A pair of morning tweets by President Donald Trump, where he attacked the hosts of a morning cable television show in personal terms, saying one was “was bleeding badly from a face-lift,” drew public rebukes from a handful of GOP lawmakers in the Congress, as Speaker Paul Ryan said the President’s outburst did not help efforts to instill more civility in politics.
“Obviously, I don’t see that as an appropriate comment,” Speaker Ryan said in a response to a question from a reporter from Fox News.
“What we’re trying to do around here is improve the tone, the civility, of the debate; and this obviously doesn’t help do that,” the Speaker added.
Paul Ryan on Trump's tweets: Not appropriate pic.twitter.com/LuZoLjopyp
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 29, 2017
The social media dustup began this morning when comments on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program drew the ire of the President 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
“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.”,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Fox News this morning.
At first, most Republican lawmakers in Congress had little to say about the President’s tweets. But the response grew through the day.
The President’s tweets are beneath the dignity of his office. It needs to stop. #StopTheTwitterTantrums
— Mike Coffman (@RepMikeCoffman) June 29, 2017
Stop it! The Presidential platform should be used for more than bringing people down.
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) June 29, 2017
On the President's tweets this morning → pic.twitter.com/tJJqsV8KCb
— Sen. James Lankford (@SenatorLankford) June 29, 2017
Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 29, 2017
Susan Collins on Trump's tweets to @mitchellreports: "There is no need for such uncivil language." pic.twitter.com/LTbR3DGNG4
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 29, 2017
Please just stop. This isn't normal and it's beneath the dignity of your office.
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) June 29, 2017
MCCAIN on Trump's Tweets this morning: "It's hard to understand, and not presidential..."
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) June 29, 2017
Mr. Trump’s tweets came on a day when Republicans in the Congress wanted to focus on a pair of bills being voted on in the House, which would take federal dollars away from so-called ‘sanctuary cities,’ and toughen penalties on illegal immigrants who are deported and then come back to the United States.
MESSAGE DISCIPLINE! Today ALL comms coming out of WH shd be focused on #KatesLaw and #NoSanctuaryforCriminalsAct -- not cable TV hosts.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) June 29, 2017
Mr. Trump used his official @POTUS Twitter account to try to get back on message, tweeting three times in nine minutes about those House immigration bills.
But those immigration tweets were not sent out on the President’s personal Twitter platform.
WPXI