Jen Psaki Says Being Called ‘Nice’ Is ‘Sexist and a Little Diminishing’

Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany weighed in on the story at the time by pointing out how ridiculous it was fashion magazines such as Vogue and the like largely avoided doing stories about strong, powerful women who worked in the Trump administration but would then trip over themselves to cover women who worked under a Democratic administration like Biden’s.

Fast forward to this week, and that Vogue profile piece on Psaki has been published, and while it was indeed a predictable bit of fluff, there was one thing Psaki said in the interview that people are taking issue with and which warrants further discussion.

The article started off with the headline “Press Secretary Jen Psaki is Good At Mending Fences. Just Don’t Call Her Nice,” which confirmed it was going to be another fawning media piece portraying a Democratic woman as tough as nails and who is blazing her own trail, yada yada.

At one point in the piece, Psaki described how it was working as a spokeswoman (for the State Dept.) and then the comms director for the White House under the Obama-Biden administration and how the way some Obama-era staffers treated the press harshly was “never going to be comfortable to me.” Vogue reporter Lizzie Widdicombe made sure to note, however, that Psaki’s desire to build “a more personable rapport” with reporters did not make her a pushover (bolded emphasis added):

I’m sorry, but did I miss the memo from NOW and/or other supposed “feminist” groups on how a woman being referred to as “nice” should now be considered “sexist” and “diminishing”? In what way is it sexist and diminishing? Answer: It’s not unless you’re a woman in a position of power who is used to being coddled and being told “yes” to everything and believes she can do no wrong.