Donald Trump does not deal well with frustration, and he gets frustrated when he doesn't completely control a situation. That's something we could easily have guessed based on, oh, everything about him, but it's also something evident in
a whole bunch of testimony in recent lawsuits the
New York Times sifted through. The most shining example of Trump's classy ways came in a suit over a failed real estate project in Florida:
When the lawyer, Elizabeth Beck, asked for a medical break, Mr. Trump and his lawyers objected, demanding that the deposition continue. Ms. Beck said it was urgent — she needed to pump breast milk for her 3-month-old daughter, and she took the pump out to make her point.
Mr. Trump erupted.
“You’re disgusting,” he told Ms. Beck, in a remark that is not disputed by either side. He then walked out of the room, ending the testimony for the day.
Let's start with the refusal to take a break so a woman can tend to a medical necessity and not be forced to sit there leaking milk and in pain while trying to work. Then the hissy fit when she didn't just take that refusal quietly but showed why the break was needed. Trump, of course, has his own version of events:
Honestly? If she had wanted to pump in front of Trump, I would've cheered. Refusing to let the mother of an infant pump is basically an effort to block new mothers from working at all. But is Trump such a fool that he can't wrap his head around the idea of using a prop to gain leverage in a negotiation? Surely not! That he's so crass, insulting, and opposed to making reasonable accommodations for working women, on the other hand, is not a surprise at all.
(According to the Times, "The Becks lost one of their cases against Mr. Trump and are appealing.)
