I Can't Roll My Eyes Hard Enough At Trump Saying Meghan Takes Press Too Personally
In an emotional interview for an ITV documentary that aired in October 2019, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, described the past year as "hard," what with unrelenting media scrutiny and a lack of privacy. Now, a world leader from across the pond is chiming in. During an Oct. 29 interview with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, President Donald Trump suggested that Meghan takes press too personally in an apparent attempt to empathize with her.
On Oct. 29, Trump gave an exclusive interview to Farage, who has his own show on the London-based talk radio station LBC. Farage noted that Meghan had been "saying that the press is being really unfair," and compared her experiences to Trump's.
"You’ve probably, personally, had more tough press and perhaps unfair press than anybody else alive," Farage said to Trump. "Do you feel a bit sorry for young Meghan, given what the press are saying about her?”
"I've been watching her interviews and I've seen it and she's taking it very personally," Trump responded. "I guess you have to be a little bit different than that, but she takes it very, very personally and I can understand it." Elite Daily did not immediately hear back from Buckingham Palace following a request for comment on Trump's remarks about the duchess.
Throughout his presidency, and even before he was elected, Trump has been notorious for his dismissal of the media. He routinely dismisses factual reports as "fake news" if he doesn't agree with them, and has gone so far as to encourage violence against reporters and call the press "the enemy of the American people." Elite Daily previously reached out to the White House for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication. Trump's critics have consequently suggested that the president doesn't handle media scrutiny well — prompting confusion from social media users when he suggested that Meghan takes negative press too "personally."
In her October interview, however, Meghan said that she expected a certain degree of media scrutiny, but that she at least "thought it would be fair." Instead, Meghan has reportedly faced racist attacks in the press on top of being a new mother, prompting her and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, to file lawsuits against media outlets for publishing invasive reports.
Trump remarked in his interview with Farage that he didn't know Meghan personally, but mentioned that he had met Harry, and described him as "great." However, neither Trump nor Farage alluded to reports that Trump had allegedly described Meghan as "nasty" back in June after learning that she had called him "misogynistic" and "divisive" during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump later walked those comments back, saying he had meant to describe Meghan's comments — rather than Meghan herself — as "nasty."
On the one hand, it may appear that Trump was merely trying to empathize with Meghan, given that they have both faced negative press. On the other hand, however, many of Trump's critics pointed out that he is no position to tell Meghan to toughen up and take media scrutiny less personally, given how he reacts to it himself.
