President Donald Trump declared Saturday that he loves women, but he wasted no time slamming former President Barack Obama’s suggestion that putting women in charge of governments would “make things better.”
Obama floated the idea while speaking to an audience earlier this week, describing a thought he said he entertained while still in the Oval Office.
“Even when I was president, I sometimes fantasized about, if you put women in charge of every government for like two years, and then just kind of saw, all right, how are things going?” Obama said. “I have a strong belief that things would — they wouldn’t be perfect — but they’d be better. I’m confident about that.”
Trump was asked about the remarks during a Saturday gaggle with reporters.
“Do you buy that?” a reporter asked.
The president didn’t hold back.
“That’s a ridiculous — I love women, I think they’re great. But what a ridiculous statement that is. Right? Even you would say that!” Trump answered.
The exchange quickly drew attention to Trump’s own track record with women, particularly female members of the press.
In a new opinion piece, Mediaite’s Ana Marie Cox pointed to what she described as a pattern of Trump denigrating female reporters. Cox argued that his most recent jab at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, in which he reminded Collins that CNN had pledged to boycott the White House beat, was mild compared to past remarks.
“You said you weren’t going to cover me,” Trump told Collins.
Cox laid out a string of previous comments from the president aimed at female journalists. Trump called Maggie Haberman an “unattractive person both inside and out” and referred to Rachel Scott of ABC as a “horror show.”
He also asked CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes, rhetorically, “Are you stupid?” He told ABC’s Mary Bruce she was “horrible,” “insubordinate,” and “terrible.”
And in one of the more memorable episodes, the president cut off Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey with the words “quiet, piggy.”
Scott found herself in the president’s crosshairs again earlier this month. When she questioned Trump’s pledge to pay all Americans $5,000 if Republicans held on to Congress after the midterms, the president lunged at her while exclaiming, “Not you!” He then told her she was “the worst.”
The thrice-married Trump has faced scrutiny over his conduct toward women beyond the briefing room as well. He is known for paying off a porn star to cover up an affair.
He is also known for his infamous remarks to the TV show Access Hollywood.
“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women] — I just start kissing them . . . And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything . . . Grab them by the p*ssy. You can do anything,” Trump said at the time.
Still, the president made clear Saturday where he stands on Obama’s latest idea. While insisting he thinks women are “great,” Trump dismissed the former president’s vision of women running every government as simply “ridiculous.”
Obama, for his part, said he was “confident” that such an arrangement would leave things better, even if not perfect.
