You never do
Here is Trump calling on ABC News’s Cecilia Vega for the first question of the news conference:
Trump: “She’s shocked that I picked her. She’s in a state of shock.
Vega: “I’m not. Thank you, Mr. President.”
Trump: “That’s okay, I know you’re not thinking. You never do.”
Vega: “I’m sorry?
Trump: “No, go ahead.”
It seems likely Trump heard her say “I’m not thinking,” instead of “Thank you,” hence his reply. Still, there are two things about this exchange that are disturbing, although not out of character for Trump:
First, his attack on Vega came out of the blue. Vega hadn’t yet asked a question, so Trump can’t blame his derision on something she had just asked. (Not that that would be normal behavior for a president, either.)
No, it wouldn’t. It would be normal for a pissy, obnoxious junior high school student. For a president? It’s a million miles from normal. He has what is probably the biggest platform in the world, and he has no qualms about using it to insult people who don’t have that kind of influence.
Second, the attack came across as gender-driven. When Trump wants to attack women, he often resorts to stereotypes, reducing women to their looks or their intellect (or supposed lack of it) in many instances. In summer 2017, he attacked MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski by alleging that she had a “facelift.” In his very first presidential debate, Trump pushed back on host Megyn Kelly for questioning him about his treatment of women by saying that “she had blood coming out of her wherever.” He has called NBC News’s Katy Tur “little Katy” and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd “crazy.”
And don’t forget Maxine Waters, whom he persists in calling “very low IQ” and just plain “stupid” from his unrivaled platform.
Old news, but never normal.
He couldn’t look like more of an obnoxious idiot if he tried, making that “joke” based on his nonsensical misunderstanding (who would say “I’m not thinking” in that context?).
I’m wondering if Trump is having gender-related hearing problems because he never seems to hear clearly when women speak.
After the above exchange, Vega was asking a question about trade. Trump interupted, asking
Mind you, when he does manage to catch what a woman asks, he clearly wishes he hadn’t, as in this response to Kaitlan Collins when she asked if he thought that lying under oath would disqualify Kavanaugh from taking a seat in the Supreme Court;
I particularly like this bit, though, when he got riffing on alcohol.
World’s worst what? Is there a category left in which he doesn’t already have that distinction?
The Guardian journalist David Smith likened Trump’s speaking to ‘verbal jazz’. I disagree. Even the least accomplished improv. jazz musician maintains some semblance of coherence. Trump’s scattergun style is more akin to verbal diarrhea.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/01/trump-nafta-usmca-speech-rose-garden-reporter-attack
No. If you listen to the clip in the Guardian article, she starts to ask a question about the scope of the FBI investigation; that’s when he says he’s taking questions about trade. So at that point she changes her question to one about trade, and he answers.
(Not defending Trump here, but accuracy matters. The Guardian article gets it wrong, too.)
My mistake. I know better than to just go with the first source. Like a lumberjack’s shirt, always check.