Instead of answering Dana Perino's question about the "upsetting" status of Iranian civilians being affected by conflict, the president complimented her appearance and recalled a shared meal
Credit: Fox News/YouTube; Alex Wong/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Donald Trump sidestepped Dana Perino’s question about Iranians’ access to food and water during a live call on the Fox News show The Five on March 26
- Instead, the president reminisced about a past lunch with Perino and complimented her appearance, stating that she “may be even better looking” now
- The comment comes amid Trump’s months-long streak of making appearance-based comments and insults toward female journalists
When Dana Perino asked President Donald Trump if Iranians are starving amid the war, he chose to instead compliment her looks and recall a lunch they once shared.
As the president, 79, was on a live call on the Fox News talk show The Five on Thursday, March 26, the anchor and former White House press secretary asked him for “insight” into how Iranian people are doing amid the war, and specifically whether they have food and drinking water.
Trump initially sidestepped the inquiry to reminisce on a lunch he had with Perino, 53, “years ago.”
“Do you have any insight as to how they are doing? Do they have drinking water? Do they have food? It’s upsetting," the Fox News anchor asked. Trump then replied, “I do, but first, do you remember when we had lunch years ago in the base of Trump Tower when it was a brand new building?”
Perino acknowledged the lunch occurred, stating, “A long time ago, yes,” as Trump continued.
Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty
“A long time ago, and you haven’t changed. You have not changed,” he told the Fox News host before turning his attention to her looks: “Now, I’m not allowed to say this — it’s the end of my political career — but you may be even better looking, okay?"
The president’s flattery inspired laughs from the table of The Five co-hosts, and Perino joked that “hair and makeup have a lot to do with that.” Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on his statement that complimenting Perino’s appearance will “end” his career as a politician.
“But I will not say that because that will end my political career. You’re not allowed to say a woman’s beautiful anymore, you know that, Jesse? You’ve got to be careful,” he continued, referring to The Five co-host Jesse Watters, who has previously made controversial comments about women.
Perino then joked, “Jesse’s always in trouble,” as Trump circled back to his lunch with her once more before answering her question. “No, he’s borderline with this stuff, he’s really … but no, it was great. I still remember it very well,” the president said.
Credit: Taylor Hill/WireImage
Trump did not ultimately provide an answer to Perino’s inquiry about whether Iranian people have food and drinking water amid the war in Iran, which has killed thousands since it began with U.S.-Israeli strikes in late February.
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Trump’s remarks toward Perino are the latest in a string of appearance-based comments and verbal attacks toward female journalists — the latest of which occurred on March 14, when the president called The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman names on Truth Social.
“Maggot Hagerman, just another SLEAZEBAG writer for The Failing New York Times, insists on writing false stories about me, even though she fully knows and understands that the exact opposite of anything she says is usually the truth,” Trump wrote, in part, of the White House correspondent and Trump biographer. He also threatened legal action against her.
More than a month earlier, on Feb. 6, the president cut off The Washington Post’s Natalie Allison as she inquired about his administration’s deportation efforts during a presser on Air Force One and insulted her for her “very bad attitude.”
Days earlier, Trump criticized CNN's Kaitlan Collins for "not smiling enough” after she asked the president a question about Jeffrey Epstein. He had previously called Collins, 33, “stupid and nasty" in December 2025.
Also in late 2025, Trump called CBS News' Nancy Cordes “a stupid person," and that same month, he called The Times' Katie Rogers "ugly, both inside and out." He also once told Bloomberg's Catherine Lucey to be "quiet, piggy."
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