As The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Robert Costa wrote, “Republican leaders who have watched Donald Trump’s summer surge with alarm now believe that his presidential candidacy has been contained and may begin to collapse because of his repeated attacks on a Fox News Channel star and his refusal to pledge his loyalty to the eventual GOP nominee”.
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Trump and Fox News, one of the most powerful voices in Republican and conservative circles, have been in a bitter feud since last week’s presidential debate. And he wants in on the action.
“If I wasn’t on the show, they would have had two million people watching”, Trump said. “That’s the gold standard for making news these days”, the underdog presidential candidate will joke in an Iowa speech Monday, according to excerpts in advance released by the campaign.
“I apologize when I’m wrong, but I haven’t been wrong”.
Amusing. And effective: judging by social media, it’s already sort of worked. “He really could be a liberal, for all I’m concerned”. At the end of the debate, he made it a point to go over to Trump and shake his hand….just like he did with the other candidates onstage. So of course we have to be sensitive to it, but we don’t want to destroy people’s jobs, based on some theory that is not proven.
During the debate itself, other candidates came out swinging against Trump. When he got another, the former Arkansas governor quipped: “I’m running for president“. Could Donald Trump cut into those critical groups?
“He says something every day”, Rubio said.
While Kelly seemed to score a boost from the uproar, Trump was unbowed, even claiming credit for the debate’s huge audience.
“Manners and consideration and respect for women is important”, said Pritchard. In a year like that, he might still have managed to get support from the same one out of five primary voters who are backing him now, but it wouldn’t have put him at the front of the pack and made him the center of the campaign. “I don’t think I’d be very successful anyway”.
“I think the rest of us are doing what we’re supposed to do and that’s focus on getting a message out, which is sometimes hard to do because all the air in the balloon is going to Donald Trump right now”, he said.
Executive Producer Jessica Loker said in a statement that Fox News Sunday doesn’t do phone interviews with presidential candidates and that the show is in conversation with Trump’s campaign about a future on-camera interview.
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Yet Trump remains a towering presence in the 17-candidate field, and his supporters at the RedState event – along with several other uncommitted attendees – said the latest flap simply reaffirms why his uncompromising approach appeals to voters who are disgusted with conventional politicians, including those in the GOP.
