US President Donald Trump launched a crude Twitter attack on the brains, looks and temperament of a female TV personality on Thursday, drawing strong criticism including from senior Republicans.

Mr Trump's tweets, aimed at co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe Mika Brzezinski revived concerns about his views of women in a climate where civility is already in short supply and he is struggling for any support he can get for his proposals on health care, immigration and other controversial issues.

The Republican President called Brzezinski — a journalist and daughter of former White House national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski — "low IQ Crazy Mika" and said she was "bleeding badly from a face-lift" when she visited one of his properties around New Year's Eve.

He referred to Brzezinski's co-host, former Republican US congressman Joe Scarborough, as "Psycho Joe".

Mr Trump has been critical of Scarborough and Brzezinski's show but Thursday's attack was especially harsh. ( Reuters: Jonathan Ernst )

Mr Trump is known for his prolific Twitter habit, which includes mocking attacks on critics and rivals, but his tweets on Thursday drew a particularly strong response.

"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's communications office said on Twitter.

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Republican lawmakers and others sharply rebuked Mr Trump.

The tweets "represent what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, while another Republican senator, Ben Sasse, called Mr Trump's remarks, "beneath the dignity of your office".

"I don't see that as an appropriate comment," Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said of Mr Trump's tweets.

The Morning Joe program aired live telephone interviews with Mr Trump during the 2016 presidential race, but its hosts have turned increasingly critical of him since he took office in January.

Sorry, this video has expired Morning Joe hosts criticise Donald Trump

On Thursday morning's show, Brzezinski excoriated the Trump administration and said its officials should not act "lobotomised" because they are so scared of the President.

Scarborough and Brzezinksi are engaged to be married. During the January meeting at Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the President offered to host their wedding and even officiate it, the two said in an interview in Vanity Fair published in May.

White House defends tweets

The White House said Mr Trump did not go too far in the tweets.

"I don't think that the President has ever been someone that gets attacked and doesn't push back," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News Channel.

"People on that show have personally attacked him many times," she added.

"This is a President who fights fire with fire and certainly will not be allowed to be bullied by liberal media and the liberal elites within the media, or Hollywood or anywhere else."

Sorry, this video has expired White House defends Trump's tweet

Mr Trump's press staff have also come under fire from journalists for "inflaming" tensions with the media.

White House correspondent for Playboy magazine Brian Karem interrupted a press briefing on Tuesday as Ms Sanders was criticising CNN and the media in general.

On Wednesday, Karem said he was "tired of being bullied" and "being blamed" for trying to do his job and said the Trump administration's attacks on journalists were dangerous and would result in a reporter being assaulted.

Sorry, this video has expired White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders rails against the media

Latest attack on media

The remarks were an escalation of Mr Trump's long-standing criticism — as a candidate and then as president — of the news media, which he once called an "enemy of the American people".

A wealthy businessman and former reality TV star with no previous experience in government, Mr Trump has been quick to respond to criticism of his presidency, lashing out at the media for its coverage of probes into potential collusion between his campaign team and Russia, and other matters.

He has sometimes singled out individual journalists, including a high-profile attack while he was running for office on former Fox News and current NBC journalist Megyn Kelly. That included a comment about "blood coming out of her wherever," which was widely interpreted as a reference to menstruation.

Mr Trump has been criticised in the past for his comments about women. His attack on Kelly came after she asked him during a presidential debate about his previous references to some women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals".

Mr Trump issued an apology last October, just before the election, after a 2005 video surfaced in which he said he could grab women by their genitals whenever he wanted because he was a star.

While he has been critical before of the Morning Joe hosts, Thursday's attack was especially harsh.

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Democrats condemned Mr Trump's tweets as an example of what they view as his sexism.

"Trump's bullying tweets are an attack on women everywhere," Democratic National Committee spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

The tweets created a new distraction as Republican senators tried to bridge differences within the party and agree on major healthcare legislation.

Reuters/AP