President Donald Trump unleashed a scathing attack on MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace through Truth Social on Sunday morning, August 17, declaring that Trump predicted “She will be fired soon! MSNBC IS DEAD!” The social media outburst followed Wallace’s harsh criticism of the President’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
The controversy began when Trump posted the cryptic word “Bela” on Truth Social, prompting followers to debate its meaning. A user then shared a doctored image of Wallace with a red clown nose and “Karen” haircut, accompanied by captions calling her show “Clown News” and suggesting Wallace was afraid of losing her job.
Trump responded directly to the manipulated image, calling Wallace a loser with bad ratings who had already been thrown off “The View.” The 79-year-old President’s attack came as part of a broader tirade against media coverage of his Friday meeting with Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where he failed to secure a ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict.
Wallace, who hosts “Deadline: White House” on MSNBC, had delivered a blistering critique of Trump’s Putin meeting during her Friday broadcast. She described Trump as someone who does not care about democracy, allies, or democratic sovereignty. Wallace also made suggestive comments about Trump’s body language during photo opportunities with Putin, noting extensive physical contact between the two leaders.
The MSNBC host characterized Trump’s interaction with Putin as fawning behavior, suggesting the President showed more physical affection toward the Russian leader than toward his own wife, Melania Trump. Wallace indicated that watching the American President stand with someone responsible for Ukrainian suffering and death was heinous.
Before targeting Wallace specifically, Trump had raged against negative coverage of his Alaska summit more broadly. He complained that fake news violently distorts the truth about him and claimed there was nothing he could say or do that would lead to honest reporting. Trump described the Ukraine conflict as Biden’s stupid war that should never have happened.
The President argued that even if he achieved the impossible diplomatic victory of getting Russia to surrender Moscow, fake news outlets and radical left Democrats would still criticize the deal as terrible. Trump’s posts on Sunday indicated his frustration with media coverage following his shift in position on Ukraine, now suggesting that achieving peace would require territorial concessions from Ukraine.
Wallace fired back on Monday’s broadcast of “Deadline: White House,” addressing Trump’s attack head-on. She declared that the President was furious at anyone covering the truth about his Putin meeting and other stories. Wallace referenced Trump’s Sunday morning meltdown about her, noting she had witnessed his anger firsthand.
The MSNBC host used her Monday show to continue her criticism of Trump, cutting short a clip of him ranting about mail-in voting by stating his claims were completely false. Wallace noted that the United States joins many other countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Switzerland in using mail-in voting systems.
Wallace emphasized there was zero evidence of widespread voter fraud despite Trump’s continued searching for such proof. She pointed out the irony that Trump himself had voted through mail-in voting while attacking the practice. Wallace concluded that Trump’s rant represented one of his longest-standing and most dangerous unfounded delusions about not losing the 2020 presidential election.
The former White House communications director under President George W. Bush left “The View” after just one season in 2014. Wallace’s current MSNBC program consistently draws over one million viewers, outperforming CNN in the same time slot while trailing Fox News significantly.
Trump’s Truth Social post targeting Wallace received more than 17,000 likes and nearly 4,000 shares by early Monday. The attack represents the latest chapter in Trump’s ongoing war with MSNBC personalities, having previously targeted hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Lawrence O’Donnell.
