- The Washington Times - Friday, June 1, 2018

NBC’S Chuck Todd says President Trump is culpable for the “tone” attached to a recent attack on the first daughter by comedian Samantha Bee.

The “Meet the Press” host told colleagues Thursday night that Ivanka Trump can partially thank her father for a personal attack in which she was called a “feckless c—t.” The analysis came during a broadcast of MSNBC’s “Meet the Press Daily” after Ms. Bee of the TBS’ “Full Frontal” apologized for her actions.

“There’s no defending Samantha Bee and yet it’s hard to ever empathize with President Trump when they’re asking, you know, for empathy since he torches people all the time too,” Mr. Todd said.

“But at the end of the day, I mean, you know, it’s like — how is it that the president is not responsible for this tone? You know, you can’t help and say it starts at the top,” Mr. Todd added, the conservative media watchdog NewsBusters reported. “He regularly berates and mocks the looks of any of us. I’ve been one. And so when he expresses, I can’t believe they said that about me, it’s hard to feel sorry for him.”

NewsBusters noted that Mr. Todd has been deemed “Sleepy Todd” by the commander in chief in response to his coverage.

“When will Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd and @NBCNews start talking about the Obama SURVEILLANCE SCANDAL and stop with the Fake Trump/Russia story?” the president tweeted April 1, 2017, for instance.


SEE ALSO: Kathy Griffin: ‘Spineless’ TBS forced Samantha Bee to apologize for attack on Ivanka Trump


Mr. Trump has used the moniker going back to at least 2011.

“’Sleepy’ Chuck Todd of NBC falls far short of the late great Tim Russert,” Mr. Trump also tweeted on Sept., 28, 2011.

“Apparently only Donald Trump is allowed to cross a line,” Mr. Todd added. “It is interesting to me. Everybody else in our society has been punished for things Donald Trump doesn’t get punished for; Roseanne Barr, he has said statements that many people have found racist, he hasn’t paid a price. Roseanne Barr has paid a price.”

“He’s used vile, awful, ugly language, he didn’t pay a price. Samantha Bee is paying a price. Everybody else pays a price for the same behavior, not him,” the host added.

Ms. Bee released a statement on Thursday calling her remarks “inappropriate and inexcusable.”

“I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it,” she said.

• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.

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