Arguing With Journalists, Trump Suddenly Endes Press Conference At The White House

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The President of the United States (US) Donald Trump suddenly ended his press conference. This came after a controversial debate.

Trump asked an Asian-American journalist to ask China about his questions, and then refused to accept questions from other White House journalists.

The reporter who questioned him was named Weijia Jiang. He was born in China and immigrated to the US when he was two years old. Weija Jiang is the White House correspondent of CBS News.

Weijia Jiang asked Trump why he sees coronavirus testing as a global competition when more than 80,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. Instead of answering with an explanation, Trump told Weijia Jiang to ask China about it.

"Maybe that's a question you should ask China. Don't ask me. Ask China that question, okay?" Trump said to Jiang.

Trump is trying to move on by electing Kaitlan Collins, the White House correspondent for CNN, to ask a question. But just as Collins was about to mention his question, Jiang interrupted him by asking another surprising question.

"Sir, why did you say that to me specifically?" asked Jiang, who looked surprised by Trump's earlier answer.

"I'm just telling you. I didn't say it specifically to anyone. I told anyone who asked a nasty question," Trump said.

"That's not a bad question," Jiang said.

Trump then looked again to take questions from other reporters. Collins, who initially let Jiang ask Trump follow-up questions, approached the microphone. But hasn't asked any questions yet, Trump has already appointed other journalists to ask questions.

"I have two questions," Collins said.

"No, it's okay," Trump replied.

"But you appointed me. I have two questions, Mr. President. You called me," said Collins.

"Yes and you didn't respond, and now I'm calling the young woman in the back," Trump said.

But after the debate, Trump ended the press conference instead. The press conference ended badly and was a little tense.

Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, called the incident very sad and revealed on Twitter that Trump is a coward who puts others down to make himself feel strong.

Pretty pathetic. Mr. Trump is a coward who tears down others to make himself feel powerful. https://t.co/A4HvLyTdpn

- Bernie Sanders (SenSanders) May 11, 2020

Some critics also say Trump's remarks against Weijian Jiang are racist. This is not the first time Weijia Jiang has been confronted with racist remarks at the White House. Jiang once said that a White House official, whom he did not name, referred to the coronavirus as "Kung-flu" in his presence.

The President's unprofessionalism is always revealed most clearly when he is interacting with female reporters— @ kaitlancollins, @weijia, and @Yamiche specifically come to mind — who conduct themselves calmly and professionally in response.

- Olivia Nuzzi (Olivianuzzi) May 11, 2020

Other critics claim that what happened at the press conference was fraught with sexism.

"The president's unprofessionalism is always exposed most clearly when he interacts with female journalists," said Olivia Nuzzi, Washington's correspondent for New York magazine.