President Donald Trump pulled a famously misspelled diss out of his back pocket to go after Fox News’ Shannon Bream after becoming outraged that the conservative cable TV personality displayed outdated photos of the White House ballroom construction on her show.
The president, who has been fiercely defensive of his $400 million ballroom project, ranted on Truth Social that Bream was “so biased against MAGA” because her show, “Fox News Sunday,” had shown footage of the construction process from mid-May.
“Why didn’t Shannon Bream, ‘Milktoast’ to her friends, show the updated pictures instead of ones that were so old and irrelevant?” Trump wrote Sunday evening.
Trump added: “Her show, Fox News Sunday, is so biased against MAGA, ‘TRUMP,’ and Republicans, that it is ridiculous! Even Chris Wallace was better, and he was really bad (WHERE IS CHRIS WALLACE?).”
Trump’s insult of “Milktoast” appears to be a misspelling of milquetoast, which means a timid or feeble person — it’s the second time the president has invoked the wrong spelling while criticizing Bream.
The president first bestowed the bastardized nickname on Bream in June after she pointed out, on her show, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest numbers were “comparable” to those under the Obama administration.
Trump is known to give insulting nicknames to members of the media who he believes are unfair to him — or simply do not report facts that he agrees with — typically from more moderate or liberal news organizations.
He’s nicknamed New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, “Maggot Hagerman.” Trump has called CNN’s Kaitlan Collins “nasty” and accused her of not smiling. He’s also called ABC News host George Stephanopoulos “George Slopadopolus.”
But in his second term, the president has been quick to show his anger toward Fox News, historically a Trump-friendly news organization.
In Bream’s case, the president was irritated that her show was using older footage of the White House ballroom construction to discuss the ongoing legal challenges to the president’s renovation.
The footage from May depicted framing and piping work on the military bunker underneath the 90,000-square-foot entertaining space. Trump has argued his ballroom is vital to national security because the underground complex will include a military facility, emergency operation center and more.
“Unfortunately, the pictures were months old, before much work had been started,” Trump wrote Sunday.
He added: “Now the hardest work is substantially complete with work on the roof/DronePort to begin very shortly.”
At least three federal judges have ordered the administration to halt above-ground construction on the ballroom until they receive permission from Congress to do so. However, they’ve allowed the below-ground work to continue because it’s related to national security.
But that isn’t enough, lawyers for the administration have argued.
In addition to lashing out at Bream, the president expressed irritation with Fox News host Brett Baier and others for “showing Fake Polls” that indicate Trump has a low approval rating.