MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace has become a focal point in President Donald Trump’s recent media criticisms following her sharp analysis of his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The situation intensified when Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday, August 17, 2025, predicting Wallace’s dismissal and labeling her a “loser.”
The dispute started after Wallace’s Friday commentary regarding Trump’s meeting with Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Wallace criticized the president’s diplomatic methods, claiming Trump “doesn’t give a s*** about democracy.” She also commented on the physical gestures between the leaders, highlighting the extensive handshakes and contact during their photo sessions.
Trump’s response was articulated through a sequence of posts on Truth Social, directly targeting Wallace. “She is a loser, with bad ratings, who was already thrown off of The View. She will be fired soon! MSNBC IS DEAD!” Trump wrote on Sunday morning. His supporters echoed the attack, with some referring to Wallace as “Typhoid Mary Nicole Wallace” and calling her show “clown news.”
Wallace, who anchors “Deadline: White House” on MSNBC, addressed Trump’s remarks during her Monday, August 18 broadcast, underscoring what she perceived as his disconnect from reality. Discussing Trump’s reaction to the coverage of the Putin meeting, Wallace stated that Trump “is furious at anyone that covers the truth about this story and any others.” About Trump’s social media activity, she remarked, “I witnessed that firsthand myself.”
During her Monday program, Wallace concentrated on fact-checking Trump’s recent statements on mail-in voting. In an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump inaccurately asserted that the United States was “the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting” and pledged to sign an executive order to end the practice.
Wallace systematically addressed these claims during her broadcast. After airing a clip of Trump’s comments, she informed viewers, “We’re going to just cut it right there, because all of that is completely false.” She clarified that numerous countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland, employ mail-in voting.
The host also noted the irony in Trump’s stance, pointing out that he has voted by mail in past elections, as reported by The New York Times. Wallace emphasized that Trump had not provided evidence to substantiate his claims of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections.
Beyond dismantling Trump’s factual assertions, Wallace highlighted a constitutional issue with his proposed measure. She explained that Trump lacks the authority to terminate mail-in voting through an executive order, as the Constitution assigns states the power to regulate the “times, places, and manner” of elections, with only Congress having the authority to override state voting laws.
Wallace described Trump’s mail-in voting comments as an effort to address what she termed as one of his “longest-standing and most dangerous, unfounded delusions” – his ongoing claim that he did not lose the 2020 presidential election. She criticized the president for prioritizing these issues during what she described as “high-stakes diplomacy” with foreign leaders.
The Trump-Putin summit, which triggered this media confrontation, took place on Friday, August 15, in Alaska, but concluded without a tangible agreement on ending the conflict in Ukraine. Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours, with Trump later describing the discussions as making “great progress” while acknowledging that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
Trump’s remarks about Wallace also referenced her 2015 exit from ABC’s “The View,” where she was a co-host for one season. Wallace has previously described her departure from the daytime talk show as feeling “personal,” noting that she learned about her firing through a Variety report rather than directly from the network. During her final episode, Wallace reflected on her unexpected opportunity, saying she was “more surprised to get it than I would have been to not get it.”
This episode underscores the ongoing friction between Trump and MSNBC, which the president often refers to as “MSDNC,” alluding to the Democratic National Committee. This latest criticism arises as the network faces corporate changes, with reports that MSNBC will rebrand as ‘MS NOW’ as part of Comcast’s spin-off of several NBCUniversal cable networks into a new company, Versant.
Despite Trump’s predictions regarding Wallace’s employment, her show “Deadline: White House” continues to perform well within MSNBC’s lineup. The program often surpasses CNN in its time slot, but typically trails Fox News, drawing about one-third to roughly one-half of Fox’s audience, depending on the hour and week.
Wallace, a former communications director for President George W. Bush, joined MSNBC in 2016 as a contributor before leading her own show a year later. Her background in Republican politics offers a distinctive perspective in covering Trump’s administration, despite becoming one of the president’s most outspoken media critics.
The exchange highlights broader issues concerning press freedom and presidential criticism of media figures. Trump’s history of targeting journalists through social media has raised concerns among media advocates about the potential effects on press coverage.
