Trump Tries — And Fails — To Crush PBS Reporter Yamiche Alcindor

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

"Be nice," Trump told her. "Don't be threatening."

She hadn't been threatening at all.

A few weeks ago, she asked him about criticism he has faced for disbanding the National Security Council's pandemic office.

"I just think it's a nasty question," he sneered. He falsely claimed that he didn't do it.

Of course, Alcindor isn't the only reporter Trump is rude and abrasive toward. Just last week, Trump insulted NBC News' Peter Alexander, calling him a "terrible reporter" after a softball question seeking comforting words for a scared country.

But few reporters seem to stir Trump's ire as frequently as Alcindor. It's notable because, while she does ask tough, fact-based questions, she is extremely polite as soft-spoken. She never gets angry or raises her voice back in response, even as she handles Trump's verbal abuse. In a tweet, she suggested her treatment by the president may be a function of her race, gender, and role as a reporter:

Speaking with Pod Save America's Jon Lovett about the treatment, she explained: "The reason why I became a journalist is because Emmett Till, this 14-year-old boy in Mississippi, was killed. And it sparked the Civil Rights Movement. And I am at my heart a civil rights journalist. And I'm at my heart someone who is constantly thinking: We don't have time for foolishness. We don't have time for sideshows. The reason why I'm a reporter is because I really believe vulnerable people in this country don't have a voice. And I think about them every day as I craft my question."