'Morning Joe' hosts Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough respond: 'Donald Trump is not well'

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Mika and Joe respond to Trump's tweet: 'Donald Trump is not well' The "Morning Joe" hosts have responded to President Trump's tweets, saying he's "not well" in an op-ed and on their morning show.

In both an op-ed and on their show, the hosts of Morning Joe on Friday questioned the mental and emotional fitness of President Trump following Thursday's Twitter attacks.

The title of the op-ed published in The Washington Post may say it all: "Donald Trump is not well."

In the piece, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough addressed what they called the president's "unhealthy obsession" with their show. According to the pair, the president's closest advisers said he continues to watch the show on MSNBC, though he claims the opposite.

"That is unfortunate," they wrote. "We believe it would be better for America and the rest of the world if he would keep his 60-inch-plus flat-screen TV tuned to Fox and Friends."

On their show, Scarborough said that he was concerned about the very personal attacks on Brzezinski. He noted that he will insult the president and call him a racist.

"And for some reason, he always goes after Mika," he said.

Trump's twitter attack on 'Morning Joe' hosts Although his Twitter rant drew sharp criticism from fellow Republicans, Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the president's tweets by saying, "This is a president who fights fire with fire.”

The response from Brzezinski and Scarborough came nearly a day after Trump attacked them both, resulting in backlash from many in the political world, including members of Trump's own party.

"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.

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.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

...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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

They called out the president for his insult about Brzezinski, saying that she has never had a facelift.

"Putting aside Mr. Trump’s never-ending obsession with women’s blood, Mika and her face were perfectly intact, as pictures from that night reveal," they wrote. "And though it is no one’s business, the president’s petulant personal attack against yet another woman’s looks compels us to report that Mika has never had a face-lift."

On Morning Joe, Brzezinski said she believed his attacks came as a response to her making fun of Trump for having fake Time magazine covers in his clubs.

She assured viewers that she was fine, noting that family issues such as the death of her father and the health of her mother were of more importance to her than the president's tweets.

That said, she wondered about what Trump's behavior meant for his dealings with foreign and domestic policy.

"It is unbelievably alarming that this president is so easily played by cable news hosts," she said.

In the Post op-ed, they also echoed criticism about how the president's tweets were misogynistic.

"More significant is Mr. Trump’s continued mistreatment of women. It is disturbing that the president of the United States keeps up his unrelenting assault on women," they wrote. "From his menstruation musings about Megyn Kelly, to his fat-shaming treatment of a former Miss Universe, to his braggadocio claims about grabbing women’s genitalia, the 45th president is setting the poorest of standards for our children."

Scarborough elaborated during Morning Joe: "He attacks women because he fears women."

He described a call with an unnamed member of Congress, during which the congressman told him about how, when GOP members arrived at the White House following the passage of the House health care bill this year, the president went on a tirade about Morning Joe.

When speaking about Brzezinski, the president "turned vicious" and mentioned blood coming out of her ears and eyes, Scarborough said.

Additionally, they disputed the president's claims that they had spent three days at Mar-a-Lago in December. In the op-ed, they said Scarborough attended a dinner on Dec. 30, and Brzezinski visited the next day after a request from Trump.

Scarborough and Brzezinski also said in their op-ed that White House staffers warned them that the National Enquirer would publish a negative story about them unless they apologized for their coverage of the president.

"We ignored their desperate pleas," they wrote.

After the show on Friday, Trump seemed to confirm that he indeed knew about a National Enquirer story tied to the Morning Joe hosts.

Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

Scarborough responded:

Yet another lie. I have texts from your top aides and phone records. Also, those records show I haven't spoken with you in many months. https://t.co/TZWiElo6Gs — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 30, 2017

Why do you keep lying about things that are so easily disproven? What is wrong with you? https://t.co/aAoUj5HYZS — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 30, 2017

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