During Saturday's campaign rally outside Pittsburgh, PA, in support of congressional candidate Rick Saccone, Trump took the opportunity to bash some critics.
The president tore into the new host of NBC's "Meet the Press," Chuck Todd, calling him a "sleeping son of a b*tch" to a cheering crowd.
The dig, made in front of the rally audience, was in response to Trump's appearance on the show in 1999 when Todd commented on North Korea.
You ever see the story? Where it's 1999. I'm on 'Meet the Press,' a show now headed by sleepy eyes Chuck Todd. He's a sleeping son of a b*tch, I'll tell you. And they showed it this morning, 1999, and I'm talking about North Korea, 'You gotta take them out now.'
On Saturday night, Todd, 45, let the criticism slip and even referenced his weary eyes in a tweet. "Don't miss @MeetThePress tomorrow!" he wrote. "I know folks may be tired in the morning due to springing forward, so set those clocks and DVRs now before your eyes get too sleepy."
Tom Brokaw, who has been a vocal about Trump's criticism of the media, was not as lenient. The iconic broadcaster tweeted, "Pres Trump at a Penn rally calls my colleague and friend Chuck Todd a 'sleeping SON OF A BITCH.' Really classy. Explain that to your children."
After ostensibly attending the rally to bolster Republican support for Saccone, whose vying for a U.S. House seat against Democratic opponent Conor Lamb in the upcoming midterms, Trump quickly made the rally about himself and his agendas after mentioning Saccone once in passing.
The rest of the president's freewheeling speech was spent on attacking his critics and touting his own accomplishments so far.
Later, Trump called for the death penalty for all drug dealers after getting the idea from Chinese President Xi Jinping. He said that allowing prosecutors to seek the government-sanctioned practice for traffickers is "a discussion we have to start thinking about. I don't know if this country's ready for it."
Do you think the drug dealers who kill thousands of people during their lifetime, do you think they care who's on a blue-ribbon committee? The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness. When you catch a drug dealer, you've got to put him away for a long time.
Trump also managed to get the crowd chanting "CNN sucks," after he criticized the network for its coverage of him accepting a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Fake as hell CNN. The worst. So fake. And their ratings are lousy by the way, and compared to Fox.
And he ranked the press, placing NBC at the bottom. "NBC is perhaps worse than CNN, I have to tell you."
Twitter had their share of criticism for Trump after his attack on Chuck Todd.
Finally, after the 75-minute-long speech, Trump brought Saccone to the stage, referring the GOP candidate as "handsome," while also mocking his opponent by calling him "Lamb the Sham."
Saccone yelled into the crowd, "If President Trump's in your corner, how can you lose?"
@GregAbbott_TX/X
