Jon Stewart attempted to get Kaitlan Collins to reenact her interactions with the president, but the CNN star wasn’t exactly on board.
Collins appeared on The Daily Show after an eventful weekend. At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, the 34-year-old was given the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure. But shortly after receiving the honor, Collins became the focal point in Trump’s speech. During his remarks, the 80-year-old president attempted to insult Collins, calling her award “fake,” and telling the journalist to smile more.
Collins kept her composure in the aftermath of the controversial speech, as she did once again on Monday night’s episode of The Daily Show.
The journalist, who hosts CNN’s The Source, said she was “not surprised” that the president insulted her, telling Stewart, “I’ve always felt this, regardless of who’s the president, whether it’s Joe Biden, Donald Trump.
“It’s really not about me, and I don’t want it to be about my reaction. And so I think if you let it become about that, then it becomes a back-and-forth between the two of us,” she explained.
While Stewart, 63, said he appreciated Collins’ answer, he wanted to indulge in the aforementioned back-and-forth.
“What if we could make it about you and the way you behave? What if you took a page out of his book?” he asked. “I’ve come up with a little role-play.”
“Oh God,” Collins responded, adding later, “I’m really nervous about this.”
Stewart then decided to take on the role of Collins reporting from the Oval Office, assigning the CNN anchor to play the president.
The Daily Show host proceeded to play Collins if she took a leaf out of Trump’s book. “Hey, Tubs,” he said. “You look pretty today. The Big Beautiful Bill took a million children off of food assistance. Why are your hands so f---ed-up?”
As the audience cheered and broke into laughter, Collins stared on, remaining silent.
“I didn’t say it would work!” exclaimed Stewart.
The Source host said, “I think I’ll keep it the way it is.” The role-play game quickly came to an end, and the pair went back to their discussion. Collins emphasized her lack of interest in getting into a tiff with the president, who has routinely insulted her and repeatedly fixated upon her.
“I’ve had the same model the entire time I’ve covered him, and I’ve treated it the same way. I’ve never gotten in a back-and-forth with him. I’ve always brought it back to the question,” she said.
“I think he does surround himself with people who praise him or laugh at his jokes. And when he’s confronted with someone who is asking a challenging question or a critical question of his policy or strategy in the Iraq war, I think he doesn’t like it, and he lashes out over it,” Collins continued.
But she acknowledged that in her decade of covering and questioning Trump, the president has been particularly irked by her presence.
Collins said, “I mean, there have been moments where I’ve gone into the Oval Office, when I’m on behalf of the TV pool, and I haven’t even asked a question yet, and he starts criticizing me. So it’s not even always just about the questions. Sometimes it’s just my presence in the room.”
“Jesus,” Stewart responded.
