Transgender Taunt! Now Trump attacks CNN’s Collins Again
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Trump attacks CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins with an increasingly personal campaign of insults, escalating their long-running feud from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to his Truth Social account.
President Donald Trump, 80, targeted the 34-year-old journalist during Friday night’s rescheduled dinner at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria. Collins had just received an award for her reporting on the Trump administration when the president mocked her achievement, appearance and demeanor.
Trump first called the award “fake” and claimed Collins did not deserve it. He then described her as a “young, attractive woman” who “never smiles” before comparing her to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Trump Attacks CNN Anchor From Dinner Stage
Trump joked that he had initially believed Collins had secured a major sponsorship deal—until realizing that the person associated with Bud Light was Mulvaney, not the CNN anchor.
Mulvaney became the center of a conservative backlash in 2023 after posting a personalized Bud Light can supplied as part of a promotional partnership. The controversy triggered boycotts and a severe decline in the beer brand’s U.S. sales.
The joke largely failed to win over the room. The president’s insult-heavy speech repeatedly produced groans or stunned silence from the smaller, heavily secured audience.
Collins did not respond from the stage. Instead, she later emphasized the significance of the First Amendment and the responsibility of journalists to ask powerful people uncomfortable questions. She also celebrated receiving the reporting award from longtime CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Trump Attacks CNN Star Again Online
The confrontation did not end at the dinner.
On Sunday, Trump posted an altered image on Truth Social placing Collins’s face onto Mulvaney’s body in the widely recognized Bud Light photograph. Beer cans appeared in the foreground, while the president added no substantial explanation.
The image intensified criticism that the president was using his office and enormous social-media platform to personally humiliate a journalist whose reporting he dislikes.
Mulvaney responded by publicly supporting Collins and saying she was honored to be compared with the CNN journalist. She also argued that the attack demonstrated the continuing influence of transgender voices.
Years of Oval Office Clashes
The latest episode is part of a feud stretching back years. Collins, now the host of CNN’s prime-time program The Source, regularly confronts Trump with questions during Oval Office appearances and presidential events.
Trump has repeatedly called her a disgrace, attacked CNN as “fake news” and complained that she does not smile enough.
During a recent exchange about Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, Trump again focused on Collins’s expression rather than directly answering her question. She later said there was nothing controversial about remaining serious while asking about a sex trafficker and survivors of sexual abuse.
The rescheduled dinner itself carried extraordinary tension. The original event in April had been interrupted after a gunman opened fire outside the venue in an apparent attempt to kill Trump. Organizers moved the second gathering to July 24 under much tighter security.
Press Freedom Becomes the Real Story
Trump attacks CNN journalists as part of a broader strategy of confronting media organizations he considers hostile. But Collins’s response shifted attention from the insult to the larger issue: whether reporters can question a president without becoming targets of personal retaliation.
Trump sought laughs by turning Collins and Mulvaney into the punchline. Instead, the episode renewed scrutiny of his treatment of female journalists, transgender Americans and the independent press. For Collins, the answer appeared simple: Keep a straight face—and ask the next question.
