President Donald Trump found the perfect opportunity to slam The Wall Street Journal when its reporter asked him a question aboard Air Force One.
The president called the Journal a “rotten” newspaper that has “gone to hell” as he spoke to the media on Sunday.
“Who are you with?” the president asked a reporter, who said they were with the Journal.
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“That’s what I thought,” Trump said. “Boy, you people treat us so badly. Wall Street Journal has truly gone to hell. Rotten newspaper. You hear me, what I said? It’s a rotten newspaper.”
The president instructed the reporter to “go ahead” with asking their question, but then refused to answer.
“I wouldn’t tell The Wall Street Journal because it’d be wasting my time,” he said. “There are talks, but I don’t want to talk to The Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal is China-oriented, and they’re really bad for this country.”
The exchange was posted to X by the White House’s official online troll account, “Rapid Response 47.”
Trump has been at odds with the Journal for months over the newspaper’s criticism of his market-crashing tariffs.
Just last week, the paper’s editorial board ran an opinion piece claiming Trump’s tariffs could “sink his Presidency.”
“Mr. Trump was elected to control inflation and raise real incomes, but tariffs do the opposite,” the board noted, adding that “the tariff shock he’s unleashed could sink his second term.”
In January, after Trump placed a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, the Journal‘s editorial board ran a piece headlined “The Dumbest Trade War in History” that said the “economic assault” on America’s neighbors made no sense.
“Does President Trump understand money? ... The answer would appear to be no,” the editorial board wrote in February after Trump called for lower interest rates to go “hand-in-hand” with his tariffs.
“I don’t understand The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, never have,” Trump hit back in a Truth Social post that month. “They come to my aid when I least expect it, sometimes strongly, and I greatly appreciate that — Very meaningful! But then they come out with some real CLINKERS.”
In March, Trump scored “the globalist Wall Street Journal” for supposedly adopting the “polluted thinking” of the European Union: “Their (WSJ!) thinking is antiquated and weak, and very bad for the USA. But have no fear, we will WIN on everything!!!”
But the Journal appears unbothered by Trump’s remarks, branding the tariffs “the biggest economic policy mistake in decades” in another scathing April editorial.
“Smart presidents pay attention to market signals and adapt,” the editorial board said. “The adaptation now would be to negotiate a quick end to the tariff barrage. Claim some trade-deal victories, and call it a day. But markets are spooked because they don’t know if Mr. Trump listens to anyone but his own impulses.”
