Trump’s ‘piggy’ comment to reporter rekindles scrutiny over his 1996 Alicia Machado nickname
President Donald Trump’s recent remark, telling a female reporter “Quiet. Quiet, piggy” after she pressed him on questions related to Jeffrey Epstein’s files, has revived scrutiny of his long-documented pattern of using personal insults toward women.
The exchange occurred during an Air Force One press gaggle, where Trump cut off the reporter, wagged his finger, and dismissed her follow-up question.
The comment prompted immediate criticism from journalists’ associations and social media users, many of whom noted the gendered nature of Trump’s language.
It also drew renewed attention to one of the most widely discussed controversies from Trump’s business and early political career: the Alicia Machado incident.
Machado, who won Miss Universe in 1996 when Trump owned the pageant, has long said that Trump called her “Miss Piggy” after she gained weight and publicly pressured her to lose it.
The nickname, which she has described as humiliating, became a flashpoint during the 2016 election when she spoke out about her experience.
Trump has previously denied some of Machado’s claims but has acknowledged criticizing her weight at the time.
The echo between the two moments, nearly three decades apart, has not gone unnoticed. Commentators have pointed out that Trump’s use of “piggy” toward a woman in a professional setting mirrors the language Machado said she endured as a young pageant winner.
Critics argue that the repetition reinforces a long-standing pattern in Trump’s interactions with women who question or challenge him.
Supporters of the President, meanwhile, have dismissed the comparison as overblown, saying the remark was a spur-of-the-moment retort during a tense press exchange.
Still, the resurfacing of the Machado controversy alongside the new “piggy” comment has intensified debate about Trump’s history of personal name-calling, and how those moments continue to shape his public image during his current term in office.