Donald Trump took a lot of criticism on Thursday thanks to his tweets attacking MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski for her “bloody face,” earning the scorn of both supporters and critics alike. Most of congress seemed to be a bit confused by the president’s decision to tweet such things, but they really shouldn’t be too surprised at this point — as shown by Stephen Colbert earlier in the night.
That said, Trump did have his fair share of defenders for his words, including his wife and Sarah Huckabee Sanders who both referred to it as the president “punching back” against attacks from the outside. It was a messy day all around, but the president can add another defender to his corner thanks to Jeffrey Lord over at CNN. Lord has been a staunch backer for the president and a mouthpiece for many talking points during his many appearances on CNN, with this latest dust up providing another chance for the former member of the Reagan administration.
Lord does think that the president shouldn’t have sent the tweets in the first place, but he soon moves on to point out that they aren’t “misogynistic or sexist” and the playing field is even in his mind. This prompts a stiff response from the panel, beginning with Kirsten Powers:
“You’re the one who just said it was not misogyny,” Powers confronted Lord. “What is it?”
“I believe in the equality of the sexes,” Lord responded. He added that if you are a TV talk show host, you should expect this from the president if you insult him on the air.
Then New Yorker correspondent Ryan Lizza jumped in, taking Lord’s comments to task with a look at some of the president’s past comments in comparison. This is where we hear the list of names that Trump has ridiculed in the past, including Heidi Cruz and Rosie O’Donnell, noting that he seems to typically single out looks when it comes to women. Lord counters by pointing out the president’s Little Marco comments during the campaign and then brings up Bill Clinton’s rape accusations as a way to wipe the slate clean in his eyes.
Finally Anderson Cooper gets Lord to see why this has caused such an uproar by asking how any child could possibly look up to the president now, following these tweets and the other instances where Trump has courted controversy in the past. Lord finally sees the point and relents it seems, but not after things ended up getting pretty testy. He didn’t fare much better online, with many pointing out that Lord will seemingly defend the president for anything:
https://twitter.com/Travon/status/88061054917590220
Anderson Cooper should have never apologized 4 saying that Jeffrey Lord would defend Trump if he dropped a deuce on his desk
100% accurate
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) June 30, 2017