Trump Targets CNN Star at Rally

President Donald Trump used a Saturday night rally in Vandalia, Ohio, to single out CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, who was covering the event, and the crowd booed her.

The October 3, 2026, stop was a midterm rally for Republican candidates. Trump, 80, told the room Republicans would win if voters turned out. “They’re in for a big surprise. It’s very simple: You gotta get out and vote,” he said. “If you do that, we’re gonna win and we’re gonna win big.”

He then turned toward the press pen and said, “And we’re gonna shove it up their a**, okay?” The line drew a roar. From there he moved to Collins.

“She’s such an unhappy person,” he said. “She’s a young, nice person, but she never smiles. She’s a very unhappy person.” He repeated the claim that she never smiles, and the audience joined in with boos.

The White House Rapid Response account posted during the rally that “Ohio is not happy with Fake news CNN and Kaitlan Collins.”

Collins, 34, has been a recurring target. Trump has previously called her “stupid,” “nasty,” “crazy” and “average.” In February, after she asked what he would say to Jeffrey Epstein survivors, he told her, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile.”

She has not answered the Ohio remarks directly. Earlier in the week she anchored “The Source” with a mug on the desk that read “America Needs Nasty Women.” The Daily Beast said it had asked the White House and CNN for comment.

The attack sat alongside other targets that night, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. The Collins exchange was the one that traveled, because she was in the room when he said it.