‘You Hear What I Said!’: Trump Learns Someone He Says ‘Treated Him Badly’ Is on His Plane — Immediately Picks a Fight and Spirals Into His Own Meltdown
President Donald Trump found himself unable to let an old grievance go after realizing someone he believed had “treated him badly” was traveling aboard Air Force One with him.
Within moments, the confrontation had taken on a life of its own as Trump found himself tangled in the very exchange he was trying to shut down.
The target was a Wall Street Journal reporter who asked about U.S. talks with Russia over ending the war in Ukraine aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Aug. 2.
Trump immediately lashed out, ranting at the reporter and saying he wouldn’t answer the question, he then briefly forgot in the span of a minute and started to answer the question before catching himself.
“Who are you with?” Trump demanded, using a ploy out of his media playbook to try and intimidate journalists.
“The Wall Street Journal,” the reporter replied.
“Boy, you people treat us so badly. The Wall Street Journal has truly gone to hell,” Trump raged, then doubled back to make sure the reporter caught his insult. “You’re a rotten newspaper. You hear me, what I said, it’s a rotten newspaper.”
Then oddly Trump told the reporter to “go ahead” before refusing to answer the question again.
“I wouldn’t tell The Wall Street Journal because I’d be wasting my time. There are talks but I don’t want to talk to The Wall Street Journal,” the president fumed, before bizarrely adding, “The Wall Street Journal is China-oriented.”
Social media erupted in both outrage and something critics are now calling Trump Fatigue Syndrome.
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“This guy really needs some new material. He’s like a tired lounge act,” a Threads user stated.
Another agreed adding, “He’s disgusting.”
“He’s such a twat!” this poster declared.
A feud erupted last summer between Trump and his former backer Rupert Murdock, who owns both Fox News and The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper reported on a 2003 birthday book for Trump’s longtime buddy and convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The book included a letter and explicit drawing signed by Trump.
Trump denied writing or signing the letter, calling it “fake,” then filed a lawsuit against the Journal.
The conservative-leaning publication also found itself in Trump’s crosshairs early on in this term after criticizing Trump’s whipsawing trade and tariff policies in what the Journal called “The Dumbest Trade War in History.”
The president has repeatedly gone after reporters during his second term when he doesn’t like the questions they ask.
Late last month he called a CBS reporter “stupid” for pressing him on his support for the Save America Act, a strict voter suppression measure the president has been badgering the Senate to pass for months ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
He attacked a New York Times reporter in May over questions abut his war in Iran, telling David Sanger his questions were treasonous.
In April, after a question on high gas prices from CBS’ Ed O’Keefe, Trump called him a “wiseguy.”
He’s repeatedly commented on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins smile and looks. He called another journalist aboard Air Force One last fall a name, trying to shut her up by saying, “Quiet, piggy.”
Trump’s fractious relationship with the media dates back to his first term, but he’s ramped up his feud with certain networks and publications during his second term, subpoenaing journalists from the Washington Post and New York Times and filing lawsuits against the Times, the Journal, and the BBC.