Trump Tells Reporter She Has a “Nice Smile” in the Middle of Phone Call with Irish Prime Minister

When he’s not retweeting a YouTuber who posts videos about GTA V hacks, Donald Trump (who’s the president, by the way) likes to publicly humiliate women reporters who are just trying to do their job. During a phone call in the Oval Office with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday, Trump stopped midway through to single out Irish reporter Caitriona Perry and tell her she had “a nice smile on her face” before turning back to the call to playfully tell Varadkar he “bet[s] she treats [him] well.”

Any woman who has ever walked down a city street will recognize this familiar kind of language. For every “yo, you got a nice smile, baby,” shouted by a man on the sidewalk, there’s a woman clutching her keys a little bit tighter just in case she needs to fight off an attack. Even if you’re the President of the United States, bringing unwanted attention to a woman to compliment her looks, especially one who is at the White House to report on worldly matters, is not flattery.

Perry, who is visibly uncomfortable when Trump insists she approach his desk, described the moment as “bizarre”:

Video of the bizarre moment when President @realDonaldTrump called me over during his call with Taoiseach @campaignforLeo Varadkar. @rtenewspic.twitter.com/TMl2SFQaji

— Caitriona Perry (@CaitrionaPerry) June 27, 2017

While it is bizarre, it’s not at all out of character. Trump’s history of reducing women around him to their physical appearances is a long and painful one. We all wondered what would happen if a man like him became president, and now we know. The universe can stop playing its cruel joke on us now.