In journalism, it’s common for reporters to face criticism when they fail to contact their subjects for comment. But for Shirish Dáte, a veteran White House correspondent for HuffPost, the opposite seems true — he’s often attacked precisely when he does reach out.

Dáte, known for his direct style and progressive-leaning publication, has repeatedly found himself on the receiving end of insults from senior Trump officials. His exchanges with them have become minor media sensations, revealing not only the tensions between the Trump administration and the press but also the increasingly personal tone of political communication in Washington.

The latest example came after President Trump announced plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. Dáte asked who had recommended the Hungarian capital for such a high-stakes summit. What he got in response wasn’t a thoughtful explanation but a juvenile jab. “Your mom did,” texted Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. Moments later, communications director Steven Cheung followed up with the same phrase — a middle school insult that’s as old as it is unimaginative.

“I was just stunned,” Dáte said in an interview. “This is a serious war that’s killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians, and the response I get is ‘your mom’?”

For Dáte, 61, this is only the latest chapter in a long career that has taken him from small-town newsrooms to the center of political power. Before joining HuffPost in 2016, he worked at mainstream outlets like The Associated Press and The Palm Beach Post. Over the years, he has reported on crime, state politics, and national elections. Yet nothing, he says, prepared him for the kind of vitriol that now lands in his text messages from top government officials.

The Trump team’s hostility toward the media is well documented. The former president and his aides have long used labels such as “fake,” “nasty,” and “disgusting” to describe journalists. But their treatment of Dáte stands out for its intensity and its personal nature. In one exchange after the Budapest incident, Leavitt told him via text that he was “a far-left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media — they just don’t tell you that to your face.”

The insults didn’t stop there. While Dáte was working on a story about Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Cheung sent him another text — this one filled with profanity and jabs about his appearance and masculinity. “In nine years, have I ever insulted you?” Dáte asked in reply. Cheung’s response was short: “You’re being a moron.”

Even for a journalist with decades of experience covering tough political environments, these kinds of exchanges are unprecedented. “Things could get heated when I covered Jeb Bush’s staff,” Dáte recalled, “but never like this.” The White House, when asked for comment on these messages, declined to respond.

Born in Pune, India, and raised in the United States, Dáte grew up in a family of doctors but chose a different path. His journalism career began at The Times Herald-Record in Middletown, New York, where he reported on local issues and even fielded collect calls from inmates. Ambition led him to Florida, where he covered Daytona Beach for The Orlando Sentinel and later worked for The Associated Press. He also spent several years at The Palm Beach Post, covering state politics.

Before his current role in Washington, Dáte took an unconventional detour — sailing across the Atlantic for two and a half years with his family, funding the voyage through proceeds from novels he had written. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure,” he said, “but eventually, I needed to get back to work.”

When a position opened at HuffPost, Dáte joined the outlet not out of frustration with traditional media but because it offered him creative freedom. Unlike many newsrooms, HuffPost encourages its journalists to pursue stories that align with their instincts and expertise. For Dáte, that focus has been Donald Trump.

During the Biden administration, Dáte continued covering Trump’s legal troubles and the lingering consequences of the January 6 Capitol attack. He deliberately avoided spending much time on President Biden’s daily activities or speculation about his age. “That was my choice,” he said. “The real story was how Trump was reshaping politics and what that meant for democracy.”

In May, Dáte published an opinion piece arguing that the true scandal of the 2024 campaign wasn’t the media’s coverage of Biden’s age, but rather how the press had normalized Trump’s behavior. His editor, Kevin Robillard, describes Dáte as a journalist who is not driven by party loyalty but by concern over threats to democratic norms. “He’s alarmed not because Trump is a Republican,” Robillard said, “but because so much of what he does breaks precedent.”

HuffPost’s leadership has largely brushed off the administration’s attacks. “Their response to Shirish was ridiculous, but it doesn’t bother us,” said Whitney Snyder, the site’s editor in chief. “If anything, it shows he’s getting under their skin.”

In a twist of irony, the “your mom” insult has even turned into a marketing tool for HuffPost. The site used the viral exchange to promote its membership program with the tagline: “MAGA Makes ‘Your Mom’ Jokes. We Make Headlines.” The campaign, emphasizing the difference between serious journalism and childish humor, resonated with readers. The day Leavitt posted her text online, HuffPost’s membership revenue jumped 66 percent above its daily average.

For Dáte, that surge was a small consolation amid the noise. “I would guess that our core audience doesn’t like Donald Trump for many reasons,” he said. “But I hope my reporting helps them understand why they feel that way — with facts, not insults.”

In an era when political discourse often collapses into name-calling and social media theatrics, Dáte’s experiences underscore how difficult it has become for journalists to maintain professionalism in the face of provocation. For him, it’s a reminder that even in Washington’s most powerful rooms, asking a serious question can still provoke a childish answer — and that the work of holding those in power accountable remains as vital, and as contentious, as ever.