Businessman Donald Trump had been on the program, but late Friday RedState’s Erick Erickson said he was withdrawing his invitation because of a comment Trump made earlier that evening about Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly. If you want to accuse Kelly of having ulterior motives rather than simply give her credit for asking the sort of uncomfortable questions Trump would inevitably be forced to answer later as nominee anyway, at least be smart enough to frame the conspiracy in terms of personal ambition rather than her supposedly doing some dopey favor for Reince Priebus.
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News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire includes Fox News, also responded on Twitter to say the network’s debate moderators did “fine journalism”.
In 2012, Trump wrote on Twitter of singer Bette Midler: “But whenever she sees me, she kisses my ass”. I also found him – in true Trump fashion – over-the-top: Events at Mar-a-Lago aren’t quiet, understated affairs (I once attended a rock concert there) and when Trump is hosting a bash, he’s fully in his element, playing the ringmaster in a circus of his own design. “It just was wrong”, he said.
In the debate, Trump joked that he was only referring to talk show host Rosie O’Donnell but didn’t deny having used the insults. Even if you think Fox News is RINO Central, on a mission from God and Reince Priebus to nuke Trump so that he doesn’t threaten the establishment’s hold on the GOP nomination, there’s no reason for Fox to come after him now, when we’re still many months away from a meaningful vote. Trump said that was true of Rosie O’Donnell and he didn’t care if Kelly didn’t like his comments about women.
“The Trump-centric debate mirrored what to date has been a Trump-centric primary chase: All-Donald most of the time”, said Bill Whalen, a research fellow specializing in California and national politics at the Hoover Institution.
“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals”, Kelly said to Trump.
Trump largely dismissed Kelly’s question at the debate, but on Friday he went directly after her.
Carrasquillo says the former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, is the closest thing to an exception. “I don’t respect her as a journalist”.
“Trump was true to form”, said Debra Pilgrim, chairwoman of the Hall County Republican Party. “Little (at)MacMiller, I’m now going to teach you a big boy lesson about lawsuits and finance”.
Donald Trump set the tone, repeating some of what he’d said before about Mexicans as criminals flooding across the border. Kelly hasn’t weighed in on Trump’s accusations but might address them Sunday during her appearance on the show, Mediabuzz.
“That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees”, Trump said in response. “That’s to be expected“. In April, he retweeted, then deleted, a tweet that read, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?”
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But a focus group convened by Republican consultant Frank Luntz found that Trump turned off voters with his performance.
