Trump insults MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough on Twitter

U.S. President Donald Trump ridiculed the looks and temperament of a female cable television host whose show he says he has stopped watching days after commenting on the "nice smile" of an Irish reporter.

In a series of tweets Thursday morning, the president went after Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who have criticized the president on their MSNBC show Morning Joe.

"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 … 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!"

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

Brzezinski responded on Twitter by posting a photograph of a Cheerios box that has the phrase "made for little hands." That was a dig at Trump, who has long been sensitive about the size of his hands.

pic.twitter.com/8YhzcCUwM1

— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 29, 2017

"It's a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job," NBC News spokesperson Lorie Acio said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what set Trump off. About two hours before his tweets, Brzezinski said on the show that "it's not normal behaviour" for any leader to be tweeting about people's appearances or to be bullying, lying, undermining managers and throwing people under the bus.

She said that if any business executive behaved the way Trump does, "there would be concern that perhaps the person who runs the company is out of his mind."

Later Thursday morning, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News Trump is a president who "fights fire with fire" and will push back when attacked.

.@SHSanders45 on @Morning_Joe: "I've seen far worse things come out of that show." pic.twitter.com/G08wf67cGR

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 29, 2017