Donald Trump has sparked a fresh racial and gender row after branding a black female reporter 'dumb' during a heated exchange on the White House Lawn.
The President attacked MS NOW correspondent Akayla Gardner on Tuesday, 12 May 2026, after she pressed him on why the price tag for his new 90,000-square-foot ballroom had surged from $200m to $400m (£320m) since last July.
Trump, who was preparing to depart for high-stakes talks in Beijing, appeared to lean down towards Gardner before snapping, 'You are not a smart person.'
The outburst is the latest in what critics describe as a calculated pattern of intelligence-based slurs directed at Black women in the media.
The average price for a gallon of gas just hit $4.54 and is heading toward $5.
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 6, 2026
Meanwhile Trump: “The White House Ballroom is going up rapidly…The original price was 200 Million Dollars, the double sized, highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million… pic.twitter.com/AfmHh9C2Uq
On Tuesday afternoon, just before Trump departed Washington for Beijing, Gardner pressed him on the ballooning figure, drawing a comparison with a previous controversy.
She reminded him that he had once wanted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell fired over cost overruns during a renovation of the Fed's headquarters and asked how that differed from his own ballroom and a proposed reflecting pool.
Trump previously suggested the Federal Reserve Chair should be fired over cost overruns during the $2.6bn renovation of the Fed's headquarters. When asked how his own project differed, Trump insisted the venue was 'under budget' because he had doubled its size, despite the total figure rising to nearly $1bn when taxpayer-funded security upgrades were included.
'What happened is that we have a ballroom that's under budget. It's going up right here,' he replied, adding that he had 'doubled the size of it because we obviously need that' and boasting that the project was 'on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule.'
When Gardner attempted to point out that 'the price has doubled,' Trump abruptly cut across her, appearing to lean down to meet her gaze. 'I doubled the size of it, you dumb person! Doubled the size,' he snapped. 'You are not a smart person.'
Within minutes, the White House's Rapid Response account on X circulated the clip and derided Gardner as 'fake news.' The celebration of the president's insult was neither subtle nor apologetic.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended Trump's outburst and insisted it had nothing to do with the journalist's gender.
'President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency,' she said in a statement.
'This has nothing to do with gender – it has everything to do with the fact that the President's and the public's trust in the media is at all-time lows.'
MS NOW declined to comment on the exchange. The president's words, however, were already echoing beyond the press pen.
.@POTUS: "We have a ballroom that's under budget. It's going up right here. I doubled the size of it because we obviously need that."
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 12, 2026
FAKE NEWS: "The price has doubled..."@POTUS: "I doubled the size of it, you dumb person. I doubled the size. You are not a smart person." 🔥🤣 pic.twitter.com/Ns3Kz1tRqp
Donald Trump, Race And A Pattern Of 'Not Smart' Jabs
Trump's use of intelligence-related slurs towards Black figures is not new. Over the years, he has publicly branded several prominent Black politicians and commentators 'low IQ,' including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar and even conservative podcaster Candace Owens, one of his own supporters.
Black women journalists who cover Trump have repeatedly found themselves in his firing line. He once complained that CNN's Abby Phillip asks 'a lot of stupid questions,' called NBC's Yamiche Alcindor 'very aggressive,' and labelled ABC's Rachel Scott 'nasty.'
The Washington Association of Black Journalists, weighing in on Tuesday's row, said Gardner's question 'was a perfectly fair and fair question' and described Trump's behaviour toward Black women on the White House beat as 'unhinged.'
The racial subtext is rarely admitted by his aides, but it is not hard to see why many Black reporters, and many viewers, read it that way.
Ballroom Bill Piles Up As Donald Trump Targets Reporters
The ballroom dispute has now become the latest flashpoint in a broader story about Trump's treatment of female journalists. According to the timeline set out in recent coverage, he has not managed a single month this year without hurling an insult at a woman reporter.
Last week alone, he clashed with someone on camera twice. He branded 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O'Donnell 'horrible' and called ABC News senior political correspondent Rachel Scott 'one of the worst reporters' after she questioned his 'tacky' Washington renovations.
In April, he attacked Fox News' Jessica Tarlov as 'one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television.' In March, he described a female ABC journalist as 'a very obnoxious person.'
In February, he called CNN's Kaitlan Collins 'the worst reporter.' In January, it was another female CNN reporter on the receiving end of his anger for what he dismissed as a 'stupid question.'
The pattern was on display again on Tuesday, in a separate exchange during the same press gaggle. Asked by another female reporter to assess his economic policies with inflation at 3.8 per cent amid the Iran war, Trump replied that his approach was 'working incredibly' and launched into a lengthy justification.
He framed the choice as one between his hard line and allowing 'lunatics' to obtain nuclear weapons. 'If you wanna do that, then you're a stupid person,' he said, before adding, 'And you happen to be. I mean, I know you very well.'
Set against that backdrop, the question that triggered his attack on Gardner looks almost mundane. She simply pointed out what the numbers already show. In July, the White House presented the ballroom as a $200 million vanity project underwritten by wealthy private donors seeking favour.
By December, Trump was acknowledging a $400 million cost. Then, after the latest attempt on his life, Congress began pushing to pour public money into a broader $1 billion security envelope wrapped around the East Wing modernisation, hardening 'above-ground and below-ground security features' in and around the ballroom complex.
On paper, Trump can claim that more space costs more money. Politically, it is harder to explain why a project repeatedly pitched as privately financed has expanded into a taxpayer-backed security fortress.
As Trump heads to Beijing for high-stakes talks with Xi Jinping, the ballroom row is likely to follow him. For many, the issue is no longer just about the cost of bricks and mortar. It is about a President who uses personal vitriol to shut down legitimate oversight, particularly when that oversight comes from women of colour.
