Megyn Kelly Insists Donald Trump’s Kaitlan Collins Jab About Dylan Mulvaney at WHCD Worked Politically After Backlash

Megyn Kelly is defending President Donald Trump’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner jokes about Kaitlan Collins, even as the remarks continue to draw backlash.

Trump targeted CNN’s chief White House correspondent during his July 24 speech after she received the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure. The president called the award “fake,” told Collins she should smile and compared her to actress and transgender advocate Dylan Mulvaney while referencing Mulvaney’s 2023 Bud Light promotion.

Though the remarks drew backlash, Kelly argued on the July 27 episode of her podcast that the joke worked politically.

“It’s funny,” Kelly said while discussing the speech with conservative historian Victor Davis Hanson.

“It’s clever because it puts the left in such a difficult position... because they have to say that’s not complimentary. So they have to rip on a trans person, which they definitely don’t want to do,” she explained.

“It’s like he’s put them in a very difficult position because you — you basically have to say it’s insulting to — to compare her to Dylan Mulvaney,” she said.

Trump later extended the attack online, posting an AI-generated image that placed Collins’ face on Mulvaney’s body from the Bud Light campaign.

Kelly also defended Trump’s comments about Collins’ demeanor, arguing that the CNN reporter is “never nice to the president.”

“She’s always nasty. She’s always making negative commentary about him. Her questions always have the most negative bent you could possibly go into the questioning with,” Kelly said.

“He got up there, and he gave her a little jazz, which is kind of what [presidents] do,” at the WHCD, she added.

Kelly has previously defended Trump’s criticism that Collins does not smile. In February, after Collins asked a question related to Jeffrey Epstein, Trump deflected by saying he had never seen her smile.

“I literally said the same thing about Kaitlan Collins a year ago on my show. She never smiles,” Kelly said at the time.

She even approvingly said that former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes used to tell anchors, “every once in a while, you’ve got to remember to smile, show the viewers that you have a heart.”

Kelly was among nearly two dozen women who accused Ailes of sexual harassment in 2016. Ailes denied the allegations and resigned that year.

Kelly blamed the WHCD audience for the joke’s poor reception.

“I mean, of course, they fell flat in front of this crowd, which is probably why Trump won’t do it again because they’re not in good humor about themselves,” she said.

Collins addressed Trump’s insults Monday on The Daily Show, telling Jon Stewart, “It’s really not about me, and I don’t want it to be about my reaction.”