As the President of the United States, Donald Trump, unleashed a scathing attack on Kaitlan Collins, labeling her as "stupid and nasty" and even misspelling her name in a lengthy diatribe, CNN's Jake Tapper stood tall in solidarity with his colleague and the network. The 56-year-old anchor took to X on Saturday, December 6th, to deliver a point-by-point rebuttal to Trump's tirade, which the 79-year-old president had shared on Truth Social earlier in the day.
Accompanying a screenshot of Trump's full message, Tapper first corrected the president's blunderous spelling of Collins' name, which he incorrectly rendered as "Caitlin Collin's." He then countered Trump's characterization of the 33-year-old journalist as "always Stupid and Nasty" with a firm "2) she's smart 3) she's nice."
Moreover, Tapper defended Collins' journalistic integrity, noting that Trump's attack seemed to stem from Collins' inquiry into his controversial White House ballroom project, which has been widely criticized. (Collins later clarified that her question was actually about Venezuela.)
After Trump claimed that Collins "asked me why the new Ballroom was costing more money than originally thought one year ago," Tapper stood by his colleague's side, stating, "It's a legitimate question about construction of a controversial project on White House grounds."
In his post, Trump also boasted that his multimillion-dollar renovation project, first announced in July, was "under budget and ahead of schedule," despite reports to the contrary. In response, Tapper acknowledged Trump's claims with a simple "Thanks for the explanation," before adding a final note on the president's frequent jabs at CNN.
Trump's latest diatribe against Collins is part of a string of attacks on female journalists. Recently, he called another White House correspondent, CBS News' Nancy Cordes, "a stupid person" on Thanksgiving, just one day after referring to The New York Times' Katie Rogers as "ugly, both inside and out." In November, Trump made headlines for his attacks on Bloomberg's Catherine Lucey, whom he angrily told to "Quiet. Quiet, piggy," and for calling ABC News' Mary Bruce "a terrible person and a terrible reporter" as she attempted to ask a question about the Epstein files.
At the time, Collins came to the defense of her fellow correspondents, writing on X on November 18th, "My colleagues in the White House press corps, @marykbruce and @catherine_lucey, both do a great job."
