Trump’s Attack on Mika Brzezinski Comes at a Tense
Political Moment
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s Twitter outburst on Thursday
— a highly personal attack on MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski — reignited the
controversy over his crass comments about women that nearly immolated his
candidacy last year, and it imperiled his legislative agenda by drawing
condemnation from women he needs to enact it.
Mr. Trump described Ms. Brzezinski, the co-host of “Morning
Joe,” as “low I.Q. Crazy Mika” and claimed she was “bleeding badly from a
face-lift” during a social gathering at the president’s resort in Florida in
the weeks after last year’s election.
Mr. Trump’s invective threatened to further erode his
support from women and independents, both among voters and on Capitol Hill, where
he is in need of negotiating leverage for the stalled Senate health care bill.
“This has to stop,” Senator Susan Collins, a moderate
Republican from Maine who is a crucial vote on the legislation, posted in a Twitter
message. She added, “We don’t have to get along, but we must show respect
and civility.”
Ms. Collins is one of three female swing voters who
expressed their distaste for the “Access Hollywood” tape released during the
campaign showing Mr. Trump making lewd comments about women with whom he hoped
to have an affair.
Christine Matthews, a Republican pollster who specializes in
the views of female voters, said the president’s use of Twitter to target a
prominent woman was particularly striking, noting that he used only one
derogatory word — “psycho” — to describe the show’s co-host, Joe Scarborough,
and the remainder of his limited characters to hit upon damaging stereotypes of
women.
“He included dumb, crazy, old, unattractive and desperate,”
Ms. Matthews said.
“The continued tweeting, the fact that he is so outrageous,
so unpresidential, is becoming a huge problem for him,” she added. “And it is
particularly unhelpful in terms of building relationships with female
Republican members of Congress whose votes he needs for health care, tax
reform, and infrastructure.”
Republican leaders have adopted a strategy after such
comments of condemning Mr. Trump, then backing him politically. It was unclear
whether the vehemence of the latest attack would embolden members of his party
to turn disdain into defiance.
“The president’s tweets today don’t help our political or
national discourse and do not provide a positive role model for our national
dialogue,” said Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, a Republican.
“Please just stop,” Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican
who opposed Mr. Trump’s nomination, wrote on Twitter.
“This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office.”
Senior Republican leaders, including Senator Mitch McConnell
of Kentucky, the Senate majority leader, cycled through what has become a
familiar series of emotions and calculations after the Twitter post, according
to staff members: a flash of anger, reckoning of possible damage and finally a
determination to push past the controversy to pursue their agenda with all
deliberate speed.
“Obviously, I don’t see that as an appropriate comment,”
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said during a
Capitol Hill news conference.
Then he told reporters he wanted to talk about something
else.
Nancy Pelosi, the House
Democratic leader, demanded an apology, calling the president’s Twitter posts
“sexist, an assault on the freedom of the press and an insult to all women.”
Ms. Brzezinski, who has questioned Mr. Trump’s competence
and mental state, was stunned by the attack, telling a close friend that “I
really don’t need this.” Ms. Brzezinski’s father, Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, a
former national security adviser, died in May. Her mother, Emilie Benes
Brzezinski, has suffered two heart attacks since he died, according to the
friend.
The ties between Ms. Brzezinski, Mr. Scarborough, Mr. Trump
and his family are long and complicated. The president and Mr. Scarborough had
a friendly, bantering relationship until this year when it soured as Mr.
Scarborough started to regularly challenge Mr. Trump’s actions on air.
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