At a rally today in Miami, Florida, Donald Trump singled out NBC reporter Katy Tur. After a long-winded, but familiar, tirade against “the media” and dishonest reporting, Trump called out Tur directly. “There’s something happening, they’re not reporting it. Katy, you’re not reporting it....but there’s something happening, Katy” Trump said from the podium, referring to the size of the crowd at the rally. Reporters at the rally had earlier noted that the numbers in attendance were modest, yet Trump insisted otherwise.
According to reporters at the rally, crowd members began heckling Tur:
This isn’t the first time that Trump has used this tactic with Tur who has been reporting on his campaign since he first announced. Earlier this year, Trump launched a personal attack against her during a South Carolina rally. He was, apparently, upset about a handful of tweets she sent which noted the low attendance at that rally. “She’s back there. Little Katy. She’s back there,” Trump told the South Carolina crowd before describing her as a “third-rate reporter.” In a familiar pattern, Trump followed up that callout with a series of tweets aimed at Tur and reporter Sopan Deb.
Today’s taunt was certainly intended to as a callback to his previous treatment of Tur. If that’s the case, then it’s going to be a rough day for Tur. After Trump singled her out in South Carolina, Tur said that she had to be accompanied to her car under the protection of the Secret Service. In an August essay for Marie Claire, Tur wrote that the crowd began booing and turned on her like a “large animal, angry and unchained.”
Though Trump has singled out numerous female reporters for harassment, including Michelle Fields and Megyn Kelly, his obsession with Tur stands out for its persistence and pettiness. What’s perhaps worse is that Trump knows the effect of his words, that his singling out of Tur will end with threats and harassment for her, and yet doesn’t stop. It’s almost as if harassment and intimidation are an integral part of his campaign.