Something happened Friday night at the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner that sent the liberal media into a full-blown crisis. President Donald Trump’s speech was obviously not going to go over well with the mainstream media, but one joke in particular is getting a lot of attention right now because it was, according to the left, transphobic. In reality, the joke was funny, and the left’s reaction to it proved how even the most ardent defenders of trans ideology don’t buy it.
Trump’s “transphobic” joke began with sarcastic congratulations.
“I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award,” he began. “It was all about me. It’s a fake— she shouldn’t get the award, it was a fake. But I didn’t mind, I said, ‘Kaitlan, congratulations.’ But it was fake, there’s no question about it.”
That was just the setup.
“She’s a young, attractive woman. She never smiles,” Trump continued. “I said, ‘Kaitlan, do you ever smile? Smile. You have a nice position, you’re at CNN fake news, you should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan, just smile.’ ”
But here’s the part that sent the media into meltdown mode.
“I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship,” he said, “but then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.”
Trump: Kaitlan Collins is a young, attractive woman. She never smiles. Do you ever smile? I thought she had really made it big with a major new sponsorship but then I informed her that it was not her on the Bud Light can. It was Dylan Mulvaney pic.twitter.com/Eqfu4gs7kA
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 25, 2026
Liberal outlets and leftist influencers ran with it as proof of hate, framing it as Trump mocking Collins's appearance and comparing her to a "trans woman" in front of her colleagues and government officials.
Trump Attacks CNN’s Kaitlan Collins with Transphobic Remark in Front of All Her Colleagues https://t.co/w31uosbwfW
— People (@people) July 25, 2026
Who can forget the Dylan Mulvaney/Bud Light fiasco of 2023? He posted a short March Madness video for Bud Light, revealing their marketing partnership. The backlash was immediate and brutal. Trump ally Kid Rock and other conservative figures led a boycott of parent company Anheuser-Busch for so badly misjudging its own customer base. The sales decline that followed wasn't temporary. By early 2024, Anheuser-Busch had lost $27 billion in market value.
It was a total disaster, and Bud Light lost its crown as the nation’s most popular beer. And rightfully so. Mulvaney cosplays as a little girl on social media and gets all sorts of sponsorships for it. It’s a joke, and an insult to real women. But he’s celebrated by the left, which insists that "trans women are women." Full stop, no asterisks, no exceptions. So if that's really what they believe, why is anyone offended on Collins's behalf for being compared to one?
Lefties insist Mulvaney is a woman. If they truly believed that, then Trump's joke shouldn't be seen by them as some coded attack on anyone's identity. It was that Mulvaney and Collins look alike.
And honestly, they kinda do.
By left-wing logic, there shouldn't be anything wrong with that joke at all. Calling it "transphobic" only works if you secretly believe being compared to a “trans woman” is an insult to an actual woman. And look what happened: the same people who spent years demanding everyone affirm that Mulvaney is a woman are now treating the comparison like a slur.
ICYMI: Tucker Carlson Has Gone Bat Poop Crazy, Wants Trump Tried for Treason
Make no mistake about it, this outrage isn't protecting Collins. It's admitting the quiet part out loud. Even the people pushing trans ideology the hardest don't actually buy it. If they did, Trump's joke would have landed as nothing more than a joke about two people who resemble each other.
That’s what made Trump’s joke so brilliant. It exposed the whole charade. And that's a lot funnier than anything Trump actually said on stage.
