"Quiet, Piggy!"

 

Trump said to Lucey on Friday, pointing his finger at her, after she asked him why he would not release material on disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein "if there's nothing incriminating in the files."

CNN journalist Jake Tapper called Trump's "piggy" comment "disgusting and completely unacceptable."

On Tuesday, Trump singled out ABC News's Mary Bruce after she asked a series of questions in the Oval Office as the US president hosted the de facto Saudi ruler in a high-profile event. Bruce first asked questions about whether dealings by Trump's family business with the Saudis were a conflict of interest.

She then quizzed Prince Mohammed over the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying "US intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist, 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust you?"

Trump cut in angrily, saying: "ABC fake news. One of the worst in the business."

'No more questions' 

Trump then said he has "nothing to do" with the Trump organization, which is currently run by his two eldest sons and which announced a deal with a Saudi developer for a resort in the Maldives on Monday.

Trump also backed Prince Mohammed's denial of involvement in the Khashoggi murder, despite US intelligence suggesting he approved the operation. 

"You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that," Trump snapped.

Trump boiled over again when Bruce later asked about the flashpoint issue of Epstein. Congress voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to order the release of files about the financier, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

"It's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter," Trump shot back at Bruce. Trump said he had "nothing to do" with Epstein and repeated his claim that the scandal is a "hoax." And "your crappy company is one of the perpetrators," he told her.

Trump urged the head of the US broadcast regulator -- who has previously threatened ABC over its content -- to "look at" taking away its license. He then pointed at Bruce: "No more questions from you."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

                                                            

It’s particularly galling that the president’s response to a legitimate question about the matter is “Quiet Piggy.” It tells you all you need to know about this president’s attitude toward women. Of course, that hasn’t been in doubt since we saw him on tape saying, “Grab them by the p*ssy.” He’s called a stream of women who stood up to him, like Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Kamala Harris, “nasty women.” In 2014, Trump called New York Times columnist Gail Collins “frumpy and very dumb, We could be here all night listing the misogyny, but the sad truth is, MAGA doesn’t care. The men like it and the women, inexplicably, are willing to tolerate it.

I keep coming back to the Joseph McCarthy moment where the red-baiting senator was finally asked, “Have you no decency,” and his cult of personality burst. “Quiet, Piggy.” We shouldn’t forget that the president of the United States uttered those words in this moment. At a time when women were fighting for justice, the man who cut himself out of the investigation into wrongdoing had that to say about a woman who was simply trying to do her job.

Portland has reclaimed the frog as a symbol of its resistance to Trump’s efforts to militarize the city. Perhaps women should claim the glamorous, sassy Muppet Miss Piggy, a known diva with a fierce karate chop, as their own symbol. Call a woman a piggy, and see how that goes for you, Mr. President. Enough demeaning of women. Signing the Epstein Files bill when it hits his desk, which Trump has promised to do, won’t be enough. The files have to be released, no excuses. It’s time to emulate the great Miss Piggy, who has never stayed quiet in the face of those who don’t respect her.

We’re in this together,

-Joyce Vance