Trump Called One Female Reporter “Dumb” And Another “Stupid” Over a $400 Million Ballroom and the Iran War

Screenshot from realdonaldtrump/Instagram. Used under fair use for editorial commentary
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On Tuesday, May 12, President Donald Trump stood on the South Lawn of the White House, hours before leaving for Beijing, and somehow turned a question about a ballroom renovation into yet another viral shouting match with a female reporter.

The reporter was MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner. She asked why Trump wanted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell removed over a 30 percent budget overrun, while his own White House ballroom project had reportedly exploded from $200 million to something around $400 million in five months. Instead of giving a clean answer, Trump fired back with the kind of insult that instantly sends social media into full WWE commentator mode.

Gardner also brought up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, which reportedly climbed from $1.8 million to over $13 million. These were not random gotcha questions pulled out of thin air. These were numbers already circulating in public reporting, and Gardner delivered them calmly, directly, and right in front of the cameras.

Trump began by insisting the ballroom project was “on budget, under budget, and ahead of schedule,” even though no public project records have independently confirmed that claim. Then Gardner pressed him again about the cost doubling, and suddenly the briefing took a hard left into middle-school lunch-table energy. “I doubled the size of it, you dumb person. You are not a smart person,” Trump snapped.

And yes, it happened exactly like that, on camera, on the South Lawn, with reporters packed around him and Air Force One waiting nearby. As noted in the clip, Trump even leaned down toward Gardner while delivering the insult, which somehow made the whole thing feel even more dramatic.

Gardner stayed completely composed afterward and later posted on X explaining exactly what she had asked. Her post quickly spread because, honestly, her question was crystal clear, and his response absolutely was not.

One Lawn, Two Reporters, Zero Chill

If anyone thought the Gardner exchange would be the final awkward moment of the afternoon, well the president had other plans. Just minutes later, another female reporter asked Trump whether his economic policies were actually working after inflation reportedly hit 3.8 percent, its highest level in three years, despite his promise to bring it down.

Trump defended his record before ending with another personal swipe, claiming his policies were working “incredibly.” Then he doubled down: “If you go back to just before the war, for the last three months, inflation was at 1.7%. Now, we had a choice. Let these lunatics have a nuclear weapon — if you want to do that, then you’re a stupid person. And you happen to be. I mean, I know you very well.”

So yes, we’ve got two separate reporters, and two separate insults in one day. Social media practically grabbed popcorn and refreshed the timeline at this point.

The second reporter’s identity had not been confirmed by major outlets at the time of reporting, yet the clip spread online almost instantly. The internet treated the whole thing like the season finale of a reality show nobody can stop hate-watching.

What the White House Said About All of It

Here is where the story somehow got even messier. The official White House Rapid Response account on X neither distanced itself from the comments nor tried to smooth things over. Instead, it posted the Gardner clip directly and labeled her “fake news,” basically turning the moment into promotional content.

Critics immediately pointed out the obvious problem with that defense. Gardner had asked a documented question about government spending backed by publicly discussed numbers. Instead of addressing those numbers directly, the conversation became about insulting the reporter asking them.

This Was Not a One-Off, Not Even Close

The May 12 blowup also did not happen in a vacuum. In November 2025, Trump told Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey to “Quiet, piggy” aboard Air Force One after she asked about the Jeffrey Epstein files. Sometime late last year, he attacked Katie Rogers, a New York Times reporter, on Truth Social, calling her a “third rate reporter,” who is “ugly, both inside and out” after she wrote about his age and lighter public schedule, while completely ignoring the male co-writer.

February 2026 brought CNN’s Kaitlan Collins being labeled “the worst reporter.” March delivered a female ABC News reporter who was called “a very obnoxious person.”

In April, Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov was described as “one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television.” Then, just days before the Gardner incident, Trump snapped at ABC’s Rachel Scott at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, calling her question “stupid,” “a disgrace to the country,” and branded her “a horror show.”

Scott later said she had simply asked why the administration seemed focused on renovation projects while gas prices and the war in Iran dominated headlines. Around the same time, the National Association of Black Journalists issued a formal statement demanding an “immediate end” to attacks on female journalists. Less than twenty-four hours later, the South Lawn exchange happened anyway.

The “Dumbocrats” Detail That Makes This Even Richer

Around this same stretch of headlines, Trump had also publicly called Democrats “Dumbocrats.” So within the span of one news cycle, the president had mocked an entire political party with a stupidity joke, attacked a Federal Reserve chair over cost overruns, and then called a reporter “dumb” for asking about his own ballooning renovation budget. The pattern here was not exactly subtle.

The conversation around Trump’s cognitive health also kept circling these moments. IBTimes reported that some medical observers noted increased irritability can sometimes be associated with early cognitive decline, while critics argued Trump’s constant references to passing cognitive exams had started sounding strangely defensive.

During a previous exchange with a female journalist asking about MRI results, Trump bragged about receiving a “perfect mark” on a cognitive test and suggested the reporter would never score as highly.

The Internet Was Not Here for It

Online reactions exploded almost immediately. One user wrote, “The President of the United States is a misogynistic asshole,” while another summed it up with, “What he hates most is being questioned by women, especially when asked about spending money.” Another kept it equally simple: “Classic Trump operation: lie first, then curse, and finally blame.”

One widely shared comment read: “No class, no honesty, no empathy and no integrity. Just a spoilt rich bastard with no manners.” Others questioned his fitness for office in language that cannot be reprinted here in full. One commenter went with: “That man has no business in our White House.”

Another called it “Orange mass spewing bullshit and dodging valid questions.” Someone else offered: “He’s such a weak, pathetic man. But other people are the problem and should be nicer to Trump.” The clown emoji got serious over time that day.

But not everyone was in full outrage mode, though. A few voices pushed back on the pile-on: “Trump’s blunt, confrontational style is exactly why supporters see him as authentic and critics see him as chaotic. Moments like this dominate headlines because he says things most politicians would never dare say publicly, for better or worse.” That framing, love it or hate it, is probably the most honest read of the political reality here.

In all, Akayla Gardner showed up with numbers, receipts, and a straightforward question about spending. Trump answered with an insult, the White House doubled down, and the internet spent the rest of the day fighting over whether it was honesty, bullying, transparency, chaos, or all four at once.

The original question never got resolved. Once the response became “you are not a smart person,” the budget conversation dissolved entirely, and the insult commentary got louder, which, whether by design or instinct, managed to pull attention away from the actual numbers on the table.

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