Donald Trump has a running feud with Mika Brzezinski. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump has a running feud with Mika Brzezinski. Photo / Getty Images
US President Donald Trump has again ridiculed the intelligence, looks and temperament of a female television host in a vulgar Twitter attack, triggering a storm of protest from Republicans and Democrats alike.
In a Thursday morning tirade, the President went after hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who have criticised him on their US TV 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 facelift. I said no!" the US leader tweeted.
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..
The President, who has a running feud with Brzezinski and Scarborough, tweeted just minutes after their show went off the air at 9am Thursday (local time).
It's not clear what specifically triggered Trump's vulgar attack, but topics discussed during Thursday's show included the rancour that exists on Twitter and Trump's tweeting habits.
The president went after hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who have criticised him on their US TV show Morning Joe. Photo / Getty Images
Trump may also have been responding to Scarborough's comments to Vanity Fair in May.
In that interview, Scarborough announced his engagement to Brzezinksi and said that the President offered to marry them at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Minutes after Trump's crude broadside, Brzezinski responded on Twitter by posting a photograph of a Cheerios cereal box that included the phrase "made for little hands".
The reaction to Trump's sexist tweets was swift, critical and bipartisan, with both Republicans and Democrats slamming the US leader's vicious personal attack.
Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.
I want my GOP colleagues to explain to my 3 granddaughters why they think these viciously sexist comments are acceptable from our President. https://t.co/C0C4GJaYks
Americans deserve a president, not a petty schoolyard bully. These sexist comments have no place in the @WhiteHouse. Unhinged and shameful. pic.twitter.com/l6MWAKaf0z
However, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump during an appearance on Fox News' America's Newsroom.
She said there have been "an outrageous number of personal attacks" on Trump and his staff members by Morning Joe.
"I don't think that the President's ever been someone who gets attack and doesn't push back. There have been an outrageous number of personal attacks, not just to him, but to frankly everyone around him," she told host Bill Hemmer.
"This is a president who fights fire with fire. And certainly will not be allowed to be bullied by a liberal media and the liberal elites within the media or Hollywood or anywhere else," she added.
Commenting on Trump's use of Twitter, Brzezinski said: "What I think Twitter has done is really revealed the true nature of this man who is the president of the United States. It has shown the kind of, the dark underbelly of this presidency. Thanks to Twitter, we know."
Her co-host and fiance Scarborough said: "I think if you go on Twitter, and you go on Twitter angry, I don't think the market reveals character, I think it twists and distorts character. Because you've got to put it in 140 characters. There's no room for nuance. And I think it brings out, many times, just the absolute worst in people."
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."
Trump's campaign was threatened last October after the release of a 2005 Access Hollywood video in which he was heard bragging about groping women, saying "When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."
Trump also repeatedly suggested that Hillary Clinton didn't have the stamina or "look" to be president, mocked primary foe Carly Fiorina by saying "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?"
He also falsely suggested that former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado, whom he publicly shamed for gaining weight when he owned the contest, had made a sex tape.
In 2015, he said then-Fox News Host Megyn Kelly was unfairly targeting him, saying "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever."
Re Megyn Kelly quote: "you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" (NOSE). Just got on w/thought
