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U.S. President Donald Trump targeted a specific journalist by name.

Donald Trump, President of the United States. Photo by Reuters-Yonhap News

On the 7th (local time), President Trump mentioned the real name of Eugene Robinson, a columnist for the U.S. daily The Washington Post (WP), in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, calling him "incompetent" and saying he "must be fired immediately." He added, "It is pathetic to see Robinson trying to justify the trash, fraud, and corruption at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with a pathetic radical leftist bias."

Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist the previous day, strongly criticized key senators in a column titled "Republican lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves." He pointed out that they did not block the confirmation of inappropriate candidates during the confirmation hearings and did not oppose Elon Musk, a close ally of President Trump and CEO of Tesla, who is trying to dismantle USAID.

Moreover, President Trump has publicly targeted specific journalists since his first term and has clashed with mainstream media outlets that report critically during the policy implementation process. At the administration level, it is known that the Treasury Department and the State Department each canceled subscription contracts with The New York Times (NYT) and Politico. The Department of Defense also reportedly notified four major media outlets, including the NYT, to vacate their press rooms in the building under the pretext of rotating the seating arrangements for reporters.

Elon Musk, who is regarded as a rising "power broker" in the Trump administration, also targeted Katherine Long, an investigative reporter for the U.S. daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Long reported that Cato Eles, a 20-something employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Musk, was associated with a racist social media account. Long added that after WSJ inquired about this with the White House, Eles resigned.

On the same day, Musk claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that Long was "disgusting and cruel" and argued that she should be fired immediately. Vice President JD Vance also joined in, saying, "While I clearly oppose some of Eles's posts, we should not ruin a child's life."