During both of President Donald Trump’s presidencies, he has often sparred with Black women journalists. From Yamiche Alcindor to April Ryan, Jemele Hill, and Abby Phillip, Trump has, on several occasions, referred to them as “second-rate” or “losers” for merely asking pertinent questions about his own actions.
Alcindor and Ryan were frequent Trump targets from 2017 through 2021 and Hill, after calling him a “white supremacist” on Twitter in 2017, drew Trump’s ire as he went after her then employer, ESPN.
“With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have ‘tanked,’ in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!” he wrote on Twitter at the time.
The clashes with Black journalists continued Thursday when Trump, during a gathering outside the Lincoln Memorial, took a question from ABC News’ Rachel Scott. Scott, who has been the subject of a previous Trump tirade, asked why his focus was on projects such as cleaning up the reflection pond near the monument while the country was still involved in a war in Iran. Although some on social media believed Trump referred to Scott as a “bitch” for her comment, his actual remarks added to a well-known pattern.
“You can understand dirt maybe better than I can, but I don’t allow it,” Trump said. “This is one of the worst reporters. She’s with ABC Fake News, and she’s a horror show. A question like that is a disgrace to our country.”
Trump’s actions led to a swift rebuke by the National Association of Black Journalists, which issued a statement on Monday condemning his remarks and demanding that Black women journalists be given respect.
“The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is calling for an immediate end to the continued tone of disrespect, hostility and public denigration directed at Black women journalists who are doing their jobs,” the statement began. “The latest incident involving ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott is part of a larger and deeply troubling pattern: Black women journalists are too often singled out, insulted or demeaned for asking legitimate questions, reporting facts and holding power to account.”
The statement added, “The president’s reference to “dirt” while insulting a Black woman journalist was especially disturbing. Whatever his intent, the remark landed as part of a familiar pattern in which Black women journalists are demeaned personally rather than answered substantively.”
NABJ released a similar statement in defense of Alcindor and other Black women journalists last September when Trump berated the longtime journalist for asking about a Truth Social post regarding the deployment of the Department of War to Chicago amid calls for the national guard to be deployed in majority Black, Democrat-led cities. This time, the organization specified journalists who’ve been attacked by Trump in recent years, including Alcindor, Ryan and Jasmine Wright.
“NABJ will always defend the ability of Black journalists to do their jobs fully, freely and safely,” NABJ President Errin Haines wrote on Monday. “When Black women journalists are targeted, insulted or demeaned for asking legitimate questions, it is not only an attack on them personally – it is an attack on the role of a free press in our democracy. We will not allow our members or our profession to be diminished for doing the work the public depends on.”
Previously, Trump railed against Scott during his controversial appearance at the 2024 NABJ conference in Chicago. When Scott asked him about his prior attacks on Black journalists, Trump referred to her as “nasty” and “hostile.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. First question, you don’t even say, ‘Hello, how are you?’ Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network. I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit,” Trump said in response to the question about his actions toward Black journalists.
