, beautiful womanâ who ânever smilesâ and looks at him âwith hatred in her eyes.â
Cooper called Trumpâs remarks âcompletely unwarrantedâ on his show that same evening, adding, âThat’s the president of the United States: a nearly 80-year-old man, who has no problem commenting on her physical appearance and telling her she needs to smile.â
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âThat doesn’t happen to men. No one’s ever said that to me in an office setting,â he continued. âShe was there, like every other journalist doing her job, standing around with a bunch of non-smiling men, by the way, all behind her. I donât know if you saw that.â
Cooper proceeded to play a montage of all the times Trump has chastised women reporters as president. Among the clips included was the former Trump Steaks founderâs Feb. 3 tirade against Collins after she asked him several questions about the Epstein files.
âYou are the worst reporter. CNN has no ratings because of people like you,â Trump said at the time. âI donât think Iâve ever seen a smile on your face.â
It also featured several more incidents, including the time he told a Bloomberg reporter: âQuiet, piggy.â
Cooper was then joined by journalist Tara Palmeri to discuss Trumpâs repeated behavior of belittling women. âI donât know why Iâm surprised by this. I shouldnât be,â the host admitted. âBut I just⊠Itâs just bizarre that this is something that he does over and over again, and I think people do it to women all the time.â
Palmeri noted Trump is âobjectifyingâ Collins and âusing a misogynistic comment about her appearance to belittle her.â
âWhen Kaitlan Collins is standing there, she is a woman with agency, and she has a lot of power,â she said. âShe represents the people of the United States of America, and sheâs holding him to account by asking him questions in the Oval Office.â
She went on to argue that Trump âdoes not like that the vessel of a person who is asking them, those questions that challenge him, is a woman,â adding, âBecause he’s used to women being around him who are people pleasers, who are smilers, who are secretaries, who are cabinet secretaries, as we’ve seen from the various hearings that we’ve actually watched on TV and the deference that they show him.â


