Trump’s Petty, Sexist Attack on Mika Brzezinski May Be a New Low, But It’s Definitely Not His Bottom

Welp, here we are again. Every time we think Donald Trump can’t possibly get any less presidential, he proves us wrong. We may have thought the low point for the week was his leering at that Irish reporter just trying to do her damn job. But now he’s taken to Twitter to go after the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, specifically focusing on Mika Brzezinski in a classless, blatantly sexist attack.

She, along with co-host Joe Scarborough have been highly critical of Trump, most recently saying they were left “speechless” over his remarks that he doesn’t want a “poor person” in certain cabinet jobs, and mocking the revelation that he has a fake Time magazine cover hanging in his resorts.

Early Thursday morning, Trump tweeted his completely unnecessary response to their show (with an inexplicable six-minute gap between the two tweets).

This is Trump’s standard 4-point attack:

1. Attack ratings.
2. Kooky nickname
3. Criticize a woman’s appearance/age/vanity.
4. Claim he rejected her, despite how *desperate* she was for him.

It doesn’t matter that none of these points is likely true. To start, Morning Joe is enjoying its highest ratings ever. As Scarborough said on their show just yesterday, “Donald Trump is only making the media stronger. We have record ratings for us at Morning Joe … subscription increases at the New York Times, Washington Post … Everyone is actually getting more viewers by holding them accountable.” That can’t make Trump very happy, can it?

Also, does anyone believe Mika Brzezinski attended a New Year’s party while bleeding from her face? No, no one does. Next.

Trump has a pattern when he attacks women. He goes for their age, appearance, vanity, and sanity. This is an incredibly sexist way to talk about women, but not surprising for Trump. Lacking any substance of his own, he’s built his success on tearing his critics down with petty, superficial schoolyard bully tactics.

Remember how Melania declared the eradication of cyber bullying as the cause she’ll focus on as First Lady? How do we think that’s going?

Trump, of course, chooses to surround himself with people as callous as he is, who will defend his actions no matter what. Here’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders and White House social media director Dan Scavino, two adult humans designated to represent the views of the White House and by extension, America, had to say:

Everyone else, though, is just at a loss.

Even other Republicans are speaking out.

As for Brzezinski, her response might not be the most mature option, but we can’t fault her for it.

Okay, we’ll let you get back to your regular routine of calling your elected officials to make sure we don’t all lose our health insurance and basic human rights.

UPDATE: I can’t believe I didn’t think to check in on internet shade hero Pete Souza to see if he has a response. Because he does and, as you would expect, it is perfect.

Respect for women.

A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jun 29, 2017 at 9:53am PDT

(image: screengrab, MSNBC)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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