WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he has stopped watching “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, but if hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are out of sight they’re certainly not out of mind where Trump is concerned.
In a series of tweets Thursday morning, the president went after the recently engaged couple with harsh and personal insults.
“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!”
Brzezinski responded on Twitter by posting a photograph of a Cheerios box that has the phrase “made for little hands,” apparently aiming to reopen a wound first inflicted by one of Trump’s GOP primary opponents, Marco Rubio, during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“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.
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 Wednesday show, Brzezinski and Scarborough roundly mocked Trump for displaying in several of his golf resorts a fake Time Magazine cover featuring himself.
“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,” Scavino wrote on his personal account.
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.
Two Republican senators reacted quickly to Trump’s tweets.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said on Twitter: “Please just stop. This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted: “Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.”
Sasse did not support Trump in the presidential race; Graham ran against Trump for the GOP nomination.
Five-term Republican Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins of Kansas also criticized the president on Twitter: “This is not okay. As a female in politics I am often criticized for my looks. We should be working to empower women.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan didn’t tweet but told reporters: “Obviously I don’t see that as an appropriate comment. What we’re trying to do around here is improve the tone and civility of the debate, and this obviously doesn’t help.”