Trump's Pattern of Personal Attacks on Critics, Journalists, Judges, Athletes, and Dissenters

Details

Throughout his second term, President Donald Trump has engaged in a sustained pattern of personal insults, public humiliation, and implied threats against individuals who criticize him or ask uncomfortable questions. While Trump has long been known for combative rhetoric, the frequency and severity of these attacks escalated markedly in 2025 and into 2026. An NBC News review found that Trump's attacks spurred threats against at least 22 elected officials on both sides of the aisle. According to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Trump made at least 215 anti-media posts on social media in 2025 alone. The U.S. dropped to 57th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index — its lowest domestic ranking since the index was created in 2002.

Attacks on Female Journalists

In a concentrated period from November 2025 to February 2026, Trump directed a series of personal insults at female White House correspondents, often in response to questions about the Jeffrey Epstein files, his health, or administration policies. The Wrap documented that nearly all of Trump's press targets in this period were women, with insults including "nasty," "piggy," "terrible," "ugly," and "incapable."

Catherine Lucey, Bloomberg News (November 14, 2025): While aboard Air Force One, Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey asked Trump about newly released Epstein emails. Trump cut her off with "Quiet, quiet, piggy" while waving a finger in her direction. The White House defended the remark, saying Lucey "behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way" and that reporters should be able to "take" the president's insults.

Mary Bruce, ABC News (November 18, 2025): During a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office, ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce asked about the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence concluded was ordered by bin Salman. Trump berated Bruce, calling her "a terrible person and a terrible reporter" and her question "horrible" and "insubordinate," accusing her of trying to "embarrass our guest."

Katie Rogers, The New York Times (November 26, 2025): After Rogers co-authored an article about Trump's age and physical stamina, the president wrote on Truth Social that she was "a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out." The article's male co-author was not mentioned. The New York Times responded that "name-calling and personal insults don't change" the accuracy of their reporting.

Nancy Cordes, CBS News (November 27, 2025): When CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes cited the DOJ Inspector General's finding that Afghan refugees had been "thoroughly vetted" and asked why Trump blamed the Biden administration for a shooting by an Afghan national, Trump responded: "Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?"

Kaitlan Collins, CNN (December 6, 2025): On Truth Social, Trump called Collins "stupid and nasty" after she asked him about Venezuela, mischaracterizing her question as being about White House renovation costs. Collins responded on Instagram: "Technically my question was about Venezuela."

Rachel Scott, ABC News (December 8, 2025): When Scott pressed Trump on whether he would release video of September 2 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, the president called her "the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place" and "a terrible — actually a terrible reporter."

Lesley Stahl, CBS News (December 8, 2025): After 60 Minutes aired an interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump called Stahl "washed up" and "Trump hating" and demanded Paramount explain why it allowed the interview to air.

Kaitlan Collins, CNN (February 3, 2026): After Collins asked about Jeffrey Epstein's sexual assault victims, Trump scolded her for not smiling, saying "I don't think I've ever seen you smile" and calling her "the worst reporter." CNN kept its statement defending Collins "ready to go" because Trump had singled her out so many times.

The Society of Professional Journalists said these incidents "are not isolated; they are part of an unmistakable pattern of hostility — often directed at women — that undermines the essential role of a free and independent press." The International Women's Media Foundation noted that Trump "very much directs his ire at women, and usually women journalists of colour" with "the obvious intention of shutting them up."

Threatening Democratic Lawmakers With Death

On November 20, 2025, Trump accused six Democratic members of Congress — all military veterans or former intelligence officials — of "seditious behavior" after they posted a video reminding service members of their duty to refuse illegal orders. In a series of Truth Social posts, Trump wrote:

• "Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL"
• "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!"

Trump also reposted a message from another user reading "HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!"

The six lawmakers — Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) — received immediate death threats. Slotkin said her office received "hundreds and hundreds, if not, you know, closer to 1,000 threats." Rep. Houlahan told NBC News: "The president of the United States threatened a member of Congress with their life and now I have to worry about my life and about those around me." Three of the six filed complaints with the U.S. Capitol Police.

Trump later claimed he was "not threatening death," but rather noting that "in the old days, it was death." Republican Sen. Rand Paul responded: "I don't think it's a really good idea to talk about jailing your political opponents or hanging them."

Turning on Republican Allies

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (November–December 2025): After Greene broke with Trump over Jeffrey Epstein files and criticized the effects of tariffs on American businesses, Trump pulled his support and labeled her a "traitor" and a "lunatic." After her December 7, 2025 interview on CBS's 60 Minutes, Trump escalated further on Truth Social, writing: "The only reason Marjorie 'Traitor' Brown (Green turns Brown under stress!) went BAD is that she was JILTED by the President of the United States (Certainly not the first time she has been jilted!)." He called her "a very dumb person," a "low IQ traitor," and said she "sort of reminds me of a Rotten Apple." Greene, who had voted with Trump 98% of the time, said the attacks led to pipe bomb threats on her house, multiple doxxings, and death threats against her son. She reported 773 total death threats during her time in Congress. Greene resigned from Congress in December 2025, citing her falling-out with the president.

Indiana State Republicans (November 2025): Trump publicly attacked Indiana state Senate Republicans, calling out leaders Rodric Bray and Greg Goode by name, for not supporting a midcycle redistricting measure. Over a dozen Indiana state lawmakers subsequently received threats, including swatting attacks.

Elon Musk (June–July 2025): After Musk criticized Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" as a "disgusting abomination", Trump turned on his closest billionaire ally — who had spent roughly $277 million electing him. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Musk was "wearing thin," claimed he had asked Musk to leave, and said Musk "just went CRAZY!" He threatened to terminate Musk's government subsidies and contracts, and warned of "serious consequences" if Musk tried to punish Republican lawmakers who voted for the bill. A month later, after Musk floated creating a third party, Trump escalated further, calling him a "TRAIN WRECK" who had gone "completely 'off the rails.'" The two publicly reconciled at Charlie Kirk's memorial service in September 2025.

Vice President JD Vance and senior aides (2025–2026): The same combative instinct extends to subordinates who remain loyal. The New York Times reported in May 2026, citing more than a dozen people familiar with the dynamic, that Trump subjects members of his inner circle to "quasi-public questioning of their performance and their future" and appears to enjoy keeping them off balance as a way of asserting dominance. With Vice President JD Vance, the presumed 2028 front-runner, Trump has needled the vice president over his shoes, his tendency to interject, and the number of vacations he takes, and has repeatedly raised — in front of Vance — the vice president's early opposition to the war with Iran, telling him he was "more of a peace person" but had to act. At a Rose Garden dinner that month, Trump polled his guests by asking who preferred Vance and who preferred Secretary of State Marco Rubio, making clear he was endorsing neither. The most public instance came on November 5, 2025, when Trump, recounting a meeting with Xi Jinping at a White House breakfast for Republican senators, praised the silent deference of the Chinese leader's aides and turned to Vance: "Why don't you behave like that? JD doesn't behave like that! JD butts into conversations!" Video of the exchange showed Vance laughing along. White House communications director Steven Cheung disputed the Times account, calling Vance the most empowered vice president in history and the reporting a "false media narrative," and Donald Trump Jr. said his father valued Vance's willingness to attack the press.

Senate Republicans (June 24, 2026): After four Republicans crossed party lines to help pass a war powers resolution rebuking his handling of the war with Iran, Trump traveled to the Capitol for a closed-door lunch and, according to senators who attended, launched into a string of personal attacks. He singled out Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana—who had recently lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger—calling him a "loser" and, per multiple sources, a "lunatic," and shouting "You lost the election" as the exchange erupted into a shouting match. ("If someone tries to bully me," Cassidy said afterward, "I ain't gonna put up with that.") Trump also called Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska a "horrible person," according to senators in the room, and disparaged Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was hospitalized and did not attend, as well as Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania for missing the vote. Sen. John Kennedy said the president was "mad as a murder hornet." Emerging from the meeting, Trump called it "a really great meeting," adding, "I don't like a few people, but that's OK."

Attacks on Judges

Trump has repeatedly attacked federal judges who rule against his policies, calling for their impeachment and using language that scholars say has contributed to a spike in threats.

Judge James Boasberg (March 2025): After Boasberg blocked deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act, Trump called him a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama" and demanded his impeachment, writing: "This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges' I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision." Boasberg was confirmed by the Senate 96–0 and had previously been appointed to a judgeship by President George W. Bush.

Judge John McConnell (February 2025): After temporarily pausing the administration's federal grants freeze, Chief Judge McConnell of the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island received over 400 threatening voicemails and six credible death threats, including one from a person searching for his home address on the dark web because he wanted "Smith & Wesson to pay me a visit." McConnell and his wife were swatted — police received a false report that he had murdered his wife. At the same time, then-White House employee Elon Musk called for McConnell's impeachment on X, while Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) put McConnell's face on a "wanted" poster outside his congressional office.

Judge John Coughenour (February 2025): After blocking Trump's birthright citizenship order, Judge Coughenour — a Reagan appointee — was also swatted. Trump dismissed the ruling by saying "there's no surprises with that judge."

Scale of the crisis: According to the U.S. Marshals Service, there were 564 threats against judges in fiscal year 2025, up from 509 the prior year. Roughly a third of the federal judiciary was targeted with threats during 2025. Judges reported a pattern of "pizza doxxing" — receiving anonymous pizza deliveries to their homes, sometimes in the name of Daniel Anderl, the murdered 20-year-old son of federal Judge Esther Salas. Judge Salas, who helped organize a nonpartisan judicial forum in July 2025 where judges spoke publicly about the harassment, said: "We're seeing things coming out from the top down, from White House spokespeople, calling us crazy, leftist, unconstitutional judges." Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik noted that while judges were harassed after Brown v. Board of Education, "the difference is that at that time, the president enforced the court's rulings and didn't encourage defying them."

Supreme Court Justices (February 2026): After six justices struck down Trump's global tariffs authority in a bipartisan 6–3 ruling, Trump held a 45-minute press conference on February 20 attacking the majority — including three of his own party's appointees. He called the justices "fools and lapdogs for the RINOs and the radical left Democrats," said they should be "absolutely ashamed" for lacking "the courage to do what's right," and claimed without evidence that "the court has been swayed by foreign interests." When asked if he regretted nominating Justices Gorsuch and Coney Barrett, who joined the majority, Trump called their votes "an embarrassment to their families, to one another." He simultaneously praised the three dissenters — Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh — for "their strength and wisdom and love of our country." Three days later, Trump continued on Truth Social, calling the justices "incompetent," the tariff ruling "ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive," and announcing he would spell "supreme court" in lowercase "for a while based on a complete lack of respect." He warned the court against striking down his birthright citizenship order, predicting they would "rule in favor of China."

Supreme Court Justices, continued (April 2026): The attacks escalated as the consequences of the tariff ruling came due. On April 22, after a process that would require the government to issue roughly $159 billion in tariff refunds, Trump posted what legal observers called one of the most direct presidential assaults on the Court in memory, writing that certain "Republican" justices "have just gone weak, stupid, and bad" and calling the refunds a "travesty." In the same post he disparaged the Court's newest member, Biden appointee Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, as a "Low IQ person," warned that an adverse birthright-citizenship ruling would cost America its "DIGNITY," and declared that Democrats need not "Pack the Court" because "it's already Packed!" The post marked a striking break from the conservative movement's decade-long celebration of the 6-3 majority, six of whom were appointed by Republican presidents and three by Trump himself.

Hakeem Jeffries (April 30, 2026): Eight days later, after the Court's 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the majority "illegitimate" and "the Trump Court." Trump responded that Jeffries was "a Low IQ individual, who should not be allowed to talk that way" about the Court and demanded he withdraw the statement "IMMEDIATELY," attaching a menacing photo of himself. Days later he called for Jeffries' impeachment over the remark and posted an image of Jeffries holding a baseball bat. Commentators noted the contradiction: Trump demanded deference to the Court's legitimacy just over a week after calling its justices "weak, stupid, and bad." Jeffries did not back down, replying that "if I said it, I meant it."

Judge Christopher Cooper and attorney Amy Jeffress (May 2026): On May 29, 2026, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper — an Obama appointee confirmed by the Senate without opposition in 2014 — ruled that Trump's handpicked Kennedy Center board had acted unlawfully in adding his name to the institution, finding that its founding statute reserves the name for President Kennedy and that only Congress can change it. Trump had installed himself as board chairman in 2025; the board voted to rename the Center in December 2025, and, after Trump announced a two-year closure, voted in March 2026 to shut it for renovations. Ruling in a suit brought by ex-officio trustee Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Cooper also blocked the closure as an "ill-informed and seemingly preordained" decision and ordered Trump's name removed within 14 days.

The next day, Trump responded with a lengthy Truth Social post attacking both the judge and his wife. He called Cooper "a Barack Hussein Obama Judge," asserted the building was "rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested" and structurally dangerous, and wrote that the judge had a conflict of interest and "should be brought up on charges." Much of the post targeted Cooper's wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, whom Trump labeled "a Radical Left Democrat" who had likely told her husband how to rule. He cited her past service as a counselor to Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, her representation of former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and of former President Biden in a suit to block release of the Robert Hur interview recordings, and her firm's earlier representation of E. Jean Carroll, and claimed she avoided the "Cooper" surname to hide a conflict.

Jeffress, a partner at Hecker Fink LLP (formerly Kaplan Hecker & Fink) and a former federal prosecutor, has represented each of those clients, but she had no role in the Kennedy Center case, which was litigated by Rep. Beatty's lawyers; attorneys commonly retain their own professional names. A conservative group, the Center to Advance Security in America, filed a judicial misconduct complaint arguing Cooper should have recused himself. Trump and his allies had pressed Cooper to step aside on similar grounds during the 2022 trial of Michael Sussmann, which ended in acquittal, and he had declined. The attack fit a documented pattern of Trump targeting the relatives of judges in his cases, including Judge Merchan's daughter and Judge Engoron's law clerk. Trump said he would relinquish the Center to Congress, writing he had "no interest" in a "hopeless journey." The administration appealed; after an appeals court declined to stay the order, workers removed Trump's name from the building on June 12–13, 2026.

Broad attacks on the judiciary: In March 2025, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country! These people are Lunatics." On June 24, 2025, Trump sued all 15 federal judges in Maryland in a dispute over his deportation orders.

Celebrating or Mocking Critics' Deaths

Rob Reiner (December 15, 2025): Filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home. Their son was arrested on suspicion of murder. Less than a day later, Trump posted on Truth Social that Reiner had passed away "reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME." Reiner had been one of Trump's most outspoken critics in Hollywood.

When asked in the Oval Office if he stood by his comments, Trump doubled down: "He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned. I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all in any way, shape or form."

The remarks drew rare Republican backlash. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X: "Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered. I challenge anyone to defend it." Former Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called it "a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies." Joe Rogan said on his podcast: "There's no justification for what he did that makes any sense in a compassionate society."

Robert Mueller (March 21, 2026): When former FBI Director Robert Mueller died at age 81 after a years-long battle with Parkinson's disease, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Robert Mueller just died. Good, I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!" Mueller — a Princeton graduate, decorated Vietnam veteran who earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and the second-longest-serving FBI director in history — had led the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election during Trump's first term.

The statement was widely condemned. Former RNC chairman Michael Steele wrote directly to Trump: "You are a vile disgusting man. Petty and pathetic." Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) called it "clearly wrong and unchristian." Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume wrote that it was "the kind of stuff Trump does that makes people not just oppose him but hate him." Tucker Carlson said on his show: "There's something awful about that," adding: "It's very easy for a society to become a death-worshipping society and I feel like the U.S. has made a real effort generationally not to become that, but no one seems to be making an effort now." Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told ABC: "It shows you how completely self-consumed the president is." Fox News did not mention Trump's statement a single time on air, despite covering Mueller's death at least six times.

Threatening and Demanding Investigations of Entertainers

Bruce Springsteen (May 2025): After Springsteen told a concert audience in Manchester, England that the U.S. "is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration," Trump called him a "dried out 'prune' of a rocker (his skin is atrophied!)" and "a pushy, obnoxious JERK" who was "not a talented guy" and "dumb as a rock." Trump warned Springsteen to "KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that's just 'standard fare.' Then we'll all see how it goes for him!"

Beyoncé, Oprah, Bono (May 2025): On Truth Social at 1:34 a.m. before a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Trump demanded "a major investigation" into celebrities who supported Kamala Harris, writing: "THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL!" He singled out Beyoncé's Houston rally appearance, claiming without evidence that she was "paid $11,000,000" — a figure fact-checked as false. Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, responded that Beyoncé "did not receive a penny" and had "paid for her own flights for her and her team." Oprah Winfrey similarly stated she was "not paid a dime."

Trevor Noah (February 2, 2026): After Noah joked at the Grammy Awards about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein's island, Trump called the awards "the WORST, virtually unwatchable!" and called Noah "a total loser" and "poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C." Trump threatened: "It looks like I'll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$. Get ready Noah, I'm going to have some fun with you!"

Bad Bunny (February 8, 2026): After Bad Bunny performed the Super Bowl LX halftime show celebrating Puerto Rican culture, Trump wrote on Truth Social that it was "absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER" and called it "a 'slap in the face' to our country," adding: "Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children."

Hunter Hess, Team USA (February 9, 2026): After freestyle skier Hunter Hess told reporters at the Winter Olympics that "it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now," Trump called him "a real Loser" on social media, adding it was "very hard to root for someone like this."

Targeting Democratic Officials and Candidates

Zohran Mamdani (July 2025): After Mamdani won the New York City Democratic mayoral primary over Andrew Cuomo, Trump called him "a 100% Communist Lunatic" and threatened to arrest him if he followed through on pledges not to assist ICE agents, saying: "Well then, we'll have to arrest him." Trump also baselessly questioned Mamdani's citizenship, saying "a lot of people are saying he's here illegally." Mamdani is a naturalized U.S. citizen who moved to the United States at age seven. New York Governor Kathy Hochul wrote on X: "If you threaten to unlawfully go after one of our neighbors, you're picking a fight with 20 million New Yorkers — starting with me."

Hakeem Jeffries (September 2025): Trump shared a manipulated video depicting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a cartoon sombrero and mustache, with mariachi music playing in the background, as a government shutdown loomed.

Adam Schiff, James Comey, Letitia James (September 21, 2025): Trump posted multiple messages on Truth Social directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute these individuals, stating the lack of prosecutions was "killing our reputation and credibility." Comey was subsequently charged five days before the statute of limitations expired in what The New York Times described as a case that "could well go down as a moment when a fundamental democratic norm — that justice is dispensed without regard to political or personal agendas — was cast aside."

Kamala Harris (August 29, 2025): Trump revoked Secret Service protection for the former vice president, his 2024 election opponent, despite President Biden having signed an executive order extending it. Former vice-presidents typically receive such protection for six months; Biden's order had extended it by an additional year.

Susan Rice (February 21, 2026): After Rice — a Netflix board member, former U.N. Ambassador, and former National Security Advisor — told a podcast that corporations that "take a knee to Trump" would face an "accountability agenda" when Democrats return to power, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences. She's got no talent or skills – Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK." The threat carried particular weight because Netflix's pending $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery requires federal regulatory approval. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the BBC: "This is a business deal, it's not a political deal." MSNBC noted that Rice was part of a pattern of Trump demanding companies fire specific individuals — he had previously pressed Intel to fire its CEO and Microsoft to fire its president of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, a former Biden deputy attorney general.

Attacking Pope Leo XIV

After Pope Leo XIV — the first American-born pontiff — denounced Trump's threat to destroy Iran's "whole civilization" as "truly unacceptable" and called for an "off-ramp" to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Trump posted on Truth Social on April 12, 2026: "Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy." He added: "Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It's hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church!" Trump went on to claim Leo "wasn't on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican." He added: "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon" or "who thinks it's terrible that America attacked Venezuela" or "who criticizes the President of the United States." CNN noted that the Pope had not, in fact, said it was OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Shortly after, Trump posted an AI-generated image to Truth Social depicting himself as a Christ-like figure laying hands on a bedridden man with light emanating from his fingers, surrounded by American flags and eagles. The post was deleted later that day. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called it "more than blasphemy" on X. Trump later claimed the image depicted him "as a doctor" and that "only the fake news" could think it depicted him as Jesus.

Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, told Fox News the pope should "stick to matters of morality" and "stay out of politics." Trump doubled down on April 16: "I have a right to disagree with the pope."

Pope Leo responded aboard the papal plane en route to a tour of four African nations: "I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do." Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote: "I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls." Even Catholic Trump voters expressed dismay — Anita Bauman, a Catholic Trump voter from Pennsylvania, called the comments "colossally stupid," telling CNN: "I don't think picking a fight with the pope or trying to school the pope on theology is a good idea at all."

Holiday Messages Attacking Opponents

Trump has used national holidays to attack his political opponents:

Memorial Day 2025: Trump wrote: "HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY" — followed by an attack on "USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY" and calling them "MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL."

New Year's Eve 2025: Trump spent the final hours of the year on a late-night Truth Social tirade, telling Colorado Governor Jared Polis and a Republican district attorney: "I wish them only the worst. May they rot in Hell." He also attacked actor George Clooney, Tim Walz, and Ilhan Omar, repeating a long-debunked falsehood that Omar had married her brother.

Dehumanizing Labels: "Vermin," "Garbage," "Communists," and "Low IQ"

Distinct from the personalized insults above is a longer-running strand of Trump's rhetoric that assigns whole categories of opponents — Democrats, immigrants, political rivals — to dehumanizing or delegitimizing labels: "vermin," "garbage," "communists," "Marxists," "fascists," "terrorists," and "low IQ." The pattern predates his second term and has continued into it; a montage of these remarks compiled by journalist Mehdi Hasan circulated widely in June 2026. Historians have repeatedly flagged the language. NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat told The Washington Post that labeling people "vermin" was used by Hitler and Mussolini to dehumanize opponents and license violence, and Yale philosopher Jason Stanley told ABC News that Trump's framing echoed fascist rhetoric. Robert Pape of the University of Chicago, quoted earlier, notes that dehumanizing terms like "vermin" and "garbage" measurably lower the threshold for political violence.

"Vermin" (November 11, 2023): In a Veterans Day speech in Claremont, New Hampshire — and in a parallel Truth Social post, confirming the language was scripted — Trump pledged to "root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country," adding that "the threat from within" was more dangerous than Russia, China, or North Korea. His campaign dismissed critics as "snowflakes." Trump has continued to invoke an "enemy from within," at times naming Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi specifically.

"Liars, losers, creeps, perverts, and freaks" (September 29, 2023): At the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim, Trump told the crowd he would take on "the ultra-left-wing liars, losers, creeps, perverts, and freaks who are devouring the future of this state like a swarm of locusts." In the same speech he mocked Nancy Pelosi over the 2022 hammer attack on her husband Paul Pelosi, asking, "How's her husband doing, by the way?"

"The radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters" (July 4, 2020): In his "Salute to America" address at the White House, delivered during the protests following George Floyd's killing, Trump declared the country was "in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters." PolitiFact noted the protests, while marked by some looting early on, were largely peaceful.

Kamala Harris as "communist," "Marxist," "fascist" (2024 campaign): Trump routinely applied all three labels to his 2024 opponent, often in the same breath — for example calling her "a Marxist, communist, fascist, socialist" at a Tucson rally on September 12, 2024. A PolitiFact fact-check found no basis for the "communist" or "Marxist" claims; scholars noted Harris had never endorsed state ownership of industry, and her own campaign called her "a capitalist."

Harris's laugh "the laugh of a lunatic" (August 17, 2024): At a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania rally, Trump said of Harris: "Have you heard her laugh? That is the laugh of a crazy person. That is the laugh of a lunatic."

Harris and Biden "mentally impaired" (late September 2024): At rallies in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin (September 28) and Erie, Pennsylvania (September 29), Trump claimed that "Joe Biden became mentally impaired" while Harris "was born that way." Sen. Lindsey Graham, a top ally, told CNN he did not think Harris was mentally impaired. Trump has continued to attack rivals' cognition in his second term, repeatedly calling Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has said he has dyslexia, unfit due to "mental disability."

Zohran Mamdani "a communist" and "vile creeds" (July 3, 2025): At the America250 kickoff at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Trump warned that "Members of Congress and even former presidents have been openly embracing vile creeds such as socialism, Marxism, and straight-up communism," and singled out the New York City mayoral candidate: "In New York, they're trying to elect a communist, Zohran Mamdani." Mamdani is a democratic socialist, not a communist; Trump has since vowed that America is "never going Communist."

Ilhan Omar and Somalis "garbage" (December 2, 2025): At a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump said of Somali immigrants: "We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage." He has also revived a false claim that Omar — a U.S. citizen since 2000 who came to the country as a child refugee — "married her brother." Omar responded: "His obsession with me is creepy."

Somalis "low IQ people" (Davos, January 21, 2026; Cabinet meeting, March 26, 2026): At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump described Somalis as "low IQ people" and "pirates." He repeated the slur at a March 26 Cabinet meeting, calling Minnesota's Somali community "low IQs" and "stupid people" from "one of the worst countries in the world." The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Minnesota condemned the remarks as dehumanization. The dehumanizing immigration framing is long-running: Trump first said immigrants were "poisoning the blood" of the country in 2023.

Pelosi "evil, sick, crazy" and Schiff "pencil neck" (November 5, 2024): At his final rally of the 2024 campaign in Grand Rapids, Michigan — held after midnight — Trump called Pelosi "an evil, sick, crazy" person, stopping short of an obscenity: "It starts with a B, but I won't say it. I want to say it." Some in the crowd shouted the word. In the same speech he mocked Rep. Adam Schiff's appearance, an insult he has recycled for years — from a June 2024 Dr. Phil interview ("the thinnest neck I've ever seen") to an April 2025 NRCC gala where he debuted "watermelon head."

Democrats "like terrorists" (late March 2026): At a White House news conference, Trump contrasted the parties: "The Republicans are wonderful people... The Democrats are sick; there's something wrong. They're like terrorists." The framing echoed his administration's broader effort to cast left-wing dissent as domestic terrorism, including an executive order designating "antifa" a terrorist organization.

"Shoot through the fake news" (November 3, 2024): At a Lititz, Pennsylvania rally two days before the election, Trump — gesturing at the bulletproof glass installed after the July 2024 Butler assassination attempt — said that for an assassin to reach him, "somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don't mind that so much." His campaign claimed he was expressing concern for reporters' safety, an interpretation contradicted by the footage and transcript.

Institutional Intimidation Tools

Beyond individual attacks, the administration has deployed institutional tools to target critics:

White House "Media Bias Tracker": In November 2025, the White House launched a page on its website featuring a rotating "Media Offender of the Week," an "Offender Hall of Shame," a running leaderboard tallying "offenses" per outlet, and a public tip form encouraging citizens to report "biased" coverage.

Defamation Lawsuits: Trump has filed at least five outstanding lawsuits against media organizations including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC, while extracting $32 million in settlements from ABC News and CBS's parent company Paramount. Trump Media & Technology Group has an open defamation lawsuit against 19 media companies.

FCC Investigations: Under Trump appointee Brendan Carr, the FCC launched eight probes into NPR, PBS, ABC, NBC, and KCBS for coverage the administration disapproved of.

Retaliatory Investigations: Trump has explicitly ordered investigations into political opponents and celebrities including James Comey, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen, and Chris Krebs. A Reuters investigation revealed the existence of an Interagency Weaponization Working Group drawing officials from the White House, ODNI, CIA, DOJ, FBI, DHS, IRS, and FCC, described as indicating "the administration's push to deploy government power against Trump's perceived foes is broader and more systematic than previously reported."

Promoting Violent Imagery

Beyond words, Trump has circulated imagery depicting harm to his opponents. On March 29, 2024 — Good Friday — he posted a roughly 20-second video to Truth Social, captioned as filmed the previous day on Long Island, where he had attended the wake of slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller. The clip, set to somber music, showed pro-Trump trucks driving down a highway; the tailgate of one bore a decal depicting President Joe Biden hog-tied and lying on his side, as if kidnapped. Snopes, which verified the video was authentic and unaltered, noted Biden was bound but not gagged, correcting widely shared descriptions.

Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung dismissed the criticism, saying the image was merely a decal on a truck "traveling down the highway," and pivoted to accusing Democrats of "weaponizing the justice system." Biden's campaign condemned the post, linking it to Trump's earlier warning of a "bloodbath" if he lost and his 2020 instruction to the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by." The Secret Service said only that it does not comment on "matters of protective intelligence."

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, writing at the time, argued that an ordinary citizen who posted comparable imagery of the sitting president would expect a Secret Service visit within hours, and that the post fit Trump's practice of going up to the line of a threat while preserving deniability — as when he repeatedly attacked the daughter of the judge in his New York criminal case. The episode was part of a broader run of violent imagery during the 2024 campaign: Trump's March 16, 2024 "bloodbath" remark, and an earlier Truth Social post sharing an image of him swinging a baseball bat toward the head of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, which was later deleted. In his second term, the imagery has continued, from the manipulated "pencil neck" video of Adam Schiff to the racist AI video of Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero.

The Broader Pattern: Threats Beget Threats

The NBC News review found that Trump's attacks produced measurable downstream violence. After Trump's sedition accusations against Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Chuck Schumer's offices received bomb threats. Sen. Slotkin received a bomb threat. Indiana state lawmakers targeted by Trump were swatted.

A study by the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago found that criminally charged threats against members of Congress jumped more than 600% during Trump's first term compared to President Obama's second term: 148 charged threats in the Trump years compared to 21 during the later Obama years.

Robert Pape, the University of Chicago professor who led the study, told NBC News: "He routinely uses metaphors and characterizations that we know from decades of studies encourages support for political violence... Dehumanizing people with the word garbage or the word traitor — with the idea of 'they deserve death,' it lowers the threshold for supporting violence against the target."

The Correspondents' Dinner Shooting and Selective Outrage

On the evening of April 25, 2026, a gunman opened fire near a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton — the first such dinner Trump had attended as president, after skipping it during his first term and in 2025. According to the Justice Department, the attacker ran through a magnetometer holding a long gun and fired; a Secret Service officer was struck once in the chest but was saved by his ballistic vest, and officers returned fire, wounding the gunman before arresting him. Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several Cabinet officials were evacuated. The president called it an attempt by a "would-be assassin" — the third apparent attempt on his life since 2024, following the July 2024 Butler shooting and the September 2024 incident at his West Palm Beach golf club.

The accused, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, a part-time teacher, engineer, and game developer from Torrance, California, was charged with attempting to assassinate the president and related firearms counts; he later pleaded not guilty and faces up to life in prison. Authorities said a note Allen sent family members minutes before the attack indicated he believed it was his duty to target administration officials, and that a purported manifesto listed grievances including conditions in immigration detention and the administration's strikes on alleged drug boats, while referring to Trump as a "traitor." Social media accounts attributed to Allen compared Trump to Adolf Hitler. As with prior cases, officials cautioned that the motive remained under investigation.

The White House Blames Democrats

At an April 27 briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed a "left-wing cult of hatred" and "systemic demonization" of Trump by Democrats and the media for the attack, arguing that years of comparing him to Hitler and calling him a fascist or a threat to democracy had inspired "mentally perturbed individuals" to act. She read out quotes from named Democrats — including Hakeem Jeffries, Govs. Josh Shapiro and JB Pritzker, and Sens. Alex Padilla, Ed Markey, and Elizabeth Warren — and asserted the shooter's manifesto was "indistinguishable" from everyday Democratic discourse, all while urging the country to "tone down the rhetoric."

The administration's chief example of "beyond-the-pale" rhetoric was a joke: days before the shooting, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel had quipped that Melania Trump had "a glow like an expectant widow." Melania denounced the line as "hateful and violent rhetoric"; Kimmel expressed sympathy for those at the dinner but defended the joke as a reference to the couple's age difference. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Leavitt a "stone cold liar," noting that the "maximum warfare" phrase she attributed to him referred to a redistricting fight — and originated with the Trump White House — and that she said nothing about January 6.

The Hypocrisy Critique

Commentators noted that Trump had little standing to police others' rhetoric. As CNN's Aaron Blake wrote, the president "long ago ceded the moral high ground": a month earlier he had celebrated Robert Mueller's death, he had responded callously to the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, he had mocked the hammer attack that fractured Paul Pelosi's skull, and he had mused that "to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news." Trump has also reposted a supporter's claim that "the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat," called Joe Biden's team a "Gestapo administration," and used "fascist" against his own opponents for years — even as his White House condemned those same comparisons. Blake characterized the selective focus on Democrats' words as "a remarkable exercise in selective outrage."

The episode largely repeated the blame game Republicans waged after the September 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In both cases, the White House attributed the violence to the left while sidestepping the perpetrators' ambiguous profiles. The 2024 Butler gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was a registered Republican who remains hard to categorize; the assassin of Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband in June 2025 similarly defied easy labeling.

What the Polling Shows

Public opinion has not tracked the administration's framing. A Gallup poll taken in October 2025, shortly after Kirk's killing, found 69% of Americans said Republicans had gone too far with inflammatory language, versus 60% who said the same of Democrats. But Americans increasingly blame the other side: a Public Religion Research Institute survey found 72% of Republicans hold Democrats responsible for most political violence while 73% of Democrats blame Republicans. NBC News polling, meanwhile, shows the share of Americans who attribute major acts of violence more to "extreme political rhetoric" than to "a disturbed person" rising steadily — from 24% in 2011 to 61% after Kirk's assassination. CNN noted that available data indicate the right has perpetrated more political violence than the left for decades, though the gap has narrowed since Trump's return to office. The result, Blake argued, is two camps each blaming the other for a climate of danger they increasingly tie to real violence — "a recipe for politics to descend into darker and darker places."

Reactions

Press Freedom Organizations: The Society of Professional Journalists condemned Trump's attacks as "an unmistakable pattern of hostility" undermining the free press. Reporters Without Borders documented the U.S. dropping to its lowest press freedom ranking in history. According to Poynter's year-end review, the administration took at least 76 documented federal actions against journalists in 2025, and 13 lawsuits were filed by journalists and media organizations against the administration for press freedom violations.

Republican Criticism: Several Republican lawmakers have pushed back on individual incidents, including Sen. Rand Paul on the sedition threats, Rep. Thomas Massie on the Reiner remarks, Sen. Tim Scott on the Obama video, and Sen. Ted Cruz on the FCC's role in the Kimmel suspension. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said of the Reiner post: "I'd expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the president of the United States." MTG herself, after being branded a "traitor," said on CNN: "I feel very sorry for President Trump. It has to be a hard place for someone that is constantly so hateful."

White House Defense: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has defended the president's behavior as "frankness," saying Trump "calls out fake news when he sees it" and that his directness is "one of the many reasons the American people reelected this president." Regarding the sedition posts, the White House said: "Sharing these facts is not inciting violence and the media would be wrong to make such an accusation."

Expert Analysis: Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of communication at Texas A&M University, told HuffPost that Trump uses "ad hominem" attacks to "reroute the audience's attention to the person" rather than addressing "whatever is the central issue of the debate." New York Times reporter Peter Baker, who has covered every president since Clinton, described the environment: "The automatic response to any inquiry now is to insult the reporter and malign the news organization, often ad hominem and often without addressing the substance of the inquiry."