Trump’s Attack on Mika Brzezinski Draws Rebukes Across a Fractious Media
The message spoke to a growing sense among journalists
that they must unite against the anti-press barrage from Mr. Trump and his aides, particularly after a week where Ms. Sanders, at the White House lectern, encouraged Americans to watch an anti-CNN video, “whether it’s accurate or not.”
At her televised briefing Thursday, Ms. Sanders faced tough questions about the tweets from numerous outlets, including two journalists for Fox News, John Roberts
and Jon Decker, who posed some of the session’s more pointed queries.
Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe” and described a meeting with Ms. Brzezinski
in which, the president claimed, “she was bleeding badly from a face-lift.”
The coarseness of his remark — which echoed previous instances in which the president attacked prominent women, including the anchor Megyn Kelly
and the Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, about their physical appearance — drew rebukes even within the bulwarks of the Trump-friendly news media.
Privately, Ms. Brzezinski was stunned by the remarks, telling a close friend on Thursday morning: “I really don’t need this.” Her father, Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser, died in May,
and her mother, Emilie Benes Brzezinski, has suffered two heart attacks since he died, according to the friend, who requested anonymity to describe a private conversation.
Minutes before Mr. Trump’s tweets Thursday, Ms. Brzezinski derided the president as “lying every day and destroying the country.”
Mr. Trump has been particularly upset by the hosts’ questioning of his mental state, the official said, viewing it as a form of personal betrayal.
“Is — is that necessary?” asked the Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer, referring to the graphic nature of Mr. Trump’s comments,
as Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary, argued that Mr. Trump’s harsh words were justified.