‘She steps up to speak the truth’: Thousands rally around female reporter bullied by Trump in briefing
Americans leap to the defence of a reporter berated for not being nice to the president
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Thousands of people have used Twitter to praise White House reporter Yamiche Alcindor after Donald Trump scolded her for asking a question.
Ms Alcindor, a political correspondent for PBS, was interrupted by the president and told to ‘be nice’ during a heated exchange at Sunday’s daily coronavirus briefing from the White House.
Political pundits, journalists and others joined together to defend Ms Alcindor using the #WeLoveYamiche hashtag, with some of those criticising the president citing misogyny and racism against the reporter.
“She steps up to speak the truth. No fanfare, no grandstanding, no gloating. Just respect & grit.”, said Wall Street Journal columnist Teri Agins on Twitter.
The exchange began when Ms Alcindor asked the president about his previous comments on the number of medical supplies needed by states to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
“You’ve said repeatedly New York might not need 30,000 [ventilators], you said it on Sean Hannity’s Fox News”, asked Ms Alcindor.
Despite making the claim on Thursday night, the president replied: “No, I didn’t say that”, before beginning to berate the journalist.
On Sunday, president Trump put to Ms Alcindor: “Why don’t you people — why don’t you act in a little more positive,”
He added: “It’s always trying to get you, and you know what, that’s why people don’t trust the media anymore.”
As Ms Alcindor attempted to put her question to the president, he interrupted: “Excuse me, you didn’t hear me, that’s why you used to work for the [New York] Times and now you work for somebody else”.
The PBS reporter later commented on Twitter that: “President Trump today at the White House said to me: ‘Be nice. Don’t be threatening’”.
“I’m not the first human being, woman, black person or journalist to be told that while doing a job,” she added.
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