Dem calls on Trump to resign after attacking MSNBC host’s appearance

A Texas Democrat called Thursday for President Trump to resign over his vocal attacks on a female television news host.  

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said the president’s tweets targeting “Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski crossed the line of acceptable behavior and make Trump unfit to remain in office. 

“I would argue that our responsibility is not to him, but to the American people,” she said. “And he should resign.” 

{mosads}Appearing with dozens of Democrats gathered in the Capitol to denounce Trump’s remarks, Jackson Lee recalled several episodes during the 2016 campaign trail when Trump targeted women over physical traits, including attacks on then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly and Republican contender Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the GOP’s primary field. 

“Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” Trump said of Fiorina in 2015. 

“That was the candidate Trump. And now we’re facing the President Trump,” Jackson Lee said.

Trump is known for his frequent, often combative tweets, but Thursday’s attack on Brzezinski was remarkably personal, even for a president known to lash out at his critics.

”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,” Trump tweeted.  

“She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!”

The outcry was immediate, with members of both parties denouncing the president in varying degrees of critical language.  

“Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America,” tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Democrats were even more forceful. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) called Trump’s remarks “absolutely disgusting.” And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said they’re “blatantly sexist.”

But Jackson Lee’s call for Trump to resign took the criticisms a long step further. She framed the president’s tweets as a step backward in the long march toward equality for women.

“Do you realize how many women shudder in workplaces [in] which we fight for equality? In schools? In their homes with the issue of domestic violence, because they are not protected?” she said.

“And then our commander in chief seeks to take advantage of the position that he holds.”