Kaitlan Collins Gives Trump The Middle Finger In The Chicest Way On Colbert
Kaitlan Collins threw subtle shade at Donald Trump when she appeared on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The late-night appearance came following the CNN reporter's viral exchange where Trump went berserk on Collins earlier in the month. During a presser on February 3, she attempted to ask POTUS about the Epstein files, but Trump quickly cut her off. "You are the worst reporter. CNN has no ratings because of people like you," he said before unleashing a mini tirade. "You know, she's a young woman. I don't think I've ever seen you smile," he added.
When Collins sat down with Stephen Colbert a couple of weeks later, the host played a clip of the tense exchange on-air. The crowd loudly booed at the way Trump treated the CNN reporter, and Collins gave a low-key jab to the president by flashing a glowing smile at the audience. Colbert asked her about the commander in chief's crass remark. "I don't think it surprised me in the moment of the attack. The president has called me a lot of names," Collins responded, adding that it was an especially inappropriate time to smile, as the question she had asked Trump pertained to survivors from Epstein Island. Collins did share a silver lining from being publicly chastised by Trump. "Ever since that, everyone has been sending me pictures of me smiling," she told Colbert.
"The Late Show" shared the clip on YouTube, where users roasted Trump's uncouth behavior towards Collins. "It's almost as if spending time around Donnie makes women stop smiling altogether," one viewer wrote. "True just ask his wife lol," another added. That viral moment was not the first time Collins got on Trump's last nerve.
Donald Trump has a catchphrase when questioned by Kaitlan Collins
A few months before bashing her for being stingy with her smile, Donald Trump called Kaitlan Collins "stupid and nasty" during an online rant. In an effort to defend the time it had taken to complete renovations on the White House ballroom, Trump unloaded digital vitriol on both the reporter and her network. "Caitlin Collin's of Fake News CNN, always Stupid and Nasty, asked me why the new Ballroom was costing more money than originally thought one year ago," he wrote in the opening of a Truth Social post in December 2025. The president detailed the improvements to the ballroom, then set his sights on Collins' network. "FAKE NEWS CNN, and the guy who runs the whole corrupt operation that owns it, is one of the worst in the business," he added. Those who have followed the growing feud between Trump and Collins know that lashing out with claims that CNN is "fake news" is his go-to move.
Trump showed that Collins got under his skin when he fielded a question from her at the NATO Summit in June 2025. "Fake news CNN. Ay yi yi. Here we go. Wait 'til you hear this question," he said with a smirk before the CNN journalist had even spoken. Similar to the exchange when he called out Collins for her lack of smiles, Trump attempted to deflect the question before it was even asked. "You should really say how great our soldiers and our warriors are," he told Collins. A clip of the outburst was shared on X, where people mostly sided with the reporter. "Kaitlan Collins would eat Trump for lunch if they were ever in a debate," one user wrote.