In a series of tweets, President Trump lambasts the presenter as "crazy" saying she was "bleeding badly from a facelift".
But even members of his own party say his words are inappropriate.
Triggering the presidential outburst, the comments from cable TV host Mika Brzezinski on a recent episode of the breakfast program Morning Joe were scathing.
"I think he's such a narcissist, it is possible that he is mentally ill in a way, and this is on the table - I said it months ago and everybody is saying it like it's new and it's ok to say - he's not well. At the very least, he's not well and he's so narcissistic, he does not believe the rules apply to him and that's where the ignorance label may apply because this is a man who says that he can grab women anywhere because he's famous."
Mr Trump fired back on social media, ridiculing the presenter's intellect, looks and temperament, as well as criticising her co-anchor Joe Scarborough.
In a series of posts on Twitter he said: "I heard poorly-rated Morning Joe speaks badly of me. Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!"
It didn't take long for his comments to provoke a response.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats lined up to rebuke him.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the comments are beneath the dignity of the office of president of the United States.
"I think it's so blatantly sexist I don't even know that there's a question about it. But sad to say I am still the highest ranking woman. I thought that was all going to be resolved in November, instead we have a person in the White House who not only doesn't happen to be a woman but happens to disrespect women. That's too bad."
Democrat Lois Frankel takes issue particularly with the President's repeated references to women and blood.
"I call him the cyber-bully-in-chief. And once again he is embarrassing our nation with what I call his 'bloody' tweets. Time and time again, this president is showing his blatant sexism and disrespect for women as well as the press."
Some members of his own party, even, have been unable defend his comments.
Republican Lindsey Graham says the remarks represent what's wrong with American politics.
Even the normally-reticent House Speaker, Paul Ryan, concedes the comments are not appropriate.
"Are you talking about this morning's tweet? Yeah, I just saw it a little bit ago. Obviously, I don't see that as an appropriate comment. I think, look what we're trying to do around here is improve the tone and the civility of the debate, and this obviously doesn't help do that."
But the President's office says Donald Trump is simply defending himself from constant and merciless attacks.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee-Sanders says this president will not sit back and take personal assaults.
"I think that he has been very clear that when he is gets attacked, he is going to hit back. I think the American people elected somebody who is tough, who is smart and who is a fighter and that is Donald Trump and I don't think that it's a surprise to anybody that he fights fire with fire."
And, she added, Americans knew who they voted for.
"Look the American people elected a fighter, they didn't elect somebody to sit back and do nothing, they knew what they were getting into when they voted for Donald Trump and he won overwhelmingly."
Ms Brzezinski appears unrattled, responding in a tweet with a photo of a young child reaching for breakfast cereal.
The picture's caption reads "made for little hands," a taunt often used against the image-conscious president.
