As if this presidential race wasn’t bizarre enough already, former omnipresent reality show star and real estate billionaire Donald Trump says he won’t be participating in tomorrow’s Fox News Republican debate. He insists it’s because Megyn Kelly, the hostess of the channel’s popular prime-time show, will be one of the moderators of the debate. We remember how well that went last time with the man in the lead of the GOP polls, with the Trump talking afterward about the woman bleeding from nonspecific orifices because she made him uncomfortable by quoting things he’s said about other women.
Now Trump continues his hissy fit because he doesn’t believe Kelly would treat him fairly. Before he came to his decision, he had polled his followers on social media yesterday, asking them if he should attend the debate. An unnamed source at Fox News responded by releasing a statement to media outlets like Mediaite and Talking Points Memo, saying,
We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.
Defying predictable behavior, Trump went to Twitter to air his grievance toward Fox News.
Pathetic attempt by @foxnews to try and build up ratings for the #GOPDebate. Without me they'd have no ratings!
https://t.co/2bx54VKpQh
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2016
Another spokesman at Fox News addressed the ratings aspect, telling the Independent Journal Review on Monday, “Megyn Kelly has no conflict of interest. Donald Trump is just trying to build up the audience for Thursday’s debate, for which we thank him.”
The network released an official statement dated today, in which it says that Trump bowing out of the debate just three days before it’s scheduled to take place is “near unprecedented.”
“We’re not sure how Iowans are going to feel about him walking away from them at the last minute,” the statement reads, “but it should be clear to the American public by now that this is rooted in one thing – Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August and has now spent four days demanding be removed from the debate stage.”
The network also stated:
Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly.
In a call on Saturday with a FOX News executive, Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a ‘rough couple of days after that last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’ Lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats, but he continued to do so. We can’t give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees.
Trump is still welcome at Thursday night’s debate and will be treated fairly, just as he has been during his 132 appearances on FOX News & FOX Business, but he can’t dictate the moderators or the questions.
In reaction to all this, Trump had this to say on Twitter this morning:
I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016
All great presidents in our nation’s history are known for their great restraint, and the Trump is clearly an ideal model of such restraint. He also said this, apparently in reference to the Fox News spokesman’s statement involving Putin and the Ayatollah:
The statement put out yesterday by @FoxNews was a disgrace to good broadcasting and journalism. Who would ever say something so nasty & dumb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016
Because political correctness holds back the charming genius who talks about a woman’s bloody wherevers, he “refuse[s] to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo.”
Whatever, LOOSER.
The Washington Post noted that Senator Ted Cruz, Trump’s chief competition in the race for the GOP nomination, addressed the current to-do between Trump and Fox News, and Ted’s not shying away from taking on the Don:
Cruz said on Mark Levin’s radio show: “If Donald is afraid to defend his record, that speaks volumes. If he thinks Megyn Kelly is so scary, what does he think he’ll do with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin?”
Cruz challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate sometime over the next week.
“I’m happy to go an hour and a half mano-a-mano — me and Donald with no moderators anytime before the Iowa caucuses,” he said.
At an event Tuesday night, Cruz said: “Donald is a fragile soul. You know, if she asks him mean questions, I mean his hair might stand on end.” He likened it to skipping a job interview.
This is but a small snapshot of the ongoing saga of Donald Trump and his quest for the Oval Office. I had other words to say in place of these regarding the race for the presidency, but at the rate of new developments, it’s probably good that I hadn’t posted them yet. I think I have some tinkering to do. A lot more is undoubtedly happening as I write these words, so I might as well end this and, like the rest of you, see how things play out.
