President Donald Trump leaped out of bed and into a wild Truth Social posting spree, targeting critics ranging from Iranian leaders to morning TV hosts who dared to criticize him.
Joe Scarborough of MS Now’s Morning Joe was one of the targets after he and his panel discussed the president’s reportedly terse reaction to a New York Times Magazine piece on the Epstein files, serialized from an upcoming book: Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.
Scarborough and the panel merely appeared to give the book a light plug, talking up the credentials of the authors, The Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, on Wednesday morning. However, that was enough to rattle the president.
“Joe Scarborough’s ever shrinking, low rated show, one of the most inaccurate detailers of truthful facts on television, is being crushed in the ratings,” he raged on Truth Social at 6:55 a.m.—less than an hour after the segment aired.
He continued, with a typo: “His serious case on Trump Derangement Syndrome, often referred to as TDS, has made him a laughing stock among those who know what is going on in the ‘Wonderful World of Television.’ His show is being cut because his ratings are TERRIBLE, and Mike and Willie, who wants to be his father but doesn’t have the talent, are falling further and further into the TDS Swamp! They all suffer from Low Ratings Disease!!!”
Later, the hosts reacted to Trump’s post. “Did this just happen? Did Donald just write us?” Joe asked. Reading out Trump’s message, Joe snarkily said, “It’s so sad. I don’t, I don’t know what I’m going to do, Mr. President.”
On the president’s assertion that he has “Trump derangement syndrome,“ the host added, ”No, I don’t really have that. I tell people that we actually talk on the phone, and sometimes I go talk to you in the White House, and we disagree on things, but nothing deranged here, sir. Unless you’re deranged, if there’s any derangement, it would have to be on your side of the relationship, because I’m not deranged, not about you; I just state the facts, and maybe that makes you deranged.”
He added: “It hurts me that I’m being laughed at. Oh, what am I going to do? I don’t think I’m the one who’s being laughed at, sir.”
He then thanked the president for “chiming in.”
“As always, we appreciate you watching the show, and as always, pray for your health, as I tell you, and pray for your well-being. And I am going to continue to double down, praying for you.”
During the previous discussion, co-host Willie Geist said that the Times piece suggested that it was “clear that Donald Trump did not want the files released.”
Millions of pages of files were released across two highly publicized Justice Department dumps. However, critics argued that the redactions were over the top and, as a result, much remains unknown about the true depth of the president’s involvement in the files.
Geist said that Trump would “snap” at people who would bring up the sordid affair. He said it became a known rule within the White House not to mention the files to the president. “Which opens the question of why is he so defensive about this?” Geist added.
Scarborough added that the files were a topic of everyday conversation up until Operation Epic Fury began in Iran on Feb. 28. He said that “salacious accusations” looked poised to “erupt” right up until that day.
The reporting that appeared to set Trump off centered on a behind-the-scenes scramble inside his own administration as anger over the Epstein files consumed parts of his base.
According to Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, which is set for release later this month, top aides convened a private Situation Room meeting without the president just days after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo declaring there was no Epstein client list and that the disgraced financier had died by suicide in jail.
Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Communications Director Steven Cheung, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel were among those involved, according to an excerpt published by The New York Times. The authors report that officials discussed how to contain the backlash and reassure skeptical supporters, eventually settling on a strategy designed to project transparency and show the administration was taking their concerns seriously.
