After crude tweet about TV host Mika Brzezinski, Trump faces backlash from lawmakers
President Donald Trump ridiculed the looks and temperament of a female cable television host whose show he says he has stopped watching.
In a series of tweets Thursday morning, the president went after Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who have criticized Trump on their MSNBC show “Morning Joe.”
“I heard poorly rated @Morning Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came … to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!”
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
…to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
Brzezinski responded on Twitter by posting a photograph of a Cheerios box that has the phrase “made for little hands.” Critics looking to get under the president’s skin have long suggested that his hands appear smaller than usual for his frame.
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 29, 2017
“It’s a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job,” NBC News spokeswoman Lorie Acio said in a statement.
It’s a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job.
— MSNBCPR (@MSNBCPR) June 29, 2017
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the tweets, including what it was that set the president off.
About two hours before the president’s tweets, Brzezinski said on the show that “it’s not normal behavior” for any leader to be tweeting about people’s appearances, bullying, lying, undermining managers and throwing people under the bus.
Saying that if any business executive behaved the way Trump does, “There would be concern that perhaps the person who runs the company is out of his mind.”
On their Thursday show, Brzezinski and Scarborough roundly mocked Trump for displaying in several of his golf resorts a fake Time Magazine cover featuring himself.
Since Trump made up his own Time cover, we made one for Joe #morningjoe pic.twitter.com/GsioTa7qDJ
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) June 28, 2017
“That’s needy,” Brzezinski said on the show.
About 15 minutes before the president himself tweeted, White House social media director Dan Scavino similarly attacked the hosts.
#DumbAsARockMika and lover #JealousJoe are lost, confused & saddened since @POTUS @realDonaldTrump stopped returning their calls! Unhinged.
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) June 29, 2017
Trump was correct that the MSNBC hosts spent time at the president’s Florida resort, a visit that Scarborough said was to arrange a Trump interview.
The hosts confirmed they are engaged to be married earlier this month.
In a NewsHour-NPR-Marist poll released Wednesday, most Americans said Trump’s use of Twitter is “reckless and distracting.”
In our @NewsHour/@NPR/@maristpoll, most Americans said Pres. Trump's use of Twitter is "reckless and distracting" https://t.co/sPOXEuwgtv pic.twitter.com/rfIPD8U97D
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 28, 2017
Many lawmakers who took to Twitter on Thursday morning said they thought his latest tweets were simply unpresidential.
In 1789, George Washington wrote John Adams that “a President of the United States must ‘maintain the dignity of Office,’” Presidential historian Michael Beschloss wrote on twitter.
George Washington wrote John Adams in 1789 that a President of the United States must "maintain the dignity of Office."
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) June 29, 2017
A number of lawmakers reacted to that principle Thursday:
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb.
Please just stop. This isn't normal and it's beneath the dignity of your office.
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) June 29, 2017
(Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed to Sasse’s response as a “lesson in how to disagree with someone respectfully, with dignity.”)
A <140-character lesson in how to disagree with someone respectfully, with dignity. https://t.co/gzONGVJWeZ
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) June 29, 2017
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 29, 2017
Sen. Ed Markey. D-Mass.
If you can't stifle the press, then you attack them personally. Today's tweets from Donald Trump are unpresidential and warrant an apology.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) June 29, 2017
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine
This has to stop – we all have a job – 3 branches of gov’t and media. We don’t have to get along, but we must show respect and civility.
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) June 29, 2017
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.
On the President's tweets this morning → pic.twitter.com/tJJqsV8KCb
— Sen. James Lankford (@SenatorLankford) June 29, 2017
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
Stop it! The Presidential platform should be used for more than bringing people down.
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) June 29, 2017
@POTUS, do you want to be remembered for your tweets or your accomplishments?
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) June 29, 2017
White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News shortly after the tweets that “this is a president who fights fire with fire.”
.@SHSanders45: "This is a president who fights fire with fire and certainly will not be allowed to be bullied by liberal media." pic.twitter.com/CP3DyOf01S
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 29, 2017
Echoing what Melania Trump has stated in the past, the Office of the First Lady old CNN that “when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder.”
.@StephGrisham45: "As the First Lady has stated publicly in the past, when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder."
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) June 29, 2017
“Our culture has gotten too mean,” Melania Trump said at a November 2016 campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
“There is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting” in Washington, Trump’s daughter Ivanka told Fox News earlier this month.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., took the opportunity to pivot to the fight over health care.
Many Republicans will condemn this tweet in strong moral terms.
Then they will spend rest of day trying end insurance for 22m Americans. https://t.co/AzvKyC4OZG
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 29, 2017
But Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan. took the tweets as an affront to women, tweeting “this is not okay. As a female in politics I am often criticized for my looks. We should be working to empower women.
This is not okay. As a female in politics I am often criticized for my looks. We should be working to empower women. https://t.co/sV6WDE0EUD
— Lynn Jenkins (@RepLynnJenkins) June 29, 2017
This isn’t the first time Trump has targeted Brzezinski in his tweets.
As a candidate in October 2015, Trump thanked her and Scarborough “for all of your nice words and comments on the debate!”
Thank you @morningmika and @JoeNBC for all of your nice words and comments on the debate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2015
In February, the show hosted a town hall with Trump.
But in June 2016, Trump changed his tone. “I don’t watch or do @Morning_Joe anymore. Small audience, low ratings! I hear Mika has gone wild with hate. Joe is Joe. They lost their way!”
I don't watch or do @Morning_Joe anymore. Small audience, low ratings! I hear Mika has gone wild with hate. Joe is Joe. They lost their way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2016
In August 2016: “Tried watching low-rated @Morning_Joe this morning, unwatchable! @morningmika is off the wall, a neurotic and not very bright mess!”
Tried watching low-rated @Morning_Joe this morning, unwatchable! @morningmika is off the wall, a neurotic and not very bright mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2016
In September, he followed with: “Just heard that crazy and very dumb @morningmika had a mental breakdown while talking about me on the low ratings @Morning_Joe. Joe a mess!”
Just heard that crazy and very dumb @morningmika had a mental breakdown while talking about me on the low ratings @Morning_Joe. Joe a mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 2, 2016
Dan Cooney and Associated Press writer Julie Bykowicz wrote this report.
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