It added that Trump had offered to appear at the debate upon condition Fox News contribute US$5 million (RM20.64 million) to his charities, which it refused to do. Instead, the cable news channel was forced to share the spotlight.
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“Here’s the beauty of me”, Trump said, “I have a microphone where I can speak back”.
Trump also told the crowd about the importance of turning out to vote.
In fact, debate viewership actually went up without the businessman and former reality star on stage.
And a month before: “I like Ted Cruz a lot”.
Recent polls have Trump leading the GOP field heading into Monday’s caucuses, with a roughly 6-point margin over Cruz. Ted Cruz on the Sunday morning talk show circuit, calling his chief rival in the Iowa caucuses “a total liar” and a “nasty guy”.
Of course, Trump stood to gain from boycotting. “He’s very entertaining, but this campaign isn’t about that”, Rubio said. The last Republican debate on sister net Fox Business Network on January 14, was watched by 11 million viewers. I think that’s a problem, alright? “He’s betting on him making a bigger splash”. He’s preferred to make his case to potential voters in national television interviews and on Twitter, and has often faded into the background in the debates.
Donald Trump boasts a clear lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in Iowa, a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll shows.
Others on the debate stage will have their eye on New Hampshire, where they’re hoping a strong showing in the February 9 primary will jumpstart their White House hopes. The paper endorsed his rival New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie past year, and he railed against its publisher Joe McQuaid “a bad person”, “incompetent”, “a psycho”, and an “ant”.
Google data, however, gave Fox the upper-hand: Search interest for “debate live stream” was 170% higher than searches for “Trump live stream” on Thursday night.
The debate was not attended by the Republican leader Donald Trump.
Colbert’s first question was whether Donald and Trump believe Donald Trump’s absence at the Republican debate would help improve Ted Cruz’s chances.
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Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes had three phone conversations with the billionaire real estate mogul on the day of the debate, a network spokesperson said, but the two failed to resolve a simmering feud that surfaced this week after Trump demanded that the network remove anchor Megyn Kelly as a debate moderator.
