Trump vs. Mika: White House Defends President's Tweet

President Trump's Twitter attack on MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski Thursday morning continues to resonate. In his slam, Trump described the Morning Joe co-host as "bleeding from a face-lift" on a visit to Mar-a-Lago, and critics have since been calling it a sexist low blow. But the White House didn't relent: "I don't think that the president's ever been someone who gets attacked and doesn't push back," said deputy press chief Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Fox News. She said Trump has been the target of an "outrageous number of personal attacks," and he's responding in kind, per Mediaite. "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 or anywhere else." Elsewhere:

• Criticism from GOP: "I don't see that as an appropriate comment," said Paul Ryan, per Politico. "This is not okay," tweeted Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas. "Beneath the office," wrote Sen. Lindsey Graham, a line echoed by Sen. Ben Sasse.
• Why the trolling? The right-wing site Twitchy notes that when Republicans such as Sasse call out Trump, they get trolled, instead of supported, from the left. It has examples.
• First lady defends: A spokeswoman for Melania Trump defended the president. "When her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder," she said, per CNN's Jeff Zeleny. People can't resist pointing out that Melania once vowed to fight social media bullying.
• Background: The Washington Post traces the long, up-and-down relationship between the Morning Joe hosts and Trump. It used to be quite cozy.
• From Democrats: "Monstrous," tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy. "An attack on women everywhere," says the Democratic National Committee, per the Hill.
• Breitbart: Its coverage says Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough had "sneered mockingly" at Trump prior to the presidential tweet. (Brzezinski had suggested he was "out of his mind," per Raw Story.)
• Network: "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," says an MSNBC statement. Mark Kornblau, a communications VP for NBC Universal, wrote: "Never imagined a day when I would think to myself, 'it is beneath my dignity to respond to the President of the United States.'"
• Hannity: Fox News host Sean Hannity, one of Trump's strongest supporters, didn't retreat: "Maybe liberal Joe should stop calling the @POTUS a schmuck, a liar, a thug and mentally unhinged. Were they kissing @POTUS ass at xmas? Yes."

(More President Trump stories.)