
It is Donald Trump, not the reporter trying to do her job, who is very rude.

Donald Trump does not like questions from the press.

That's why he hasn't held a press conference in 160 days. That's also why he thinks nothing of dismissing and belittling reporters who dare to ask him questions whenever or wherever they might have a chance.

So when ABC News reporter Arlette Saenz asked him on Wednesday about his sudden announcement that he was instituting a total ban on transgender people serving in the military, his response was obnoxious and unpresidential — but standard operating procedure for Trump.

.@realDonaldTrump can't defend his own plan to ban trans people from the military without calling the person who questioned him "rude." ? pic.twitter.com/xpAlgQ1Nvo — GLAAD (@glaad) July 26, 2017


SAENZ: Mr. President, when did you decide your policy on transgender people in the military? TRUMP: She's very rude.

It is not rude to ask the president a question about a shocking policy change for the military — one that his own Pentagon had no idea was coming.

It is the responsibility of the press to ask these questions. That is especially true when nobody in the government, from the Pentagon to the White House press secretary, has a clear answer on how or why this apparently unilateral decision was made.

But Trump is Trump, and he'd rather demonize the press and insult reporters than offer any answers to the questions Americans have a right to know.