The media feud between MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and President Trump took a bizarre turn Friday when guest Donny Deutsch requested a “schoolyard” fight.
Mr. Trump’s annoyance with show hosts Mika Brzezinski and fiancé Joe Scarborough’s White House coverage captured national headlines Thursday when he mocked the former for allegedly having a face-lift prior to a stay in Mar-a-Lago — one of several insults Mr. Deutsch said required physical combat.
“If somebody said this to my daughter — once again I’m going to elevate the conversation — Donald, if you’re watching, we’re from Queens,” he said. “I’ll meet you in the schoolyard, brother. You need to be schooled.”
Both Ms. Brzezinski and Mr. Scarborough winced at the suggestion.
“No, I’m serious,” Deutsch said. “This is where this needs to [go]. He’s a coward! A coward!”
Mr. Scarborough countered that he wanted to take the rhetoric “out of the schoolyard.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Thursday that Mr. Trump uses social media to “push back” against sharp and hyperbolic attacks on his administration.
“The American people elected a fighter, they didn’t elect somebody to sit back and do nothing,” she said.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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