“It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I can’t get it out of my head, because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life,” Streep said. “And this instinct, to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. “Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose,” she added. “We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call him on the carpet for every outrage.”

Close video Trump denies he mocked NY Times reporter Donald Trump is denying he mocked New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, whose article he claims proves “thousands and thousands of people were cheering” in New Jersey when the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001. Donald Trump is denying he mocked New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, whose article he claims proves “thousands and thousands of people were cheering” in New Jersey when the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001. share tweet email Embed

The president-elect spoke to the New York Times overnight, telling the paper he didn’t see Streep’s remarks, but he denies the underlying allegation. “I was never mocking anyone,” Trump said. “I was calling into question a reporter who had gotten nervous because he had changed his story…. People keep saying I intended to mock the reporter’s disability, as if Meryl Streep and others could read my mind, and I did no such thing.”Trump made the same points via Twitter this morning, dismissing Streep as “ overrated ,” and again saying he would “ never ” mock someone with disabilities. The president-elect added he simply called out Serge Kovaleski for having “totally changed” a story he wrote.The back and forth has sparked quite a bit of chatter this morning, much of it focused on progressive attitudes among wealthy celebrities in the entertainment industry. (It’s an odd thing for Republicans to complain about: they just elected a billionaire game-show host.)And while the larger societal conversation is interesting, the root problem remains the same: Trump’s lying.As we discussed a few months ago, the factual details are pretty straightforward. During the Republican presidential primaries, Trump campaigned in South Carolina and tried to defend himself after getting caught in a transparent lie: Trump falsely claimed to have seen “thousands” of American Muslims celebrating the night of the 9/11 attacks.As part of his bogus argument, Trump took aim at Kovaleski because the reporter had the nerve to point out the truth.“You gotta see this guy,” Trump said at the South Carolina rally. Mocking the journalist and his condition, Trump waved his arms around, and while using a bizarre, ridiculing voice, the presidential candidate tried to mimic Kovaleski, saying, “Uh, I don’t know what I said! Uh, I don’t remember!”Making matters just a little worse, Kovaleski never changed his story. Trump’s lying about that, too. Taken together, we’re witnessing a rare sight: Trump lied, then lied about the lie, and is now lying about lying.Remember, all of this stems from the president-elect throwing a tantrum – the latest in a lengthy series – in response to a movie star saying something true about him at an awards ceremony. The smart move for Trump would’ve been to say he didn’t see the remarks and move on.But he can’t help himself. Trump claims he doesn’t care what celebrities say about him, especially entertainers on the left who supported his opponent, but confronted with mild criticism from Meryl Streep, the president lashed out instinctively.This guy hasn’t even taken office yet. The next four years are going to be awfully rough on his delicate psyche.