NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Washington, D.C., October 31, 2025: Shirish Dáte, a White House correspondent for the progressive news site HuffPost, has found himself the target of personal insults from top Trump administration officials after posing standard journalistic questions, according to a detailed report by The New York Times published on October 30, 2025.
The Times reported that while most journalists face criticism when they fail to seek comment, Dáte “appears to have the opposite problem: he gets clobbered when he does reach out.”
The most recent episode, which went viral online, began when Dáte asked why President Donald Trump had chosen Budapest as the location for a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. In response, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt texted, “Your mom did,” and later posted the exchange on X (formerly Twitter). Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, followed with the same “Your mom” retort — a phrase The New York Times described as a “well-worn maternal insult.”
“I was kind of like, this is a serious war that’s going on that has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians in their homes,” Dáte, 61, told The New York Times. “And then your response is, ‘Your mom’?”
According to the Times, the dismissive messages reflect a pattern of hostility toward Dáte, who has been covering the Trump White House for HuffPost since 2016. After the Budapest exchange, Leavitt texted Dáte again, calling him a “far left hack who nobody takes seriously.” In another instance, when Dáte was reporting on Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Cheung reportedly sent expletive-laden texts mocking Dáte’s physical stature and masculinity.
Despite years of covering national, state, and local politics, Dáte told the Times he had never experienced such unprofessional exchanges. “Things got testy at times with Jeb Bush’s staff,” he recalled. “But never like this.” The White House did not respond to The New York Times’ requests for comment.
Born in Pune, India, and raised in the U.S. by physician parents, Dáte — who writes under the byline S.V. Dáte — began his career at The Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., before moving to Florida to cover politics for The Orlando Sentinel, The Associated Press, and The Palm Beach Post. His career later took him to Washington, following a two-year family sailing trip across the Atlantic funded by proceeds from novels he authored.
The Times noted that Dáte joined HuffPost in 2016 after a stint at National Journal, drawn more by the opportunity than ideology. While HuffPost’s editorial stance allows him broad latitude, Dáte told the paper that he has chosen to focus his reporting on Trump because of the “massive shifts in how this president is operating.”
HuffPost editor-in-chief Whitney Snyder told The New York Times that the White House’s latest response “was ridiculous, but it doesn’t bother us. Maybe he’s gotten under their skin.” The publication even used the “Your mom” exchange in a membership campaign with the slogan: “MAGA Makes ‘Your Mom’ Jokes. We Make Headlines.” The promotion, according to the Times, drove a 66 percent surge in reader contributions.
“I would guess that our core audience does not like Donald Trump for a variety of reasons,” Dáte said. “And I hope my stories have informed them as to why they might oppose him.”
Source: The New York Times, October 30, 2025.
Cover photo credit: Shirish Date/LinkedIn.
