Trump Goes After ‘Morning Joe’ Co-Hosts Brzezinski, Scarborough
President alleges he declined Mar-a-Lago meeting because Brzezinki was ‘bleeding badly from a face-lift’
In another remarkable tweet, President Donald Trump launched a personal attack Thursday morning on the co-hosts of MSNBC’s morning talk show “Morning Joe.”
Trump has been harshly critical of the media since even before he took office, but he has mostly kept his complaints about the “fake news” to gripes about networks or newspapers. Rarely has he called out media figures by name.
That changed in a dramatic way on Thursday, as Trump lashed out at Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.
The president tweeted that he has “heard” that “poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore).” That’s when Trump got personal.
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He asked rhetorically over two tweets if the show thinks so poorly of him, “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.” But the bombastic president was not finished, going right after Brzezinski.
He claims she was “bleeding badly from a face-lift,” which the president claims led him to decline a meeting with the now-engaged television hosts.
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
Brzeznski shot back a few minutes later on Twitter by bringing up a soft spot for Trump that dates back to the presidential campaign: the size of his hands.
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 29, 2017
As did NBCUniversal News Group PR chief Mark Kornblau:
Never imagined a day when I would think to myself, “it is beneath my dignity to respond to the President of the United States.”
— Mark Kornblau (@MarkKornblau) June 29, 2017
It marked the second time this week that the White House has lambasted specific media outlets, with Trump’s strike on MSNBC’s morning show following a Tuesday broadside by his No. 2 spokesperson on CNN — even urging reporters to watch a video about an Atlanta-based producer that principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders acknowledged the White House could not verify as accurate.
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Sanders’ comments caused an angry reaction from a Playboy magazine reporter during the on-camera briefing. Trump’s set Twitter on fire. Both stepped on the White House’s push for a Senate health overhaul bill and drowned out its latest theme week, this time energy policy.
Trump’s Thursday tweets caused two Republican senators to suggest that he had crossed a line.
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
Please just stop. This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office.
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) June 29, 2017
The Democratic National Committee said Trump’s missive continued to show “he has no regard for women.
“Trump’s bullying tweets are an attack on women everywhere. Trump has a long pattern of making demeaning, sexist and discriminatory comments about the women who take him on. The fact that they happen frequently doesn’t make them okay. From his Twitter slurs to his policies, we have a president who continues to show us he has no regard for women and whose comments demean the office he holds.”
Other reaction on Twitter was swift and sometimes biting and usually snarky.
If anyone on my staff did this they would be fired instantly. https://t.co/w83RmSbidJ
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) June 29, 2017
I see we are back to women bleeding from somewhere https://t.co/TYpf2n76hq
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) June 29, 2017
But seriously it’s great to see Melania’s cyberbullying initiative is off to an amazing start.
— Slade Sohmer (@Slade) June 29, 2017
Add this to the long list of clownish, offensive, unpresidential things POTUS has said
— Rep. Donald Payne Jr (@RepDonaldPayne) June 29, 2017
Quite the pivot. pic.twitter.com/SXJBj9hNDG
— Annie Lowrey (@AnnieLowrey) June 29, 2017
Wait. I thought “Infrastructure Week” was *last* week… https://t.co/wrnCnl4fRP
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) June 29, 2017
