Kaitlan Collins Explains Her Theory On Why Trump Always Attacks Her

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President Donald Trump frequently goes after CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins, criticizing her reporting and her appearance and complaining that she “never smiles.” And at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, he also complained about an award that she won, calling it “fake.”

Collins thinks she knows why her presence bothers the president so much, and she shared her theory during a recent appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

For one thing, Trump made it very clear that Collins’ award bothered him.

She was presented with the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure. It was for her coverage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Oval Office visit. Clearly, Trump was triggered by this. He acted incredibly dismissive of the recognition.

“I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award,” Trump said. “It was all about me. It was a fake. She shouldn’t get the award; it was a fake. But I didn’t mind. I said, ‘Kaitlan, congratulations.’ But it was fake, there’s no question about it.”

Which, you know, definitely sounds like something someone who doesn’t care at all would say. Interestingly, Trump himself has been accused of accepting awards that are totally made up to make him feel better about himself.

Collins doesn’t fight back or really engage with Trump’s attacks.

And she explained why. Instead of getting into “a back and forth” with the president, Collins prefers to focus on the questions she’s asking him. She doesn’t want her reaction to become the focus, because in a way, that would just help distract from the actual question. However, she did admit that he seemed bothered by her award.

“I think it’s more effective to remind people in those moments when he is insulting me or when he is criticizing me about the question I asked, or the reporting that I did that he was so angry about in this moment, and the fact that I got an award for it that really bothered him clearly,” she said on The Daily Show. “And so I just think in those moments it’s important to put the reminder back on the work, on the question, and on the non-answers that we get.”

She also pointed out that Trump isn’t exactly used to people challenging him.

Although Trump consistently lashes out at Collins, she’s not the only reporter he has targeted. He doesn’t react well when people ask him questions that he doesn’t want to answer.

Collins mentioned how Trump tends to surround himself with people who don’t challenge him at all, which is something that many of his critics have noticed.

She explained, “I think he does surround himself with people who praise him or laugh at his jokes, and when he’s confronted with someone who is asking a challenging question or a critical question of his policy or strategy in the Iran war, I think he doesn’t like it and lashes out over it.”

At the same time, Trump has sometimes lashed out at Collins before she has even said anything to him. “There have been moments where I’ve gone into the Oval Office … on behalf of the TV pool and I haven’t even asked a question yet, and he starts criticizing me,” she acknowledged. “So it’s not even always just about the questions. Sometimes it’s my presence in the room.”

READ NEXT: Kaitlan Collins Responds To Trump Scolding Her For Not Smiling When Asking Question About Epstein

Paige Sheffield (she/her)