U.S. President Donald Trump launched an attack on MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace this weekend, vowing on Truth Social that “she will be fired soon.”
Early Sunday, August 17, Trump posted a single word: “Bela,” leaving his followers puzzled about its meaning.
In the replies, one user shared a doctored image of Wallace with a “Karen” haircut and a clown nose, mocking her with captions such as “Clown News” and “Get her a Waaambulance.”
Highlights
- Trump vowed on Truth Social that MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace “will be fired soon” after her criticism of him on air.
- Trump's cryptic single-word post “Bela” puzzled followers; its meaning remains unclear but sparked varied social media reactions.
- Wallace condemned Trump's meeting with Putin, calling it “heinous” and accusing him of ignoring democracy and U.S. allies.
Donald Trump attacked MSNBC Host Nicolle Wallace after she criticized him on TV
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The screenshot also showed the MSNBC logo next to the word “misinformation.”
Trump responded in the comments of the picture, “She is a loser, with bad ratings, who was already thrown off of The View,” he wrote. “She will be fired soon! MSNBC IS DEAD!”
Trump’s “Bela” comment led many in the comments to wonder if he was referencing Belarus, where 16 political prisoners were recently released, but the true meaning of his remark remains unclear.
Governor Newsom’s Press Office mocked Trump on X, saying, "DONALD (TINY HANDS), HAS WRITTEN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY THIS MORNING — UNFORTUNATELY (LOW IQ) HE SPELLED IT WRONG — “BETA.” SOON YOU WILL BE A “FIRED” BETA.."
On social media, ‘beta’ is often used to label someone as weak or passive.
Image credits: Truth Social
Wallace, who served as communications director in George W. Bush’s White House, currently hosts Deadline: White House on MSNBC.
She previously co-hosted ABC’s The View for one season before moving into political commentary.
Trump’s online tirade came just days after his high-profile summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. The two leaders met Friday to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Trump had promised before the summit that Putin would face “severe consequences” if he refused to end the conflict.
After the summit, however, Trump signaled that peace might require territorial concessions from Ukraine. He was scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday.
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
The Alaska meeting drew sharp criticism from Wallace. During her Friday broadcast, she delivered a blistering diatribe against Trump’s approach to Putin.
She said it was “heinous” to watch an American president “stand with the person responsible for all that suffering and all that death.”
Wallace accused Trump of not caring about democracy or U.S. allies, calling Trump an “American president who just doesn’t give a s**t about democracy,” she said live on air.
“I mean, it’s watching them [Ukrainians] scrape and struggle to get an American president who supported them, to give them all the weapons they needed to go toe-to-toe with Russia,” she said.
Wallace said it was ‘heinous’ to watch Trump stand with Putin and accused him of not caring about democracy
Image credits: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Image
Wallace also made multiple comments about Trump’s body language during his photo op with Putin.
“There’s no one around Donald Trump who can even explain why he shouldn’t touch Putin so many times in front of the cameras,” she said. “It’s so embarrassing.”
“I don’t know that we always see him touching Melania as much as he touched Putin today,” she said, calling it “disgusting.”
“The handshake and then the hand on top of the hand. I mean, everything that over nine years we’ve learned about Trump, this is as fawning as he can be with any public figure he’s ever photographed with,” she added.
Trump’s comments came soon after Wallace’s show aired.
Trump has long used his social media platform to denounce media outlets and journalists he sees as hostile. On Sunday, alongside his attack on Wallace, he railed again against what he called “Fake News.”
“It’s incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me. There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me,” he said.
“I had a great meeting in Alaska on Biden’s stupid War, a war that should have never happened!!!”
In another post, Trump argued that even if he secured extraordinary concessions from Russia, his critics would still accuse him of failure.
“If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal. That’s why they are the FAKE NEWS!”
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Wallace has not directly responded to Trump’s weekend threats. She criticized Trump for giving Putin what she called “a literal red carpet welcome for an internationally indicted war criminal.”
In Trump’s second term, he has constantly attacked the media, not only through comments but also lawsuits, funding cuts, and executive orders aimed squarely at outlets he deems antagonistic to his policies.