Why the Kaitlan Collins Story is So Important

Given that I write the Vision of Murder series with a female reporter as the protagonist, it seems appropriate to focus on this week’s cringey exchange between President Trump and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. Politics aside, here’s why it’s relevant and should worry any working person.

To catch you up, President Trump was speaking from the Oval Office to a scrum of reporters on a myriad of subjects. He faced a couple of dozen of Washington’s elite journalists, a routine occurrence for him. He’s done it dozens of times, but on this day, he may already have been cranky, even before the first question was asked. Many Republicans had already signaled they would fight his $1.8 billion Weaponization Bill. 

Kaitlan Collins/Twitter

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins is a 34-year-old anchor/reporter who is highly respected for asking pointed, substantive questions. She doesn’t accept bullshit answers meant to placate and truly holds the powerful accountable. Last week, before she had even asked a single question, Trump launched into a rant, calling CNN “crooked as hell with a very corrupt reporter standing right there.” He went on to say, “She never smiles…a young, beautiful woman who never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”

What? And it’s not the first time he’s done this to Kaitlan Collins. At a February news conference, he asked her to smile. In other instances, he’s been known to call female reporters “pigs” and “stupid.” Aside from being childish and petty, here’s why we must talk about it.

I can recall, in my corporate life sometime in the 1990s, that sexual harassment became a critical growing edge in the office space. We had multiple trainings and took a computer test to see if we understood what was "appropriate" versus "questionable" banter. We were given workplace scenarios in which men and women interacted to see whether certain words and actions would send them directly to HR for reprimand. Is a joke appropriate, or is it harassment? Even if a statement sounds innocent enough to you, your words could make the other person feel uncomfortable. Sometimes, the offending jokes were so benign they left us scratching our heads, but, okay, watch what you say. Got it!

This proved to be a wonderful, long-overdue policy change. At last, for women especially, no more creepy engineers looking at you at chest level, no more sexual innuendo in office language, and no more men telling us to “smile.” 

I must have been told five or six times in my early working years to “smile.” WTF? Why did men ever think this was a good way to ingratiate themselves with a female co-worker? It did the opposite, and 100% of the time, the requested smile was not produced. I’m not your trained circus monkey! (I’m also not pouring your damn coffee.)

So, thirty-plus years after that training, here we are. The leader of the free world, nearly 80 years old, complains that a woman working in a professional capacity should smile. He also called her beautiful. He didn’t choose to say it to the dozen or so men who stood with her, also performing their jobs. To her credit, Collins never takes the bait, instead keeping her focus squarely on the question she wants answered. In last week’s case, Collins eventually asked about the $1.8 billion Weaponization bill, casting aside Trump’s insults to get information the public deserved.

My worry is simple: if our U.S. president speaks in this fashion, will we fall back into our old, harassing ways? Will other men smirk at his bullying tactics and drift toward a comfort level that permits the occasional snark directed at women in the office? One sexually explicit joke here, a sneaky boob touch there, and we’re back to the 1980s.

Can we all agree that it’s 2026, and if we possess a demon within that makes us want to be sexually abusive, we should at least try to squash our lesser selves and set good examples for children? Those little people who know the golden rule by age five? Do unto others…and all that.

How do you think Bekka would react if a politician complained that she didn’t smile while working? Send me your comebacks. I’d love to pick the best one for a future plot.