MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Invites Trump Criticism

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell said Monday that he would prefer that President Trump directed criticism at him instead of CNN, noting that negative attention from Trump is "very, very good for business."

"It's very, very good for business if the president attacks you," O'Donnell told Cheddar, a livestreaming channel that focuses on financial and political news.

"I would love the president to attack me right now," O'Donnell, a former writer and producer of the NBC political drama "The West Wing," said. "I actually think he attacks CNN as frequently as he does because MSNBC is much higher rated."

The perspective comes as Trump continually refers to CNN as "fake news" in tweets, while "CNN sucks" is chanted by supporters at his rallies.

As O'Donnell also notes, the president almost never goes after MSNBC, instead largely focusing on CNN, NBC News, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

.@MSNBC host @Lawrence loves being criticized by Trump because it's "great for business," and suspects CNN is the president's preferred #FakeNews target over MSNBC because he would rather people watch CNN, which pays some people to defend the administration on air. #CheddarLIVE pic.twitter.com/tQLhWH6u4b

— Cheddar (@cheddar) June 25, 2018

O'Donnell also touched on his rival in the 10 p.m. time slot, "CNN Tonight" anchor Don Lemon, opining that the president attacks Lemon personally because Trump supporters appear in debate segments on his show.

"That's why he'll attack Don Lemon instead and he'll never attack me, because Don is on in my time slot," O'Donnell argued. "He'd rather have you watch a show, where, yes, you're going to have to put up with Don Lemon, which the president doesn't like. But a good third of the show will be a spirited, and insane, lying defense of Donald Trump."