President Donald Trump was quick to lash out with threats, but when people online realized the so-called “gotcha” that actually set him off, they couldn’t stop laughing.
The President lashed out at ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent Johnathan Karl after he tried to get Trump to clarify Attorney General Pam Bondi’s remarks Monday when she appeared to ignore the First Amendment on “The Katie Miller Podcast.”
“What do you make of Pam Bondi saying she’s going to go after ‘hate speech?’” Karl asked Trump at a press gaggle.
“I mean a lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech,” the reporter added.
That seemed to immediately infuriate Trump, who quickly lashed out at Karl.
“She’ll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly, it’s hate.”
“You have a lot of hate in your heart,” the President continued.
“Maybe I’ll come after ABC,” he threatened again.
“ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech, right? Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech. So maybe they’ll have to go after you,” a menacing Trump said, bullying Karl.
Social media was lost and confused at Trump’s epic fumble.
“No other President in the history of the US has ever whined about “being treated unfairly”. I thought he is supposed to be some sort of tough guy/god but he’s always crying about something,” wrote Chief Hawkeye on X.
“Trump is such a whiny little b-tch. Hey MAGA – do you believe in the Constitution? Do you believe in the First Amendment? Or do you believe in this insufferable little snowflake?” Empire of Lies posted on X.
The criticism kept coming. One user opted for a baseball reference. “That reporter just pitched him a 10 mph strike… and he whiffed at it. He had the opportunity to knock it out of the park by standing up for the 1st amendment… instead he played victim. He’s not about “America First,” but only concerned about his own power.
“This is even worse than what Bondi said—not least because Trump is the president and Bondi is not,” another noted.
Bondi’s remarks to Miller angered people on both the left and the right.
She told Miller, “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place — especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie — in our society,” referring to Charlie Kirk, the right-wing influencer who was killed last week at a speaking event in Utah.
The full context of Pam Bondi's "hate speech" comments yesterday is insane.
Katie Miller says hatred of conservatives on college campuses led to Charlie Kirk's death.
Bondi responds by saying antisemitism on college campuses is the real issue at hand, and what the government… https://t.co/iCYqPjgp5H pic.twitter.com/pf1mm8cwow
— SOVEREIGN BRAH
(@sovereignbrah) September 16, 2025
“We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything, and that is across the aisle,” she added.
And even though Bondi tried to clarify her remarks the following day, she still angered people on both sides of the issue.
“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment,” Bondi claimed in a social media post.
“It’s a crime. For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence,” she claimed. “That era is over.”
“Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent but it does NOT and will NEVER protect violence. It is clear this violent rhetoric is designed to silence others from voicing conservative ideals,” she insisted.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor jumped into the mix with her own take. “Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” Sotomayor said while speaking on a panel Tuesday morning at New York Law School, according to Politico.
Bondi’s threats provoked outrage, even in MAGA circles.
Journalist Charles C.W. Cooke with “National Review,” a conservative magazine and website, wrote, “She won’t ‘target’ or ‘go after’ anyone for ‘hate speech,’ because, legally, there is no such thing as ‘hate speech’ in the United States, and because, as a government employee, she is bound by the First Amendment. And if she tries it anyway? The Supreme Court will side against her, 9-0.”
Cooke’s post generated attention. “Now the right-wing National Review is mad at Pam Bondi for threatening to prosecute people for free speech about Charlie Kirk. ‘It has not been a good 24 hours for Pam Bondi,’” Threads user Keith Boykin responded.
“Let the lions eat each other,” Threads user Kevin Sage-EL replied.
And another had this to say, “Does this qualify for hate speech? Pam Bondi, you are an incompetent and corrupt toadie who has turned the department of Justice into the department of injustice.”