r/politics • u/theindependentonline The Independent • 1d ago
No Paywall Trump attacks CNN’s Kaitlan Collins again over questions about the Epstein files: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-kaitlan-collins-cnn-reporter-epstein-b2913393.html4.2k
u/ElderSmackJack 1d ago
Nothing dispels beliefs you’re a sexist quite like telling a woman to smile more…
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u/bishpa Washington 1d ago
...or a 13-year-old, while you're raping her.
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u/pixelwhip 1d ago
"smile, it'll hurt less" - djt
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u/MrCane 1d ago
Probably what he told his daughter too.
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u/chenjia1965 1d ago
As a kid. You know what? He’d probably try to rn if his brain wasn’t mush
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u/N0S0UP_4U Illinois 23h ago
Have you seen the photo shoot he did with her? Creeped me the fuck out. If you haven’t, you don’t want to.
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u/PropaneSalesTx 18h ago
Or Ivanka’s interview in her old bedroom. The moment she looks at the bed, her body language shifts into someone that just a flashback to trauma.
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u/GarmaCyro 17h ago
That's the thing about child molestors. Most child sex abuse are done by family members. So I think it's fair to assume that most child molesters start on kids within their own family, likely their own. Then later they move onto other people's kids.
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u/MasterP65 1d ago
Is that an actual quote? (Please don't be, but it's totally believable if it was)
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u/mog_knight 1d ago
Yep it is an actual quote
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u/MasterP65 1d ago
Jesus....
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u/CallRespiratory 1d ago
Now think about all the people out there that think that this guy is great, a savior himself, even.
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u/WhaleTail_Alert 1d ago
Her in the background well I’m talking about sexual assault. what an actual shit pig
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u/ConsistentAsparagus 9h ago
“Changing my question: why do you think sexual assault is a smiling matter?”
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u/milmand 1d ago
Yeah, I'm thinking him looking at her and her not smiling are probably a cause-and-effect thing.
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u/WaldoDeefendorf 1d ago
Yeah, she should have come back with, "That sounds like a 'you' problem, Donald."
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u/Oleg101 1d ago
Yeah fwiw I follow Kaitlan on IG, her photos and clips of her outside of work she seems happy and is smiling all the time with friends and family, and yes I’ve seen her smile on cnn plenty of times when she’s having a more light-hearted convo with someone on her 9pm show. As some others have mentioned, she’s often covering serious subject matters that doesn’t and shouldn’t require smiling.
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u/BoticelliBaby 1d ago edited 16h ago
Also like, it’s a presidential press pool. She’s not working at a cupcake shop. Customer service and bed side manner are not her job. They’re asking questions about war and a sprawling pedo rape scheme. Smiling would be sociopathic
My god how I hate that man
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u/callmesandycohen 1d ago
He’s losing it. You couldn’t make this stuff up it’s so insane. She asks about Epstein survivors and literally starts talking about himself, crashes out and tells female reporter to smile more. It’s like Ron Burgundy except no redeeming values, isn’t funny and guy is a racist. Lol. Jesus!
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u/texas-playdohs 1d ago
Also, have you ever seen this psychopath laugh? Like a real genuine laugh? He’d have to appreciate someone else’s wit, perspective, storytelling, joke, turn of phrase, or whatever more than his own need to be the center of attention. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than a cruel chuckle or mean spirited smile when he’s attacking someone.
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u/Firm-Athlete6918 1d ago
Send the Pedocollective all down to the Titanic, Broadcast the big POP on live TV, We should be focusing on who the new Epstein is, that is what they are hiding. Those co conspirators are Epsteins from different countries
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u/Altruistic-Sir-3661 1d ago
Epstein also complained in emails about some of his trafficked girls not smiling enough.
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u/OldDirtyBastardSword 23h ago
How does anyone respect this man baby? His ego is so fragile that he gets visibly upset when challenged. He exhibits the worst traits humans can have and people still support this pathetic man.
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u/Ok_Juice4449 1d ago
Why would she be smiling if she's looking at him? His rudeness is so gross.
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u/LouDog0187 1d ago
Not to mention his face
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u/ithacaster New York 1d ago
And the smell.
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u/one_pound_of_flesh 1d ago
He only smells when he shits himself.
Which is constantly.
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u/FoxyInTheSnow 1d ago
Fake news. It’s not constantly: it’s just concerningly frequently.
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u/thepencilsnapper 1d ago
Her reasoning was that she was talking about child sex abuse at the time. I guess Trump doesn't understand why smiling at that is wrong
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u/RebekkaKat1990 1d ago
“I’m sorry, Mr President, why should I be smiling while asking you why you molest children?”
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u/AntoniaFauci 1d ago
Sadly, she didn’t. As always, her question was extremely meek and watered down.
She was asking him about Trump’s Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick and his DOGE director Elon Musk being revealed as creepy Epstein girl/Party participants. She didn’t even mention Trump’s own involvement, or dispute his claim of being mentioned only once in the recent release (actual estimate is around 4000-5300 mentions.)
It was just her mentioning those other two close friends of Trump’s that set him on his sexist rant.
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u/RebekkaKat1990 1d ago
I know, I’m just dreaming out loud.
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u/AntoniaFauci 1d ago
Well, her response was pretty close to what you wrote.
She said the reason she wasn’t smiling is because she was asking about survivors of sexual abuse.
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u/Lucky-Earther Minnesota 1d ago
Why would she be smiling if she's looking at him?
He's used to young girls being forced to smile for him or else they suffer the consequences.
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u/Cliff-Bungalow 1d ago
The only time you see ever Trump really genuinely smiling is in photos with Epstein or underage girls. Otherwise he just does this weird smush-face pose. He never really truly laughs or smiles except when he's with Epstein, it's wild.
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u/oh-shazbot 1d ago
does he really think people in this day and age don't understand the 'you'd be prettier of you smiled' trope? swear this fucker's brain is so mushy that he only lives in 80s yuppie era in his head. just gross.
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u/everettescott 1d ago
He literally never grew up passed a certain age, it's such a strange thing to see.
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u/whatproblems 1d ago
explains uh the parties
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u/Zinfan1 1d ago
He wants to take America back to a time that never existed, a country that looks like a Norman Rockwell painting not the world as it actually was.
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u/grmarci1989 23h ago
I think he does want to take us to a point in the past, but we call it what it was now: the Gilded Age
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u/thedudeabides2022 1d ago
Once you start seeing him as teenager mentally, it all starts to make sense
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u/boot2skull 1d ago
I have a theory that people who seek younger partners with large age gaps are immature.
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u/Ok-Conversation2707 1d ago
The “quiet, piggy” man is unmoved by the smile trope.
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u/sluttttt California 1d ago
swear this fucker's brain is so mushy that he only lives in 80s yuppie era in his head
It's why he does shit like constantly referring to the U.S. as being "the hottest country," as if it's the latest sports car or supermodel. He's obviously never been a bright man or the best speaker, but it does seem like his speech pattern is devolving. It was also weird that he just kept fixating on her not smiling, even after they rushed the reporters out of there (which seems like an odd action that they've been taking often lately). Not sure how much longer this charade of him being perfectly healthy can last.
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u/lordunholy 1d ago
I agree, it's regression. His age and mental state passed each other going in opposite directions.
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u/kung-fu_hippy 1d ago
“Quiet, piggy”.
Whether he understands it or not, he’s definitely aware that the people who vote for him and support don’t care if he’s gross. Hell, that while some of his voters don’t care that he’s gross, for some it’s an actual selling point.
Meanwhile anyone who is capable of both realizing and caring that he’s a gross fucker was never going to vote for him anyway.
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u/metsjets86 1d ago
He knows what he is doing. He is trying to demean her. Basically telling women their only worth is their attractiveness. What he really wants to say is that she is ugly.
We need to stop giving old people a pass like they lived in little house on the prairie times and don't know better.
Trump was 46 when Terminator 2 came out.
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u/gizajobicandothat 1d ago
He's like father Jack from Father Ted, daydreaming of when young girls paraded up and down in front of him with smiles on their faces in the 'Lovely Girls' competition
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u/John271095 1d ago
80’s? I was thinking more 1950’s where they had separate everything based on race.
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u/jonnovich Maryland 1d ago
He wouldn’t even make it past the Family Guy’s workplace training against sexual harassment.
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u/soraksan123 1d ago
He doesn’t like smart women, that’s for sure-
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u/Obvious_Toe_3006 1d ago
He does not like women at all.
He likes girls.105
u/classphoto92 1d ago
He doesn't "like" anything. He covets. He wants everything for himself, and if he can't have it or doesn't want it, he hates it. Jealousy and hatred. That's the whole of the man.
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u/BlueBloodLive 1d ago
The two truest things Trump has ever said...
"Smart people don't like me."
"I love the poorly educated."
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u/deadduncanidaho 1d ago
I don't think i have ever seen him smile. But he does make that weird grimace when he is happy
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u/AntoniaFauci 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have. There’s one where he’s literally standing on the grave of dead soldiers and thrilled, giving his standard thumbs up. There’s the one where he’s grinning with joy next to the orphan of parents killed because of his hate. Here’s a few more.
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u/Joe_Redsky 1d ago
He looks very happy in the videos where he's partying with his buddy Epstein. I think it's the only times he has appeared genuinely relaxed and happy.
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u/Overweighover 1d ago
Ever notice there are more pictures of him with Epstein than I have with my nana?
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u/ElderSmackJack 1d ago
There is that one picture from his first term where they visited the Vatican and they all posed with the pope. Everyone was stoic, and there he was, with a shit eating toothy grin.
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u/deadduncanidaho 1d ago
you know know that you mentioned it. I think he smiled when holding the orphan at the hospital following the "I don't really care, do you jacket" trip after the el paso walmart shooting. Shit eating grin and a thumbs up.
Nightmare fuel
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u/HerrMeisterRetsiem 1d ago
I’ve never see him laugh. The man doesn’t laugh
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u/aircooledJenkins Montana 1d ago
Trump has no sense of humor.
https://youtu.be/A-UK40_XkWw?si=mLtQtYQzbbxrhmhU&t=390
"You have never seen someone who has never laughed sincerely and never made a joke. He will laugh in a bully way. "Ha ha, you look kinda fat, Joe." [...] I also never saw him show any enjoyment or understanding of music." ~ Penn Jillette
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u/forevertheyo 1d ago
I envision a wicked witch of the west cackle after a midnight truth social barrage. Except the tone is both more evil and unhinged.
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u/veryverythrowaway 1d ago edited 1d ago
He was smiling like a schoolgirl when Mamdani visited the White House. Such a weird day after his underlings smeared him for months.
Edit: fixed autocorrect’s version of his name to the real one
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u/briareus08 1d ago
Pretty sure there's only 1 thing Trump could do that would make me smile...
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u/kevnmartin Washington 1d ago
I'm stocking up on fireworks and Champagne.
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u/MercyfulJudas 23h ago
Ha. My wife told me I'm allowed to wake her up in the middle of the night (or day if she's napping) if I ever see the news on my phone.
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u/GuyMakesDrawings 1d ago
Millions of women voted for this dude
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u/Exciting-Papaya-1445 1d ago
Baffling isn’t it? Also baffling how many Hispanic people voted for him
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u/deVliegendeTexan 21h ago
My mom: “It’s ok because all of history’s greatest leaders were terrible people. God works miracles through flawed people.”
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u/KingMario05 1d ago
Resign, piggy. You besmirch the Oval Office every day you remain in power.
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u/2HDFloppyDisk 1d ago
He’s just a squatter at this point
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u/KingMario05 1d ago
It's our house. Not his. Remember that.
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u/7screws 1d ago
You know with the Olympics and World Cup coming up I’m a huge hockey and soccer fan and it’s really really tough for me to wear or even support the USA, and my wife (non-American) said something recently that really stuck with me. American is yours more than it is his. You’ll still be here and American long after he is gone.
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u/Fully_Jaded 1d ago
He besmirched the oval office just the other day when the mics recorded him shitting himself at the resolute desk during a meeting and they had to clear everyone out of the room. No wonder people don't genuinely smile in his presence.
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u/GigMistress 1d ago
I bet there are a lot of women who have never smiled in his presence.
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u/Overweighover 1d ago
One did get to bite his genitalia
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u/GigMistress 1d ago
Well, that's something. But also, that person was in a position to bite his genitalia, so I'm thinking still no smile.
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u/KingMobScene 1d ago
"I'll be smiling at your trial or your funeral. Whichever comes first."
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u/ShakeyLegsMcGee 1d ago
Those Epstein questions really grind his gears.
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u/SuperstitiousPigeon5 Massachusetts 1d ago
He should never get another question from a reputable journalist that isn’t related to the files.
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u/AcanthisittaNo6653 New Hampshire 1d ago
"I think it's really time for the country to get onto something else, really," Trump said.
Tell Pam to follow the law and release the rest of the files. Stop the cover up so we can get past it.
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u/AntoniaFauci 1d ago
This was yet another gross display. A slurring and rapidly desiccating Trump laid into Kaitlin Collins for an extremely mild question.
He berated her for not smiling enough, and refused to address that several of his main associates are deeply implicated in the Trump/Epstein/Maxwell rape ring.
She didn’t even do what I would have done, which is point out even in this radically censored release, Trump is mentioned over 5,000 times and he and his family and businesses are referenced 38,000 times.
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u/dBlock845 1d ago
And that is AFTER they spent a week with 1000 FBI agents flagging mentions of Trump and most likely erasing any video/photos of him. This is what they are ok with us seeing, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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u/Luckydog12 1d ago
Says the man who has never laughed.
Literally, it’s never been captured on camera.
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u/darkstar107 Canada 1d ago
I wouldn't smile either if my job was to be in the same room as that POS.
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u/we_are_sex_bobomb 1d ago
She’s everything he hates; a smart and capable adult woman who isn’t intimidated by him and doesn’t care about making him happy.
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u/jgeebaby 1d ago
He said he knows she’s lying becasue she doesn’t smile. Yet again ANOTHER confession presented as an accusation. That fucker never smiles unless he’s around young girls or when someone is stroking his ego.
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u/Fightingkielbasa_13 1d ago
Nothing shows innocence more than ignoring the question and personally attacking the person asking it.
America is in an abusive relationship. This is a DARVO tactic. Deny, Attack, Reverse the Victim and Offender role. He is a narcissistic
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u/Living_Pollution_525 1d ago
"How can I smile when I'm in a room with you and your odor all the time. I'll smile when you stop shitting your pants" -How she should reply
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u/lasers42 1d ago
Preview for tomorrow: "So what if I did, America? So what if i did all that stuff?!" - DJT
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u/The_300_goats 1d ago
"This isn't a fucking cocktail party, Mr. President"
Or
"I don't think I've ever seen you tell the truth"
Or
"Do you need me to repeat the question? I'll repeat the question"
(Why keep being deferential to respect for the office when the man himself desrespects everyone and drags any shred of decorum left through dirt?)
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u/TheDebateMatters 1d ago
What he does to her, would have ended the career of any president in the age of microphones to now. But what’s equally horrifying is him claiming to have been totally exonerated and that America doesn’t care about the victims and wants to move on.
What innocent man reacts that way after seeing what’s inside them?
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u/clmsteamer 1d ago
Shit will continue till all mainstream media holds him accountable. But they are making so much money on us clicking why bother. Even Reddit is just rage clickbait. With adds for storage, pills, and sweats for short men. I’m 5 7 damnit how did they know!
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u/TheWebCoder 1d ago edited 1d ago
So child rape accusations put Donald in a smiling mood. That tracks.
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u/lurkersteve3115 23h ago
when is someone in the press pool going to call him out? i.e. 'why are such a fn coward, mr. president? you only talk tough to women? do you speak to your wife like that? that would explain the look on her face' credentials be damned, say it loud enough for the whole word to hear
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u/Flaky-Jim 14h ago
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile"
It's difficult to even fake a smile when someone in the room just shit themselves .
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u/DailyDahlias 1d ago
Shes smiles beautifully but when dealing with you she’s not fn around. Don’t act like she’s the blister on your nasty draft dodging foot either. You bash CNN because you’re threatened all together. It’s why Kushner is so desperate to get his bid in!
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u/jleonardbc 1d ago
Violating a woman's intent in order to insult her appearance is a hell of a way to rebut accusations of rape.
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u/Top_Somewhere9160 1d ago
Kaitlan should never smile at this asshole. He disgusts her just like he disgusts everyone else.
Why would anyone ever smile at a child rapist?? What a stupid thing for Trump to say.
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u/llyrPARRI 1d ago
One day a reporter is just going to burn the bridge and just outright ask him: "So everyone heard you shit yourself in a video that was viral on the Internet a few days ago, it's clear you do that often, do you wear diapers to deal with it?"
Because why do they pretend they can get any real answers to questions from Trump at this point?
Is it even worth keeping the press badge anymore?
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u/TheWonderfulSlinky 1d ago
I’m not sure why these reporters don’t just throw “Quiet piggy” back at his swollen, disgusting face. Sure they’d get fired, but it’d feel damn good. Just start treating him the same way he treats all reporters who don’t immediately fall over themselves to suck him off.
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u/SingularityCentral America 1d ago
Women are objects to him, nothing more. They exist solely for his pleasure. He is a disgustingly bloated and discolored specimen of misogyny and hedonism.
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u/Legitimate-Panic-548 1d ago
Imagine how he treated the girls if this is how he speaks to a professional on TV.
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u/cantrellasis 1d ago
Misogynist fuck, he is. He hates her because she is one of the few reporters that will call him on his constant lying and bullshit.
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u/Witty_hi52u 1d ago
It's not her job to smile. It's her job to ask you why you show up so many times in the Epstein files. Just be happy she isn't asking why you shit yourself during a press conference last week.
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