Independents 2027488002 and republicans 2027488001. Well get to your thoughts in a minute but the morning joe cohosts writing in the Washington Post with the headline donald trump is not well is what the two of them have to say. They begin their piece with this, President Trump launched personal attacks against us thursday but are concerns about his behavior go far beyond the personal. Americas leaders and allies are asking themselves yet again whether this man is fit to be president. We have our doubts but we are certain the man is not mentally equipped to watch our show morning joe. They end it this way, we have known mr. Trump for more than a decade and have many fond memories of our friendship together but hasnt stopped us from worrying about his fitness and abhorrent behavior. During the height of the president ial campaign joe often listened to trump Staff Members complain about their boss erratic behavior including a Campaign Official who was as close to the candidate as anyone. We, too have noticed a change in his behavior the past few years and perhaps why we were neither knocked nor insulted by the president s terrible apack. The donald trump we knew before the campaign was a flawed character but one who still seemed capable of keeping his worst instincts in check. Lawmakers on capitol hill were asked about the president s tweets yesterday. Some of them reacting and saying hes unfit for office. This is a headline from the hill newspaper with senator hatch, republican of utah, saying every once in a while, about the president s tweets, you get a dipsydoodle. Then the reaction on twitter from the republican from alaska, stop it, the president ial platform should be used for more than bringing people down. Lindsey graham of south carolina. Mr. President , your tweet was beneath the office and represents whats wrong with the american politics, not the greatness of america. And ben, please just stop. It isnt normal and beneath the dignity of your office. And lynn jenkins, this is not ok. As a female in politics im often criticized for my looks. We should be working to empowerer women. And Susanne Collins of maine, this has to stop, we all have a job, three branches of the government and media, we dont have to get along but show civility. We must work to build better politics free of attacks and vitriol and leaders must set the example. Adam kin singer, mr. President , its incumbent upon all of us to tone down this Divisive Political rhetoric. We turn to you to ask, do you think these tweets are beneath the dignity of the office as some of those lawmakers have suggested . The spokesperson for the white house yesterday Sarah Sanders was asked about this at the Daily White House briefing. This is the response she gave to the question of whether or not the president should be making this kind of commentary on twitter [ [video can clip] i dont think so. I think the president has been attacked mercifully by viewers on that program and i think when he gets attacked hell hit back. The American People elected somebody who is tough, who is smart and who is a fighter and thats donald trump. I dont think its a surprise to anybody that he fights fire with fire. The things that this show has called him and not just him but numerous members of his staff including myself and many others are very deeply personal. So to then turn and pretend like this approach is i guess its like were living in the twilight zone, they do day after day after day and then the president responds and defends himself and everybody is appalled and blown away. Frankly if this had happened in the previous administration, the type of attacks launched on this program, the things they say utterly stupid, personality disorder, mentally ill, constant personal attacks, calling multiple members liars, liars to their faces while theyre sitting on their programs. The rest of the media would have said guys, no way, hold on but nobody does that. But the president is not going to step back, he showed that. If i could follow on that, sarah. A couple of the criticisms from supporters of the president have been this particular tweet was beneath the dignity of the office. Where does the president draw that line on the dignity of the office . Sarah look, i think that he shows that every day in the decisions that hes making, the focus and priorities hes laid out in his agenda but hes not going to sit back and be attacked by the liberal media and hollywood elites. And when they hit him hes going to hit back. Host from flushing new york, independent, what do you think . Caller good morning to you. For me and for most of us who supported donald trump, this is not so surprising. We havent heard much words than this one. The question for me, if youre asking me in new york city what most of us are thinking, were thinking of our fallen infrastructure. Thats the issue for most of us stuck in the train station. Such very minor thing for people. It doesnt give sense at all. There was a huge debate about the health care and about immigration. The media broke these things and yesterday the whole news was about donald trump attacking a woman. So what is the purpose of this thing . I dont understand. We cannot change the character of the presidency by giving him a lesson, you should not behave like that. We voted for him. We know we get this package. So for me this is just nonsense. We better concentrate on the interests of the American People. Host do you feel the president is focusing on the american interests . Caller well, the president is not leading but the senators are doing their part. The congress has did their part. And those people that are working in the congress are doing their part. But the media wants to pick what to concentrate. The media wants us to concentrate on the behavior of the president. Thats why we spend yesterday, the whole day, other than the reporting on issues on immigration or health care, nobody talks about that. The president s character. We didnt vote for a man who has a perfect character. We know its a flawed character. Thats not the issue. The issue is will this man deliver on his promise and thats why donald trump has to be journaled not about his character but the media was to tap in on these things. Im afraid if such behavior crosses a line and attack foreign leaders, be it a woman or man, it would be a very big embarrassment for the country. Host what do you say then to the president . Because and to those who say if he had not sent out that tweet the media would not be reporting on it. What do you say to the president about tweeting . Caller mr. President , maybe he ould really have time to select. I dont agree with the idea he should not tweet. He should communicate with the people directly. But how could i tell him, for example just like a father and his son. Hes an old man, a godfather, hes a family man, respected by his family. So the familys are closest to him. If the families are not embarrassed on his behavior, why should we be embarrassed by him. The most important thing is should not msnbc attack him on his mental ability or status and nobody says anything about those guys. They are immune 24 7. Host ok. Ill leave it there. The New York Times frames it this way on their front page, the tweets ended five months of relative silence from the president on the volatile subject of gender, reintroducing a political vulnerability. His history of demeaning women for their age, appearance and mental capacity. Bianca in chicago, a democrat, your turn, bianca. Go ahead. Caller im in between democrat and republican, im a registered democrat but no longer. Im a trump supporter. All the way. And i just want to say i live in chicago which is a state of illinois run by democrats. Theyve ruined the state of illinois. Everybodys trying to get out of illinois, trust me. And its because of democrats. And i despise democrats. Its not so much that i love trump but i think he says exactly what needs to be said. I am so fed up with the media, which is all over trump, the republicans all over trump. They cant get over the fact that Hillary Clinton lost and she lost big. 2020, hes what, going to win again because he has mobilized so many people. You have no idea how many black people in illinois in chicago are rooting for trusm. Its not because they love trump so much, they despise the media, they despise the democrats. Were going to have a civil war going on any time. Its going to happen. This is so demoralizing for all of us. The way that the country has turned on itself. Host what about the president s rhetoric . Caller we dont care about the president s rhetoric. Look what theyre doing to him. Msnbc, joe on the whatever his name is and his sidekick mika. Theyre nothing but buffoons, big buffoons. They dont even deserve to be on tv. Why are we talking about them . Theyre nothing. Host do you watch the show, bianca . Caller i used to watch it a lot. I never watch it anymore, never, ever. I dont know anybody who watches it. Host bianca in chicago. Joe scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are slated to address the president s comments on their program. They were to do that at the top of this hour at 7 00 a. M. Eastern time. Well bring you what they have to say here in just a minute. The caller brought up chicago and illinois. Just want to share this quick story, illinois is approaching its third year without a budget. I dont know if this is what she was referring to. Road construction and bridge repairs may come to a halt. One agency may downgrade their ability to junk and perhaps the most visible and immediate sign on the pressure of illinois leaders to solve their budget standoff at long last, the multistate lotteries, Mega Millions and powerball are to be suspended. The president this morning also tweeting about chicago and the killing reached so high im sending in help. 1,714 shootings in chicago this year. I am asking to you let washington know what you think about the president s speech yesterday, how he reacted to the morning joe host, earnl right before the tweets. What was being discussed on the show is the face time his magazine covers. The president has at his properties. He sends out these tweets as you all know, youve seen them, washington reacts. The morning joe hosts have an opinion piece in the Washington Post and heres what they said moments ago on their program. You know what, its been fascinating and frightening and really sad for our country. [video clip] ive been getting a lot of terkts and hearing you talk thank you. Im fine. My family brought me up really tough. This is absolutely nothing. But for me personally, i am very concerned as to what this once again reveals about the president of the United States. Its strange. Yeah, i think so. We had so many people saying, we hope youre ok, we hope youre ok. Had calls and texts and emails. Were ok. The countrys not. Its so funny yesterday, i actually asked mika, it was 8 45 and i wanted to shock you and i said im really tired, can you do the last 15 minutes of the show . And everybody came in and ran and showed me the tweets before she came down the stairs and i looked at them and i was like, this has to be a joke. The president of the United States, as bad as hes been in the past he hasnt really gone over the cliff. Unfortunately weve learned what weve always learned and that is he for some reason takes things so much more personally with women. Hes so much more vicious with women. Host what do you all think this morning, is the president s reaction beneath the dignity of the office, the commentary he put on twitter . From indianapolis, your turn, a democrat. Caller unlike the other two nut jobs that called before me, this president needs to grow up. Hes very immature and he knew what he was doing when he got in this office. He doesnt even sound like a good businessman. You have president s in north korea, i can understand his behavior because hes a kid or the president of france in his 30s. This 70 something old man needs to step down or grow up. Thats all i got to say. Host terry in alabama, a republican. Good morning. Caller good morning. That guy right there that just called, thats why we voted for donald trump. Donald, we got your back. I want to tell you that right now. Him listen to the hate thats come out of the media. I remember Hillary Clinton in one of the primary debates when she was asked who her number one adversary in the world was. Or snt russia, isis, but al qaeda. But this is about a woman, and you hear it on the Program Every day from democrats that were part of the plan, that we hate black people, that we want we have a war on women. We want to expel all mexicans, muslims and kill all gays because were only for the rich and to the woman from michigan the other day that called in and was offended because shes a democrat. And we called her an elitist. You are an elitist. You are the bigoted ones, looking down your noses at all. He democrats host hang on the line. I want your reaction to the speaker of the house who held his Weekly Briefing yesterday and he was asked about the comments of the president. Let me show you and get your reaction. Obviously i dont see it as an appropriate comment. What were tying to do is improve the tone and civility of the debate and this doesnt help do take. Reporter how do you get past that, you said strong things on the campaign trail. Look what were doing today, re making up on our promises. Yesterday we did military reform and were going to walk and chew gum at the same time and what our constituents care about, are we solving their problems . Are we doing what we said wed do when we campaigned and asked for this opportunity to serve . The answer is yes, we did medical Liability Reform yesterday and were doing two important promises on immigration today. Thats what we do. We go to bad and consult on peeps problems. Host so the speaker of the house says this does not help with the tone and the civility in washington. Whats your reaction to that . Caller the tone and civility come out of cnn or msnbc every single day on how we want to kill people or Bernie Sanders standing on the floor asking my policy going to kill somebody . Or Elizabeth Warren saying how i think that health care should be because we want to take the waste out of it . That i want to kill somebody . It looks to me because when we try to do reform with money, each state in washington screams their head off because theyre getting their cookie jar being took away from them and theres Something Else about the media. You never, ever, ever hear how that town behind you spend our money. The i. R. S. Wants to know down to the penny what we make but we cannot ask how that town spend our money. 729 bridges we paid to have fixed and a democrat came and sat in front of you, ms. Edwards, saying the republicans aint got the money to fix the bridges. Blame the republicans, theyre the evil ones. Thats why donald trump is president. Have a good day. Host in canton, north carolina. Cameron, waldorf, maryland, independent caller. Caller good morning, gretchen. With all due respect over the last year the media has attacked mr. Trump, his family, his kids. Theyve held his head up chopped off, they have a play killing him onstage. For the media to sit back and act shock the way theyve gone after this man which you have to admit nobody has been attacked like this man has. His family has been attacked. And what is a man if he is not to defend himself and his family to sit back and act as the media is holier than thou. Were talking about two people, Joe Scarborough who left his wife and children for a home wrecker, Mika Brzezinski. They blame to be the arbiters of what is right and holy in it country when theyre absolutely the scourge of the earth. Theyve called this guy everything they can call him. He is dead right, god bless trump like the man said. I got your back any time you need me down there, you just holler and ill be there and bring a bunch of these boys down here from Southern Maryland and well come on down there and well have some fun. But the media host so violence, robert . Caller nobody is talking about violence. Youre the guys talking about people killing, ms. Gretchen. Who is talking about the killing and the shooting . Who is doing the shooting . You want to bring up the violence . Who shot who . Thats violence. Thats the violence. You guys are talking about the violence. Host let me ask you this. Caller why is it not fair for someone to defend themselves against you guys . You guys attack, attack, attack. Youre the guys using the guns. But you cry like little babies. Host well leave it there. Back to Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarboroughs piece today in the Washington Post. They go on to write this, that mr. Trump claims we asked to join him at maralago three nights in a row, that is false. He also claimed he refused to see us, thats laughable. The president elect invited both of us to a dinner and joe attended because mika didnt want to go. After listening to him talk about his policy plans he was asked by the disappointed trump the next day if mika could visit maralago that night. She reluctantly agreed to go. After we arrived he pulled us in his living quarters with his wife melania where we had a conversation and declined his invitation to attend a new Years Eve Party and he said he was bleeding from a facelift, thats a lie. Putting away a an obsession with womens blood, mika was perfectly intact as pictures reveal. The president s attack against another womans looks compel us to report mika never had a facelift. If she had it would be evident to anyone watching morning joe on their High Definition tv. She did have a little skin under her chin tweaked but this was hardly a state secret. Her mother suggested she do so and all those around her were aware of this mundane fact. Joe scarborough and Mika Brzezinski writing those words in todays Washington Post. Karen, republican in crystal riv