Washington: A duo of American television hosts hit back Friday after a deeply personal attack by US President Donald Trump, questioning his "unmoored behavior" and fitness to serve in an escalating public feud.
Trump's coarse outburst against journalist Mika Brzezinski - the latest salvo in his ongoing war with the media - sparked a major backlash, as well as stern condemnation from within his own Republican party.
In a feisty response, Brzezinski and her fiance and co-host Joe Scarborough, who headline the "Morning Joe" program on the left-leaning MSNBC cable network, penned a Washington Post opinion piece titled "Donald Trump is not well."
"Our concerns about his unmoored behavior go far beyond the personal," they wrote, saying they were "neither shocked nor insulted" by Trump's attack.
"America's leaders and allies are asking themselves yet again whether this man is fit to be president. We have our doubts, but we are both certain that the man is not mentally equipped to continue watching our show, 'Morning Joe,'" they said.
Apparently stung by sharply critical coverage on the show, Trump had fired off two tweets Thursday, saying: "I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore).
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
"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!"
In the Post, the co-hosts described his tweets as "a flurry of falsehoods" and "laughable," saying they went to the Florida resort at Trump's invitation, and chatted pleasantly with the former real estate tycoon and his wife Melania.
They also rejected Trump's graphic description of the 50-year-old Brzezinski, while disclosing that she "did have a little skin under her chin tweaked, but this was hardly a state secret."
Brzezinski and Scarborough went on to accuse Trump of an "unrelenting assault on women," including a notorious attack on former Fox reporter Megyn Kelly, who he described as having "blood coming out of her wherever" after she challenged him in a campaign debate.
Trump has been caught on tape boasting about groping women, and using disparaging terms such as "slob," "fat pig" and "dog" to describe others.
