Attacks on Journalists: Mocking a Disability, Gendered Insults, and Targeting of Individual Reporters
Tier 3Ongoing Pattern2015-06-16 to 2025-09-08
Factual Summary
Throughout his political career, Donald Trump has directed personal attacks against individual journalists by name, targeting their physical characteristics, professional competence, and identity. The pattern is documented through video recordings, social media posts, and contemporaneous reporting spanning from his 2015 campaign launch through his second term.
On November 24, 2015, at a campaign rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Trump mocked New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that limits joint movement. Trump flailed his arms and contorted his right hand while imitating Kovaleski's manner of speaking, saying: "Ahh, I don't know what I said! Ahh, I don't remember!" The display was captured on video and broadcast widely. Kovaleski had reported on celebrations by some individuals in New Jersey after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and Trump was responding to Kovaleski's statement that he did not recall the events as Trump described them. Trump later claimed he was not mocking Kovaleski's disability and said: "Serge Kovaleski must think a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago." The New York Times responded that "we find it outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters."
On August 7, 2015, following the first Republican primary debate, Trump targeted Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly, who had questioned him about past derogatory comments he had made about women. In an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Trump stated: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever." The comment was widely interpreted as a reference to menstruation. Trump denied that interpretation and said he was referring to her nose. Kelly later wrote in her memoir that Trump had attempted to influence her coverage before the debate by sending her gifts.
Trump directed repeated personal attacks at April Ryan, a veteran White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and later CNN. In November 2018, after Ryan asked a question at a press conference, Trump called her "a loser" and said she "doesn't know what the hell she is doing." In an earlier exchange in 2017, when Ryan asked if Trump would meet with the Congressional Black Caucus, Trump asked her to "set up the meeting," which Ryan and commentators characterized as an assumption that a Black reporter would serve as an intermediary to Black members of Congress.
Yamiche Alcindor, a PBS NewsHour White House correspondent, was called "very aggressive" by Trump after asking straightforward questions at press conferences. In September 2025, when Alcindor questioned Trump about a social media post in which he appeared to reference military action in Chicago, Trump responded: "Be quiet, listen. You don't listen. You never listen. That's why you're second-rate." Multiple commentators noted that Trump's most hostile interactions with journalists disproportionately targeted women and Black women in particular.
Jim Acosta of CNN was another frequent target. In November 2018, the White House revoked Acosta's press credentials after a contentious exchange at a press conference. A federal judge ordered the credentials restored, finding that the revocation likely violated Acosta's Fifth Amendment due process rights.
Primary Sources
1. Video recording of Trump rally in Myrtle Beach, SC, November 24, 2015, showing Trump's imitation of Serge Kovaleski (multiple broadcast outlets)
2. CNN interview with Don Lemon, August 7, 2015, Trump statements about Megyn Kelly
3. White House press briefing transcripts, 2017-2019, documenting exchanges with April Ryan
4. C-SPAN and PBS recordings of Trump press conferences with Yamiche Alcindor, 2020-2025
Corroborating Sources
1. NBC News: "Donald Trump Criticized After He Appears to Mock Reporter Serge Kovaleski," November 2015
2. Washington Post: "Trump draws scornful rebuke for mocking reporter with disability," November 25, 2015
3. Time: "Donald Trump: Megyn Kelly Had 'Blood Coming Out of Her Wherever,'" August 2015
4. NBC News: "#WeLoveYamiche trends on Twitter after Trump berates Black female reporter," March 2020
5. TheGrio: "Trump's 'second-rate' tirade against Yamiche Alcindor recalls history of attacks on Black female journalists," September 2025
Counterarguments and Context
Trump denied mocking Kovaleski's disability and stated that his gesticulations were a generic impression of someone flustered, not a reference to any physical condition. His supporters circulated video compilations showing Trump making similar gestures when discussing other public figures, arguing that the movements were not specific to Kovaleski. On the Kelly comments, Trump insisted he was referring to blood coming from her nose and accused critics of deliberately misinterpreting him. Trump characterized his interactions with Ryan and Alcindor as responses to hostile or unfair questioning rather than personal attacks. His supporters argued that Trump was equally combative with male reporters and that the pattern was one of general media hostility rather than targeted attacks on specific demographic groups. Critics responded that the specific nature of the attacks, including the physical mimicry of a disabled reporter and the gendered language used about Kelly, crossed lines that generic combativeness does not explain.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because each incident is documented through primary video recordings, transcripts, and Trump's own public statements. The video of the Kovaleski imitation and the audio of the Kelly comment are unambiguous primary evidence. The pattern of targeting specific journalists is established through a public record that is not in factual dispute, though the intent behind the behavior remains a matter of interpretation.