The White House is Reaching Unprecedented Levels of Tantrum-Throwing

I know it’s only Tuesday, but it’s already been a busy week for anyone who keeps on their wall an updated whiteboard of “___ DAYS GONE WITHOUT TRUMP INSULTING A FEMALE REPORTER.” (Hint: it’s reverted back to “0” twice this week already……… and it’s only Tuesday.) Because, in a set of back-to-back days, Trump’s bullied two different women journalists, on two different occasions, for doing their jobs. 

Things kicked off on Sunday, when Trump lashed out on Truth Social against Fox News’ Shannon Bream, a former lawyer, after she dared ask Attorney General Todd Blanche why the administration’s going ahead with the president’s plans for a dumb ballroom, even after a court told the administration to stop unless its got congressional approval.

“We don’t believe we have to go to Congress,” Blanche explained. “We believe Congress has already given us the authority to do what we’re doing.” Sure!

“Shannon’s ‘show’ is beyond redemption,” Trump posted on Truth Social, hours after the episode aired. “Fortunately, MAGA, which is close to 100% of the Republican Party, understands that, and watch her ‘Ratings’ start to fall.” (PS: This was one of several tirades he published about her.) He later added: “Why didn’t Shannon Bream, ‘Milktoast’ to her friends, show the updated pictures instead of ones that were so old and irrelevant?” 

“Milktoast,” of course, likely being an incorrect spelling of “milquetoast”—meaning a timid and/or unassertive person. It’s also already a tried and failed attempt at an insult nickname by Trump against Bream, who previously called her “Milk Toast Shannon” in June after she compared ICE’s arrest numbers to that of the Obama administration. Is this growth? I guess at least he knows it’s one word now?

Less than 24 hours later after he called Bream a Milktoast (burn!), Trump snapped at CNN’s Kristen Holmes when she asked whether Trump’s decision to cancel Joint Military Exercises between the U.S. and South Korea was because of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un. A dictator that, mind you, Trump’s described his relationship with as “very good.”

“Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Quiet!” he said. “You’re very disrespectful in front of this young man,” pointing to a 10-year-old that was in attendance, along with the 16-year-old lifeguard—Ryder Williams—who rescued the boy in July. “Okay? Don’t you find her disrespectful?” he asked Williams. “He understands. Quiet!”

Trump scolds a reporter: Quiet! You’re very disrespectful in front of this young man. Don’t you find her disrespectful? He understands. Quiet! You’re fake news. BE QUIET! You’re a fake reporter. pic.twitter.com/AevIZXEaGp

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 17, 2026

 

Upon finding Holmes worked at CNN, Trump honed in. “You’re fake news! Be quiet! You’re a fake reporter,” he said, launching into another rant about the outlet’s coverage of the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that’s been at sea without a single port stop in 200 days. “That was a fake CNN report,” he said. “Over the years, we had them out there much longer. An admiral told me, ‘I have been on ships much longer than that, sir.’ And people on the Lincoln say it’s beautifully taken care of.” 

Since the outburst, a White House-associated account doubled and tripled down on the insults against Holmes, tweet-calling her a “disgraceful” and “humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession”; and later adding, in a separate post, “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling.” Yikes.