The story I’m highlighting in this post is not the main news to come out of Donald Trump’s explosive press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House earlier this week.
Thank you for this, Barbara. Nazira is actually a very close family friend, and it was deeply upsetting to see how Trump dismissed her so casually, as though her voice—and by extension, her country’s suffering—was an afterthought. His patronising remarks struck a painful chord because they weren’t just words; they were a reflection of a much larger betrayal. I’ve worked on Afghan affairs for many years, particularly focusing on women’s rights, and what we’ve witnessed since August 2021—the way the global community has abandoned Afghan women—has been nothing short of shameful.
Afghan women aren’t asking for handouts or empty sympathies. What they seek, and deserve, is solidarity—a willingness to listen, to amplify their voices, and to act with purpose. Trump’s words, whether intentionally or not, translated to something we’ve been hearing too often lately: We no longer care about Afghanistan. Figure out your own peace. Good luck.
Shabnam thank you for your comment, Nazira has all my admiration, for the dignity with which she handled the situation in the White House and I'm guessing many other similar situations as well. The abandonment of Afghanistan, and the manner in which it was done, is a source of enormous shame for the entire international community. I pray that one day Afghan women may know freedom again and I will always do what I can to amplify their voices.
I wonder if the way the bully replied was actually intentional. I know it could be just the classic way he behave, but maybe thus was his way to express what he think about the conditions if the women in Afghanistan. He simply doesn't care at all. He doesn't respect women and doesn't want to do animals about it. The answer in itself said what he means to do about it. Move on without listening.
It's infuriating and what makes me sad and worried is the apathy of the rest of the world. I hope one day thinks will change and we all realise that the world is not only for white men. We are still fat from it at the moment.
I think Trump was simply deflecting. I heard the question and it was clear enough for me (I have what is sometimes referred to as a "posh" accent although it is South African. Trump likes to be rude - especially when he is dealing with non-American people.
I totally agree with you. I mean, answering questions about Afghanistan would be difficult at the best of times. I just think the whole foreign accent thing just made the question easier to ignore. The laughter from other journos really did jar with me, i have to admit
I have a massive book deadline coming up next week but afterwards I'm going to start doing Substack lives! I'm guessing they're a little like instagram lives but I need to do some research on it but they whole point is to be able to converse directly with subscribers. Stay tuned!
Whether Trump said that out of reluctance to address the question (is he that quick a thinker) or out of mysogony or sheer ignorance or rudeness - as is often the case with him it's hard to say. Likely a combination of all of the above. Ignoring non-Americans in most contexts is his self-styled MO so we shouldn't be surprised.
Whether he was deflecting the questions as it was too tricky or not, his tone was condescending. Certainly he should have asked her to repeat the question if he genuinely wanted to answer it, and not resorted to the patronising, misogynistic language he did do. I think the laughter was more nervous than humorous, however what caught my ear was the hubbub that seemed to ensue afterwards. Clearly a reaction was sparked at the time. The media have largely dubbed it as patronising, or a way to dodge a bullet. So to speak!. When I played it to one of my Spanish students he found her hard to understand. To be fair, I could understand what she said, and the import of her question, but her question could have been clearer. The point is, was it so bad that she could not be understood at all? Should she not have been given the chance to repeat or rephrase her question? It does throw up some interesting points of debate and Barbara as usual has hit the nail on the head with this piece.
To be fair when asked who would live in Gaza when the US had finished turning it into Mar-a-Gaza, he said, "world people", so I don't always expect great answers from him! ha ha.
Its just nice to give honest feedback…! I am from UK but worked in Norway for many years and got to speak a decent level…so yes i love watching you…the best!
Speed is so different in various languages. Italian is spoken roughly at the speed of sound. I always slow myself right down when reading the news in English, so much so that I often have to warn my news producers or we'll fall off air!
"As regular readers of this newsletter know, I believe that language and culture are interlinked, and that English being the global language amplifies Anglophone culture above all others. So I think this example is symptomatic of which voices carry more weight in our so-called interconnected world."
To incise it into stone, I've *always* thought this, since I was born.
Scottish people speak fast (me) mostly but northern irish speak faster which I discovered after going to Belfast when met my wife so that changed my perception
I heard the question, but I think the odious little toad didn’t want, or couldn’t reply to the question, so he tries to flatter her, before turning back into his normal mode.
Well, my English teacher (who is British, I'd like to highlight this) covered the same topic the last time we had a lesson! It's about telepathy. And we live, literally, in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway, Trump is the first one who slurs and mutters, he does not speak clearly (and completely!) so often, what is he himself just talking about?
Maurizio Crozza imitated him (just very few days ago) so precisely, about this point. Bah.
What was obnoxious here, if not particularly surprising, was the laughter of those "journalists" who chose to laugh. It is surprising for most of the world, but 77 million Americans actually voted for this self-appointed global village idiot: some Americans do actually perceive this ignorant narcissist as a real human being. Some US journalists are among those numbers.
Trump obviously heard part of the question and took advantage of the fact that some of the question was a little hard to hear to make a cheap joke and claim not to have understood. This is how the real train of thought went: "Meh Afghanistan ... rag-heads and their rag-head religion. Ugly women, wouldn't even want to grab them by the *****. Mountain country which couldn't even be developed into ski resorts ..."
It was painful to watch President Trump dismissed the opportunity to hear her properly, which is a shame. Keep People Involved (KPI) is a hallmark of good leadership, I guess we are a front row seat to the decline, realtime of the USA.
Of course he understood completely what was being asked by the journalist, of course he neglected her presence as a journalist and evaluated her features as a woman, something no one asked him to do. This is very far from being polite; this is being strongly abusive, a cowardly way of escaping a very embarrassing question. He’s a coward: he respects, for fear, the violent Putins of this world, and mistreats the ones he thinks won’t hurt him and can easily be ignored.
Yet another instance when Trump displays his deeply ingrained racism, as did the other journalists in the room who laughed at his non-answer response. I recall that in Biden press briefings, both in the US and abroad, care was taken to understand the question before providing a reasoned and measured response, particularly when the journalist's "accent" was hard to understand. You cannot tell me that no one in the room got what that journalist asked. I did when I first listened to the tape - but then, unlike Trump, I value multiculturalism - and the absence of misogyny.
Trump has a fair degree of dementia and I think this may add considerably to his difficulty (the cognitive load involved) in processing unfamiliar accents. (I think this was at play in the encounter with Zelenskiy you recently discussed.) This comes on top of any inherent tendency on his part to believe that things said by women with heavy accents don’t need to be taken seriously. (Nb I don’t know what his hearing is like, but there are plenty of us who find it incredibly difficult to make out what someone is saying against a babble of other sounds, even when we really want to. I don’t see Trump admitting he has difficulty in that department.)
Thank you for this, Barbara. Nazira is actually a very close family friend, and it was deeply upsetting to see how Trump dismissed her so casually, as though her voice—and by extension, her country’s suffering—was an afterthought. His patronising remarks struck a painful chord because they weren’t just words; they were a reflection of a much larger betrayal. I’ve worked on Afghan affairs for many years, particularly focusing on women’s rights, and what we’ve witnessed since August 2021—the way the global community has abandoned Afghan women—has been nothing short of shameful.
Afghan women aren’t asking for handouts or empty sympathies. What they seek, and deserve, is solidarity—a willingness to listen, to amplify their voices, and to act with purpose. Trump’s words, whether intentionally or not, translated to something we’ve been hearing too often lately: We no longer care about Afghanistan. Figure out your own peace. Good luck.
Shabnam thank you for your comment, Nazira has all my admiration, for the dignity with which she handled the situation in the White House and I'm guessing many other similar situations as well. The abandonment of Afghanistan, and the manner in which it was done, is a source of enormous shame for the entire international community. I pray that one day Afghan women may know freedom again and I will always do what I can to amplify their voices.
I wonder if the way the bully replied was actually intentional. I know it could be just the classic way he behave, but maybe thus was his way to express what he think about the conditions if the women in Afghanistan. He simply doesn't care at all. He doesn't respect women and doesn't want to do animals about it. The answer in itself said what he means to do about it. Move on without listening.
It's infuriating and what makes me sad and worried is the apathy of the rest of the world. I hope one day thinks will change and we all realise that the world is not only for white men. We are still fat from it at the moment.
Thank you Barbara! This means a lot.
I think Trump was simply deflecting. I heard the question and it was clear enough for me (I have what is sometimes referred to as a "posh" accent although it is South African. Trump likes to be rude - especially when he is dealing with non-American people.
I totally agree with you. I mean, answering questions about Afghanistan would be difficult at the best of times. I just think the whole foreign accent thing just made the question easier to ignore. The laughter from other journos really did jar with me, i have to admit
I wish I could talk to you directly. I really enjoy your perspective.
I have a massive book deadline coming up next week but afterwards I'm going to start doing Substack lives! I'm guessing they're a little like instagram lives but I need to do some research on it but they whole point is to be able to converse directly with subscribers. Stay tuned!
Me too.
Thanks for that - I look forward to it.
I just love Substack as a platform, it's offering more and more options.
Agreed, one would expect journalists, regardless of their nationality (or accent) to at least show respect for other journalists.
It's about the laughter, the *worst* (in the worst) thing.
Whether Trump said that out of reluctance to address the question (is he that quick a thinker) or out of mysogony or sheer ignorance or rudeness - as is often the case with him it's hard to say. Likely a combination of all of the above. Ignoring non-Americans in most contexts is his self-styled MO so we shouldn't be surprised.
Whether he was deflecting the questions as it was too tricky or not, his tone was condescending. Certainly he should have asked her to repeat the question if he genuinely wanted to answer it, and not resorted to the patronising, misogynistic language he did do. I think the laughter was more nervous than humorous, however what caught my ear was the hubbub that seemed to ensue afterwards. Clearly a reaction was sparked at the time. The media have largely dubbed it as patronising, or a way to dodge a bullet. So to speak!. When I played it to one of my Spanish students he found her hard to understand. To be fair, I could understand what she said, and the import of her question, but her question could have been clearer. The point is, was it so bad that she could not be understood at all? Should she not have been given the chance to repeat or rephrase her question? It does throw up some interesting points of debate and Barbara as usual has hit the nail on the head with this piece.
To be fair when asked who would live in Gaza when the US had finished turning it into Mar-a-Gaza, he said, "world people", so I don't always expect great answers from him! ha ha.
'World people"!!!
Barbara you are the most amazing person…keep it going !
That is a very kind thing to say Jon. Thank you 🙏
Its just nice to give honest feedback…! I am from UK but worked in Norway for many years and got to speak a decent level…so yes i love watching you…the best!
I think Robert's comment is correct - i.e., Trump was deflecting: he sought to avoid what, to him, was an inconvenient question.
Another excellent article by Barbara.
Great article. I speak fast so sometimes people don't understand me but always use humour talking about this get there in the end
Speed is so different in various languages. Italian is spoken roughly at the speed of sound. I always slow myself right down when reading the news in English, so much so that I often have to warn my news producers or we'll fall off air!
Quote:
"As regular readers of this newsletter know, I believe that language and culture are interlinked, and that English being the global language amplifies Anglophone culture above all others. So I think this example is symptomatic of which voices carry more weight in our so-called interconnected world."
To incise it into stone, I've *always* thought this, since I was born.
Scottish people speak fast (me) mostly but northern irish speak faster which I discovered after going to Belfast when met my wife so that changed my perception
I heard the question, but I think the odious little toad didn’t want, or couldn’t reply to the question, so he tries to flatter her, before turning back into his normal mode.
Well, my English teacher (who is British, I'd like to highlight this) covered the same topic the last time we had a lesson! It's about telepathy. And we live, literally, in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway, Trump is the first one who slurs and mutters, he does not speak clearly (and completely!) so often, what is he himself just talking about?
Maurizio Crozza imitated him (just very few days ago) so precisely, about this point. Bah.
What was obnoxious here, if not particularly surprising, was the laughter of those "journalists" who chose to laugh. It is surprising for most of the world, but 77 million Americans actually voted for this self-appointed global village idiot: some Americans do actually perceive this ignorant narcissist as a real human being. Some US journalists are among those numbers.
Trump obviously heard part of the question and took advantage of the fact that some of the question was a little hard to hear to make a cheap joke and claim not to have understood. This is how the real train of thought went: "Meh Afghanistan ... rag-heads and their rag-head religion. Ugly women, wouldn't even want to grab them by the *****. Mountain country which couldn't even be developed into ski resorts ..."
It was painful to watch President Trump dismissed the opportunity to hear her properly, which is a shame. Keep People Involved (KPI) is a hallmark of good leadership, I guess we are a front row seat to the decline, realtime of the USA.
Of course he understood completely what was being asked by the journalist, of course he neglected her presence as a journalist and evaluated her features as a woman, something no one asked him to do. This is very far from being polite; this is being strongly abusive, a cowardly way of escaping a very embarrassing question. He’s a coward: he respects, for fear, the violent Putins of this world, and mistreats the ones he thinks won’t hurt him and can easily be ignored.
Yet another instance when Trump displays his deeply ingrained racism, as did the other journalists in the room who laughed at his non-answer response. I recall that in Biden press briefings, both in the US and abroad, care was taken to understand the question before providing a reasoned and measured response, particularly when the journalist's "accent" was hard to understand. You cannot tell me that no one in the room got what that journalist asked. I did when I first listened to the tape - but then, unlike Trump, I value multiculturalism - and the absence of misogyny.
Trump has a fair degree of dementia and I think this may add considerably to his difficulty (the cognitive load involved) in processing unfamiliar accents. (I think this was at play in the encounter with Zelenskiy you recently discussed.) This comes on top of any inherent tendency on his part to believe that things said by women with heavy accents don’t need to be taken seriously. (Nb I don’t know what his hearing is like, but there are plenty of us who find it incredibly difficult to make out what someone is saying against a babble of other sounds, even when we really want to. I don’t see Trump admitting he has difficulty in that department.)