CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins had the very best response after Donald Trump tried to humiliate her for not smiling enough

John Plunkett. Updated July 27th, 2026

Donald Trump has never liked CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins because she has a habit of asking questions he doesn’t like and when he doesn’t answer them, she asks them again.

So it should probably be no surprise that Trump seeks every opportunity to put her down, not least at the White House Correspondents Dinner where he accused her (not for the first time) of not smiling enough, along with a bunch of lame nonsense we are not even going to grace with the time of day.

Trump: Kaitlan Collins is a young, attractive woman. She never smiles. Do you ever smile? I thought she had really made it big with a major new sponsorship but then I informed her that it was not her on the Bud Light can. It was Dylan Mulvaney pic.twitter.com/Eqfu4gs7kA

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 25, 2026

The point is not whether she smiles or not, obviously, it’s that it’s none of his or anyone else’s business.

I was honored to present my @cnn colleague @kaitlancollins with the White House Correspondents Association “Excellence Under Deadline Pressure” award last night. I pointed out the judges were “awed” by the “depth of knowledge, access and context” that she brought to the news. pic.twitter.com/PxZaQtsCrs

— Wolf Blitzer (@wolfblitzer) July 25, 2026

We’ve already rounded up 19 of our favourite responses here, and this is certainly up there with all of those.

For the record: Kaitlan Collins is SUPER nice. Didn’t even have to tell her to smile.

Because who the hell does that? https://t.co/lcWPsZfEqi pic.twitter.com/u058Zm0NoU

— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) July 26, 2026

But the reason we return to it again is because of the message later posted by Collins herself – if anyone deserves the last word here it’s her.

Kaitlan Collins claps back at Mango Mussolini pic.twitter.com/5zjDpNraM4

— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) July 25, 2026

And while she obviously doesn’t mention Trump by name, we feel like we can surely reasonably infer it.

She’s pure class and her whining opponents pure trash. Including the president😒

— John Jacob’s (@mrrumfius) July 26, 2026