MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” recorded its highest ratings of the year as hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski used Friday morning’s show to respond to President Donald Trump’s tweets, the Associated Press reports.
The couple put off their planned vacation to respond to Trump’s tweet that Brzezinski had been “bleeding badly from a facelift” years ago at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Trump’s tweets at Brzezinski were widely condemned by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, arguing that they were beneath the dignity of the office of president.
“Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office,” Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, “and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.”
Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse also weighed in, tweeting “Please just stop. This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office.”
Scarborough and Brzezinski responded to Trump’s attack on the show and in a joint statement.
“The president’s unhealthy obsession with our show has been in the public record for months, and we are seldom surprised by his posting nasty tweets about us,” Scarborough and Brzezinski wrote, adding that they “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 & Friends.'”
Scarborough later added, “He just ends up hurting himself.”
The show’s previous viewership record occurred the day after Trump’s election and topped 1.6 million viewers Friday. “Fox & Friends,” the show’s biggest competitor in its time slot, remains a favorite of President Trump, though the president admitted to watching the program Friday.