An eventful week in Donald Trump’s U.S. presidency only seemed to ramp up in intensity as it went along.
Trump started the week by bemoaning the “level of hostility” in Washington which, he said, was making it difficult for opposing parties to work together.
Then he ended it by launching a savage Twitter tirade at Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe. And Brzezinski didn’t back down.
Here’s a round-up of this week’s events in the world of the 45th U.S. president.
June 26: Trumpcare’s newest remix could leave 22 million Americans without insurance
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report showing that “Trumpcare,” the popular name for a health care bill drafted by Senate Republicans that would repeal and replace Obamacare, could leave 22 million Americans without health insurance over the next decade.
The bill has split Republicans, with Maine Sen. Susan Collins saying she could not support legislation that would strip so many people of health coverage.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said legislators are trying to bring “better care” to the American people.
READ MORE: Latest version of Trumpcare still leaves 22 million Americans without insurance: report
That drew a response from Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who tweeted, if your idea of #BetterCare is charging people more for care and kicking 22 million off coverage, we need to talk.”
Trump, apparently trying to bring Democrats on board, tweeted that they should “perhaps just let Obamacare crash and burn!”
June 27: Trump’s name is coming off the Toronto skyline
Unlike Vancouver, Toronto is one Canadian city whose skyline will no longer bear Donald Trump’s name.
JCF Capital, the owner of the Trump International Hotel and Tower Toronto, has reached an agreement to buy out management contracts with the Trump Organization.
READ MORE: Donald Trump name to be removed from Toronto hotel, condo tower
The building will now be rechristened as the St. Regis Toronto.
June 27: How do you defeat Trump’s handshake? With a hug, apparently
Trump has become known for a handshake technique that involves a yank and a pull, then a pat or a grip on the arm.
French President Emmanuel Macron gripped the president right back when he met him.
But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopted a different technique on Monday.
READ MORE: Has Donald Trump’s awkward handshake met its match?
He appeared to shake Trump’s grasp by briefly clasping the president’s hand and then going in for one of his trademark embraces.
Modi has hugged world leaders including Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
India’s The Economic Times this week wrote that Modi is “rewriting diplomacy, one hug at a time.”
June 28: A Trump Time cover turns out to be fake news
For a while, at least five of Donald Trump’s golf clubs displayed a cover of Time magazine from March 1, 2009 that showed the U.S. president on an issue that reflected on the success of his TV show, The Apprentice, The Washington Post reported.
There was just one problem: that Time cover was fake news.
READ MORE: Fake news: Trump Organization asked to remove fake Time magazine cover featuring Donald Trump
There never was a Time issue on March 1, 2009. And Trump never appeared on the front of the magazine that year.
A Time spokesperson said it asked the Trump Organization to take the fake cover down from any place where it was displayed.
- Toronto’s offices are emptying out. The city wants to know what to do with them
- Capital gains changes could have ‘irreversible’ effects, business groups warn
- Could notwithstanding clause be used on abortion? Poilievre’s office says ‘never’
- U.K. takes aim at allies like Canada, wants higher NATO targets
June 29: Trump goes toe-to-toe with Morning Joe
Trump capped off the week by engaging in a Twit-à-Twit with MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
In a series of tweets on Thursday morning, he called out the hosts of Morning Joe for speaking “badly” of him, calling them “Crazy Mika” and “Psycho Joe.”
He accused them of insisting on joining him at Mar-a-Lago around New Year’s Eve, and said Brzezinski was “bleeding badly from a face-lift.”
Brzezinski, for one, didn’t back down. She clapped back at Trump on social media, posting a Cheerios box that carried the slogan, “Made for little hands.”
But Trump also drew the ire of politicians from his own party.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a prolific Trump critic, tweeted that the president’s remarks were “beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics.”
Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Susan Collins called on Trump to stop his attacks on social media.
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