Trump's Body Language Reveals How He Feels About Journalists, Especially Women Of Colour

Leah Carroll

Donald Trump has never made his contempt for the press a secret. In recent weeks, as the US has seen multiple mass shootings, a groundbreaking midterm election, and devastating wildfires, the president has used his platform to hammer home his belief that the greatest threat facing America is the "Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People."

At a press conference last Wednesday, after the midterm election results revealed that Republicans would maintain control of the US Senate but lose their majority in the House of Representatives, Trump spoke with reporters for nearly 90 minutes. In that time he told a Black journalist that her question about white nationalism was "so racist" and used the body of a young female intern as a weapon to take away the microphone from CNN's Jim Acosta.

On Friday, while giving an address on the south lawn of the White House, Trump stayed on message, telling another journalist that her question about Robert Mueller was "stupid." In a tweet, MSNBC political analyst Joy Reid pointed out this was the third Black female journalist he'd berated in 48 hours.

We asked Dr. Jack Brown, a body language and emotional intelligence expert, as well as a physician, to break down some of Trump's most recent interactions with the press so we can further understand the president's behaviour. Dr. Brown explained that body language analysis can be a useful tool for countering our own personal confirmation bias of a "familiar" person, such as President Trump.

"Using nonverbal tells is an objectivity tool — a way of checking our own opinions when, as human beings, we are inherently biased," he told Refinery29.

Ahead, Dr. Brown breaks down Trump's latest spars with journalists.


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