Gail Collins on Writing with Humor and Rage

President Donald Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 10, 2017.

Gail Collins says Trump did not do anything illegal when he described highly classified material about a ISIS plot to Russian officials at an Oval Office meeting last week. Instead, she says, he violated “espionage etiquette,” revealing information without the permission of the ally who provided it.

“This is not surprising at all,” Gail reflects, “when you think about the great ongoing narrative: this man cannot shut up.”

But when Gail Collins sits down to write her opinion column for The New York Times she tries not to concern herself with the President's latest scandal. "I worry more about the people he put into power [...]  the most anti-choice, anti-woman anti-birth control people he could find." 

"You've got to divide this stuff up between the things we have to live with," Gail says referring to the President's erratic demeanor, "and things we've got to fight," like keeping healthcare accessible to women.