MS NOW analyst says Trump lashes out at female reporters because he’s 'getting older'

WASHINGTON, DC: MS NOW on Sunday, May 10, rolled out a montage of President Donald Trump taking swings at female reporters after his latest clash with ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott last week.

The latest dust-up came when Scott asked Trump why he was focused on renovating Washington, DC, landmarks while the US remains in the middle of a conflict with Iran.

“You know why? Because I want to keep our country beautiful and safe,” Trump fired back before turning his attention squarely toward the reporter. “This is one of the worst reporters. She’s with ABC fake news, and she’s a horror show,” he remarked.

The Republican leader then doubled down while defending cleanup efforts around the Lincoln Memorial area. "She's saying, 'Why would you bother fixing this up?' Why would I bother taking 11 or 12 truckloads of filth out of the water in front of the Lincoln Monument? That's what made our country great. Beauty made our country. People made our country great," he said.

The president also branded Scott’s question a “disgrace to our country.”

MS NOW host Alex Witt followed that exchange by airing several other clips of Trump sparring with female journalists over the years. In one moment, Trump snapped, “Quiet, piggy!” In another, he criticized a reporter’s “attitude” before adding, “I think you are a terrible reporter.”

One clip showed Trump asking a journalist, “Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” before later telling CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, “You are so bad. You are the worst reporter.”

Molly Jong-Fast says there’s been a 'shift' in Trump’s behavior

MS NOW political analyst Molly Jong-Fast argued that Trump’s behavior toward women reporters has noticeably changed since she first started covering him about a decade ago.

“You’ll remember when he was debating Hillary Clinton or Vice President [Kamala] Harris, we would see him sort of say misogynistic things or be misogynistic and dismissive. But what is new here, which I think is relevant and important, is that he really does lash out at these reporters in a way that seems unplanned, right?” Jong-Fast said.

“Like we’ve seen him sort of do things where it is not tasteful to us. We don’t like it. It doesn’t feel good, but it doesn’t seem quite as emotional," she insisted.

Jong-Fast then pointed to Trump’s age while discussing what she sees as a change in tone and self-control.

“And I think this is meaningful because, you know, he’s 79, he’s about to be 80,” she continued. “And as you get older, sometimes you see people who start to slow down are less able to control sort of their behavior and speech. And it does strike me that the fact that he can’t prevent himself from getting angry at these women reporters and lashing out is new.”

Trump's 'quiet piggy' remark sparks debate over what’s become normal

Witt later asked whether behavior like Trump’s has effectively become normalized in American politics.

“In a previous decade, this kind of behavior would be so outside of the norm that people would just be apoplectic,” Jong-Fast replied. “I mean, he said to a journalist, ‘Quiet piggy,’ to a woman journalist. I mean, yeah, that’s no precedent for that. It’s not like something that Nixon did.”

The political commentator also suggested Trump’s political instincts play a role in who he targets.

“But I also think that part of his situation is that he’s a person who likes the people who vote for him and doesn’t like the people who don’t vote for him. And he said as much,” she said.

“And, you know, he’s never really been able to sort of keep up with women voters the way he has with men. And part of the MAHA movement was about trying to get those women voters, so you could see how him lashing out at women voters is also somewhat narcissistic," Jong-Fast added.