March 03, 2017 Issue

Washington, D.C.—President Donald Trump calls on an Orthodox Jewish reporter during a turbulent 77-minute press conference in the White House’s East Room on February 16. The president seemed to see the conference as a chance to rise above the crises that have marked his first weeks in office, telling the gathered reporters, “This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.” After mocking reporters from CNN and BBC and raising the idea he might shoot a Russian ship “out of the water,” Trump called on a reporter from Ami Magazine, an Orthodox Jewish weekly. When the reporter asked about an uptick in anti-Semitic acts, Trump said it wasn’t a fair question, told him to sit down and added, “So here's the story, folks. Number one, I'm the least anti-Semitic person you've seen in your entire life.”