Tipsheet

Are the Media Going to Stop Calling Trump a Dictator After Hearing This Story From Kaitlin Collins?

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  February 12, 2026 12:00 PM

Last week, President Trump had some pretty harsh words for CNN's Kaitlin Collins. During a Q&A session in the Oval Office, Collins and others brought up the Epstein files yet again, and the President body-slammed Collins for it, calling her CNN's "worst reporter" and telling her, “CNN has no ratings because of people like you."

The Left, of course, deemed this an attack on the free press, sexism, etc. It wasn't, of course. It was President Trump being President Trump. He made his name by calling the media the "enemy of the people," which remains one of the truest things he's ever said.

Collins apparently capitalized on this moment because she appeared on the "Absolutely Not" podcast hosted by Heather McMahan yesterday in an episode titled "Smiling with Kaitlin Collins."

During the interview, Collins shared a very interesting story about White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Collins said that Leavitt defended her free speech rights after the Saudi Royal Guard "freaked out" over a question Collins asked and barred her from another event.

Leavitt was having none of it.

"When we were in Saudi Arabia, and we were on a foreign trip with the President, and he came in with all the other leaders, including the Saudi crown prince," Collins said. "They do not like the media there, to put it lightly, and I asked a shouted question to President Trump, who had seen me when the U.S. press came in."

"He didn't answer...I mean, that's how it works, you shout questions, they either answer or they don't, that's their prerogative," Collins continued. "And then the world leaders left the room. The Saudi Royal Guard kind of freaked out, because I dared to asked a question."

"They're not used to that there, because they don't have a free press. And so they came up and said, well you can't come into the next event," Collins said. "Which was...two minutes later. And I was like, that's not how this works. I go with the U.S. press, and they were like, well, you're not coming in. And I could see them whispering and pointing about me. And some of the younger white house staff...weren't really sure what to do and they went to Karoline."

"And to her credit, she said, no, Kaitlin is coming in with the rest of the U.S. press. And we went in. And so it didn't become this huge issue," Collins said. "And so to her credit, she, without a doubt, was like, no, you're coming in. Which I do think is important in that moment, when you're the U.S. contingent abroad, and we don't do things like they do in Saudi Arabia."

That's what we were told.

We really do not appreciate how good we have it her in America.

Yep. Another narrative completely debunked.

That's true.

For all the breathless pearl-clutching about "authoritarianism," "fascism," and "attacks on the free press," this story shows a very different reality in the Trump White House. The Press Secretary stepped up to defend a CNN reporter's right to do her job, and not because they agree or because they're even on friendly terms, but because it was the right thing to do. We don't silence reporters abroad just because a foreign government can't grasp the concept of a free press.