And Tuesday on Fox News, liberal filmmaker Michael Moore weighed in, saying Kelly has “done something that Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Rubio, Cruz, none of them have been able to do, which is to essentially frighten him, make him run, shut him down”.
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“Wow, two candidates called last night and said they want to go to my event tonight at Drake University”, Trump tweeted early Thursday, though he did not name them.
Donald Trump claims his unprecedented withdrawal from a presidential campaign debate is a result of unfair treatment by Fox News.
Donald Trump has doubled down on his decision to skip Thursday night’s Republican debate, even as his opponents criticize and mock his position; meanwhile, the Democratic Party has not sanctioned a debate scheduled in New Hampshire.
Escalating his long-running feud with Megyn Kelly, Trump lashed out at the Fox News anchor whom he has accused of treating him “unfairly” for questioning him on his past derogatory remarks about women at the first Republican debate in August.
The billionaire businessman said he is not walking away from the event, but said rather, “I was pushed away”.
“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”. “I think [FOX] could do a lot better than Megyn Kelly”. “They should be worrying about what the other candidates on stage are going to say.” said Cole.
Ted Cruz and his allies are upping the ante in his challenge to Donald Trump for a one-on-one debate.
Harry Enten, senior writer and analyst for FiveThirtyEight, said that Trump’s unorthodox move might benefit the candidate.
It’s a complicated question for the seven presidential candidates in the seventh prime time Republican presidential debate, who expect a no-show from the front-runner who has eclipsed the contest for months – on the brink of Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
“And Fox will go from probably having 24 million viewers to about 2 million”, he said.
It’s one thing to attack Donald Trump when he’s standing on the presidential debate stage.
Responding to the press release, Trump seemed unconcerned that the absence have any affect on his chances in Iowa.
Mr Trump has since repeatedly criticised Ms Kelly and the jibes have intensified in the run-up to Thursday’s debate.
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O’Reilly defended Kelly – a Fox colleague of his – and said she would be a fair moderator.
