Trump calls for 2 television commentators to resign after they accused him of hypocrisy over cancer survivor

By Fatma Zehra Solmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - US President Donald Trump has criticized two TV commentators, saying they "should be forced to resign" over accusing him of hypocrisy in honoring a young cancer survivor while cutting off funds for cancer research and also failing to defend police officers who protected Congress in 2021.

In the Oval Office, Trump on Thursday attacked Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow for their comments about his alleged hypocrisy in honoring DJ Daniels, a 13-year-old cancer survivor who Trump invited to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday and gave an honorary Secret Service badge.

Maddow, who hosts a popular show on left-leaning MSNBC, accused Trump of being “disgusting” for highlighting the boy’s fight against the disease when Trump, she said, is also trying to cut funds for cancer research.

“This is disgusting, the president made a spectacle out of praising a young man who’s thus far survived pediatric cancer,” Maddow said Tuesday after Trump’s speech to Congress.

She added, referring to Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, which Trump has given the authority to fire people and eliminate government agencies: “As if the president had something to do with that (the boy’s survival), which was in the midst of him praising DOGE. DOGE cuts, among some other things, have cut off funding for ongoing research into pediatric cancer.”

In recent weeks, the controversial DOGE team has tried to lay off tens of thousands of scientists, including ones involved in studying such diseases as cancer and Alzheimer’s. Trump has expressed enthusiastic approval for DOGE’s methods, even saying last month that they should be “more aggressive,” though recently he suggested they be more careful in cutting costs.

Trump said: "Rachel Maddow should be forced to resign. Nobody watches her anyway … certainly she’s lost all credibility.”

Maddow is MSNBC's top ratings attraction, though she normally draws fewer viewers than the conservative Fox network, which Trump prefers. MSNBC’s ratings fell sharply after Trump won the presidential election last November.

- Wallace and Capitol police from 2021 riot

Wallace, also of MSNBC, criticized Trump for giving the boy an honorary badge weeks after he pardoned people convicted of assaulting police officers in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

The night of Trump’s speech, Wallace said she hopes the young cancer survivor lives a long life, but also that he "never has to defend the United States Capitol against Donald Trump’s supporters, and if he does, I hope he isn’t one of the six (Capitol police officers) who loses his life to suicide."

Many Capitol police officers were assaulted by the Jan. 6 rioters – who were trying to disrupt the vote in which Trump officially lost the presidency – including several police officers who later committed suicide.

Wallace was referring to how this Jan. 20, the day he took office for a return second term, Trump freed all the people convicted over Jan. 6, 2021, even people in jail for assaulting police officers. Before issuing a blanket pardon on Jan. 20, Trump and his supporters had suggested they would pardon only peaceful protesters, not people convicted of committing violence in 2021.

Trump also said of Maddow and Wallace: "They have lost such credibility; and, frankly, what Nicolle Wallace said … about that young man is disgraceful. She should be forced to resign.”

“Both of them. But what they said the other day, they should be forced to resign, about that young person who is suffering.”

"MSNBC … is a threat to our democracy .. bad people at the top!" Trump wrote online on Feb. 22.

Trump has suggested on numerous occasions that journalists critical of him and networks that do not give him favorable coverage should lose their jobs or broadcast licenses.