California First Lady Rips Trump’s Attack On Norah O’Donnell: Shapes ‘How Men See Women’

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The first lady of California, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, railed against President Donald Trump for disrespecting CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell during Sunday’s 60 Minutes interview.

Trump sat for the interview in the aftermath of Saturday night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that the Department of Justice has labeled an assassination attempt.

O’Donnell read part of the gunman’s manifesto to Trump that said, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”

“Well, I was waiting for you to read that, because I knew you would. Because you’re horrible people. Horrible people,” Trump raged. “Yeah, he did write that. I am not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”

Trump went on to call O’Donnell a “disgrace” who “should be ashamed” for asking him about the writings of “some sick person.”

Newsom wrote on X Monday, “My family and I watched the 60 Minutes interview with Donald Trump and Norah O’Donnell last night, and we were shocked. Seeing a president speak to a woman journalist with that level of contempt — and a clear allergy to facts — is disturbing, though at this point not unexpected given his pattern of behavior.”

“But that is the problem,” Newsom continued. “Because when that level of disrespect from the highest office in the country repeats itself, it starts to trickle down into our culture and define what power looks like, shaping how boys and plenty of men see women and girls and what they come to accept as normal behavior.”

In follow-up posts, Newsom wrote of misogyny that has been allowed to fester in American culture.

“Add in rhetoric rooted in political division, amplified by a digital ecosystem that rewards outrage and misinformation, and this cultural norm of hate, othering, and misogyny becomes pervasive,” she wrote. “Behavior that should be challenged gets normalized; what should raise concern is amplified and cheered on.”

“It’s no wonder we have a culture that normalizes dominance and aggression toward women and girls, which not only silences them but also leads to internalized misogyny in others,” Newsom wrote.

Newsom thanked O’Donnell and all female journalists for speaking “truth to power.”

“This culture of misogyny is on all of us, and it has to end,” she wrote.

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