Kaitlan Collins flips Trump's favorite insult back at him with on-air desk decor

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins fired back at President Donald Trump this week by turning his favorite insult into on-air desk decor.

A mug emblazoned with the words "America Needs Nasty Women" sat in clear view on Collins' desk during multiple broadcasts of her CNN show "The Source," The Daily Beast reported Saturday.

The message is a pointed callback to an insult Trump has hurled at Collins for years. During a 2023 CNN town hall in the Republican primary, Collins pressed Trump on the classified documents the FBI said he had kept at Mar-a-Lago and refused to hand back, a standoff that ended in a search of the property. Trump shot back, "You are a nasty person."

The attacks have only intensified since Trump returned to the White House. In a December Truth Social post, he misspelled her name and branded her "always Stupid and Nasty."

In September, the Trump administration barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House and removed CNN from Air Force One. After a judge Trump himself appointed struck down the ban on First Amendment grounds, the president turned his fire on Collins directly, telling her she "shouldn't be here."

Trump went after her again this week in a lengthy interview with Time, complaining that the press refuses to cover his accomplishments fairly.

"She's a very average person. She's the most unhappy young person I've ever seen," Trump said of Collins. "If I did something spectacular by any standard, and they would write about it, they will only write badly."

Collins first displayed the mug Wednesday while talking with CNN data analyst Harry Enten, and it reappeared on her desk for Friday night's broadcast. CNN contributor Jennifer Mascia flagged it on X in a post that went viral.

"Loving Kaitlan Collins' mug on CNN tonight," Mascia wrote, quoting the slogan alongside fire and devil emojis.