Chuck Todd, NBC News political director and host of “Meet the Press,” on Sunday responded to President Donald Trump’s dismissive attack of him as a “sleeping son of a bitch.”
“It creates a challenge to all parents when he uses vulgarities like that,” Todd said in an interview on NBC4 in Washington, D.C.
“I bring my kids up to respect the office of the presidency and the President,” Todd said. “I don’t allow them to say anything negative, ever, about the president.”
At a campaign rally on Saturday night for a Republican congressional candidate outside Pittsburgh, the president launched another withering attack on the media for its coverage of his presidency, particularly his recently announced plan to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
He singled out Todd, whom he derisively referred to by the nickname “sleepy-eyes” before adding, “He’s a sleeping son of a bitch.”
On Saturday night, Todd slyly referenced the nickname in a Tweet promoting Sunday’s edition of “Meet the Press”: “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.”
Don’t miss @MeetThePress tomorrow! 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.
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) March 11, 2018
In his pre-“Meet the Press” interview with NBC4, Todd reiterated his standing invitation to Trump to appear on the show.
And addressing the president’s ongoing attacks on the press, he said, “Yesterday’s rally was sort of him unleashed, which is why he went after this favorite targets in the media.”