President Donald Trump told a Reuters reporter “you look like hell” after the reporter asked about the president’s decision to cancel his Kansas rally that had been scheduled for Saturday.
“You not going to Kansas have something to do with you being sick of traveling?” Reuters reporter Jacob Bogage asked Thursday as Trump took questions after stepping off Air Force One.
“Oh, you’re sick to ask that question,” Trump shot back. “You are sick. Who are you with?”
“I’m with Reuters, sir,” Bogage responded.
“You are a sick guy,” Trump said. “Reuters is terrible, by the way.”
“Well, we just want to make sure you’re doing well,” Bogage replied.
That ticked off Trump, who immediately called the reporter’s own health into question.
“Can you imagine — look at this dope, look at this guy, he’s way out of shape,” said Trump, who was visibly drenched with sweat. “Look at how badly — he comes to me, ‘Sir, you’re not gonna go to Kansas.’ I’m not going to go to Kansas because he’s doing very well.”
The president had been expected to speak in the state to promote incumbent GOP Sen. Roger Marshall.
He continued: “Tomorrow I’m doing Florida. ... He says, ‘What’s the reason for this, sir? That you’re not going to Kansas?’ You know what the reason is? I don’t feel I have to go to Kansas. I’m going to Florida tomorrow, and I’ll do — if something else comes up — but he said, ‘You’re not going to Kansas, sir, are you feeling well?’ You’ve been following me for two weeks; I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape, you look like hell.”
Trump has lashed out at reporters in recent weeks as the midterm elections loom. Earlier this month, he berated another reporter during an Oval Office press briefing.
“Listen to you. Hey, I’m not pointing. You better, you better, I don’t know who the hell you are, but you better be careful,” Trump told The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg.
“Quiet. Quiet!” Trump hissed again at Feinberg later in the briefing. “What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person? I actually think there’s something wrong with you.”