Texas senator Ted Cruz, locked in a tight contest with Mr Trump in Iowa, opened the Fox News debate with a sarcastic impression of the property mogul’s frequent insults of his opponents. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, was “the worst Secretary of State in the history of the United States”, even though Trump said back in 2012 that she was a “terrific woman” who “really works hard” and “does a good job”.
Advertisement
In Nashua on Friday, Trump said: “But you know last night we had an exciting night, because I did something that was a little bit unusual”. “They called a few minutes ago. I will tell you what, if she would have attacked me I would have had a much different attitude”, Trump said.
He also explained he was skipping the debate because he felt Fox News had dealt with him unfairly. Fox News Channel issued a statement saying Trump had offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that Fox contribute $5 million to his charities, which the network said was not possible.
According to Nielsen data, about 12.5 million people watched the Republican face-off, beating only an earlier debate on the less-prominent Fox Business Network.
Fox’s rivals at CNN and MSNBC covered Trump’s fundraiser, where the candidate made a brief speech.
“The Late Show” host concluded his “debate” thanking Trump for “being just as divided as this country is”.
“Look at all the cameras”, he said. This is like the Academy Awards.
Even though he was absent, Trump figured prominently in the debate.
The TV ratings are in for the Republicans’ first Trump-less debate, and the results are mixed.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more interesting in the Campaign 2016, the Republicans take the stage for their 7th debate Thursday night, minus Donald Trump. Trump should not walk away from that chance. A number of other news outlets provided live-streams online.
But Trump isn’t Cruz’s top target any more.
Billionaire Trump refused to participate in the debate out of anger that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was a moderator.
Advertisement
“I would note that the last four questions had been please attack Ted, Jeb, please attack Ted”, he said. In an interview with several reporters aboard his plane at the Des Moines airport before the event, Trump said that he’d been in touch with Fox throughout the day.
