It was a week where President Trump was pushing healthcare, energy and immigration proposals while preparing for his second foreign trip. But it ended with some tweets — attacks on Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski — dominating the conversation again and overshadowing the White House’s policy agenda.
That Trump himself had stepped on his own message again was on display as he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in wrapped up an appearance together in the Rose Garden on Friday.
“Will you apologize to Mika Brzezinski?” one White House reporter shouted. Another reported yelled a question to Trump about whether he ever tried to blackmail the MSNBC hosts, referring to an allegation Scarborough had made. The president didn’t respond to either.
It began with a pair of tweets on Thursday morning, when Trump seemingly responded to criticism from Scarborough and Brzezinski by referring to “low I.Q. Crazy Mika” and “Psycho Joe.” He then claimed Brzezinski was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” on New Year’s Eve.
The tweet was condemned by members of his own party, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. And yet on Friday morning, ahead of meetings with the South Korean president where they discussed the threat from North Korea, Trump was back at dumping on the hosts.
“Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time,” Trump tweeted Friday. “FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show.”
Laura Ingraham, the radio host whose name has been floated for White House press secretary, pleaded with the president to stop talking about Scarborough and Brzezinski.
“NO ONE cares about @MSNBC or their obsession with insulting @POTUS,” Ingraham said. “Stop helping their ratings & jacking up their speaking fees.”
On Thursday, as the Scarborough and Brzezinski tweet dominated the airwaves, Ingraham was tweeting that Trump should only be talking in public about the two pieces of anti-illegal immigration legislation passed by the House. Earlier in the week, the White House had attempted to highlight the legislation by holding a roundtable with victims of crimes by illegal immigrants.
“MESSAGE DISCIPLINE! Today ALL comms coming out of WH shd be focused on #KatesLaw and #NoSanctuaryforCriminalsAct — not cable TV hosts,” Ingraham tweeted.
The week was dubbed “energy week” by the White House. Energy Secretary Rick Perry dropped by the White House press briefing room to talk to reporters on the administration’s energy policies. Trump used a speech at the Department of Energy headquarters on Thursday to highlight his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords.
After Senate Republicans delayed plans to vote on healthcare legislation this week after not securing enough votes to pass the bill, Trump hosted Republican lawmakers for a meeting at the White House to discuss future plans.
The White House also spent the week preparing for Trump’s second foreign trip as president. He will leave on Wednesday after the Fourth of July weekend and travel to Warsaw, Poland to meet with leaders and deliver a speech and then travel to Hamburg, Germany for the Group of 20 summit.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his Thursday show that the “real tragedy” of Trump’s tweets is that they are “a diversion” of the agenda he was elected to carry out.
“They were stupid and they were counterproductive,” Carlson said of the tweets. “They achieved no policy objective. They elevated a televised sideshow to a cultural icon status. They brought joy to the left while embarrassing the president’s supporters.”
Carlson seemed to make his case directly to the president during his show. “In case he’s watching tonight, here’s a quick recap of what the campaign was about,” he said. “Secure the border. Take America out of pointless wars. Replace Obamacare with a system that expands affordable coverage for the middle class. Bring jobs to the heartland. Push back against the vultures on Wall Street.”
