WASHINGTON—Over his four decades as a celebrity businessman, Donald Trump called various prominent women ugly, stupid, crazy, and desperate for his affection.

On Thursday, as president of the United States, he called one woman all four.

“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!” he wrote on Twitter.

In a coarse Twitter broadside so obviously inappropriate that it prompted condemnation even on Fox News, Trump tossed a series of sexist insults at MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski, who had just mocked him on Morning Joe.

“This has to stop,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who urged Trump to quit Twitter. “Stop it! The presidential platform should be used for more than bringing people down,” said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The remarks were jaw-dropping even given Trump’s history of casual misogyny. He was criticized by a wide range of Republicans, drawing a mild rebuke from chief television cheerleader Sean Hannity and dismay from Republican female senators he is trying to persuade to support his health-care legislation.

Trump refused to relent in the slightest. At a combative White House media briefing, deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said voters “knew what they were getting”: a “tough” leader who will “fight fire with fire” in challenging media elites who unfairly attack him.

First lady Melania Trump, who once said she intended to launch an initiative to combat online bullying, issued a declaration of support for her husband.

“As the First Lady has stated publicly in the past, when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder,” said Melania Trump spokesperson Stephanie Grisham.

It was unclear what prompted Trump’s rage. But during Thursday’s Morning Joe, Brzezinski mocked the size of his hands — a subject about which he is thought to be sensitive — while mocking the fake Time magazine covers of Trump that the Washington Post discovered hanging in his golf clubs.

Brzezinski’s only response to Trump’s insults was a tweeted image of a Cheerios cereal box that featured the phrase “Made for little hands.”

“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,” MSNBC said in a statement. MSNBC public relations chief, Mark Kornblau, ‏ wrote on Twitter: “Never imagined a day when I would think to myself, ‘It is beneath my dignity to respond to the President of the United States.’”

Trump’s poor approval rating, around 40 per cent, is mired in the dreadful 30s among women. While millions of voters admire his willingness to take on powerful media entities, polls and interviews suggest a large number of his supporters take issue with his impulsive use of Twitter.

In a Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday, 61 per cent of voters said they think Trump should stop tweeting from his personal account. Forty-nine per cent of Republicans agreed, 43 per cent disagreed.

Trump’s own aides have attempted to persuade him to give up Twitter. As a vehicle for his unfiltered thoughts, the platform has helped him cultivate a reputation for authenticity. But because some of those thoughts are angry, offensive and inaccurate, it has landed him in repeated trouble.

Trump’s fury turned attention to his sexism on what could have been a day spent boasting. His administration implemented part of his long-delayed ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries, and House Republicans passed a bill that would crack down on “sanctuary cities.”

This is at the least the second time a Trump has disparagingly suggested a female television host was bleeding. During the Republican primary, he claimed that debate moderator Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

Trump was accused of sexual assault by more than 10 women during the campaign. His claim that Brzezinski was too unattractive to spend time around calls to mind his response to those accusations: he suggested that his accusers were too unattractive to want to assault.

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He previously mocked the appearance of a number of female public figures, from Republican candidate Carly Fiorina to comedian Rosie O’Donnell.

And he was accused of sexist behaviour just Tuesday, when he summoned an Irish reporter to his desk and remarked on her “nice smile.”

Trump has a complicated recent history with Brzezinski and her co-host, Joe Scarborough, to whom she is engaged.

They offered him a frequent platform during the primary, letting him call in for friendly chats, and Scarborough has said that Trump offered to officiate their wedding. But they have since become sharply critical of his policies and behaviour, with Brzezinski saying in March that he is “possibly unfit mentally.”

Brzezinski and Scarborough were indeed spotted at the New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s Florida club, claiming they were seeking an interview. But Trump offered no evidence for his claims about Brzezinski’s appearance; CNN host Brian Stelter posted a photo of her looking as she usually does.

Trump has frequently claimed not to be watching television shows, particularly on CNN, that he made obvious he was indeed watching. He went after Brzezinski during the last 10 minutes of Morning Joe — which, contrary to his claim, is posting strong ratings.

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