Is Donald Trump trying to become the Don Rickles of presidential candidates? That is, someone who likes to entertain the audience by attacking his friends? If not, why would he rekindle his criticism of Megyn Kelly of Fox News?
Within the mass media, The Donald has had no better friend than Fox. There is no network, cable or broadcast, that has given him as much airtime, almost all of it favorable. Fox’s nighttime hosts, especially Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, have welcomed him time after time — and have usually treated him with the utmost respect.
So why on Monday did Trump rekindle his attack on Kelly? I get that he’s still upset with what he called her “unfair” questions during the Republican debate three weeks ago. Kelly and her cohosts, Bret Baier and Chris Wallace, said afterward that they worked very hard to come up with the toughest questions they could ask.
There’s no doubt they succeeded. At the time, I was surprised by the “gotcha” nature of many of their questions — and not just of Trump, by the way, but all of the candidates on stage. As the front-runner, it’s no surprise that Trump got most of the airtime and, thus, most of the questions.
Trump responded afterward by sending out some very negative tweets. Naturally, Kelly’s colleagues on Fox responded by defending her. Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, tried to calm things down by demanding an end to the bickering.
It looked like he got it — until Kelly returned to her show Monday night after a vacation. Even before her program ended, Trump said in a tweet: “I liked The Kelly File much better without @megynkelly. Perhaps she could take another eleven day unscheduled vacation!” Trump even retweeted a tweet from someone else who called Kelly a “bimbo.”
This was too much for Ailes, who issued a statement the next day saying, “Donald Trump’s surprise and unprovoked attack on Megyn Kelly during her show last night is as unacceptable as it is disturbing.” And he added, “Donald Trump rarely apologizes, although in this case, he should.”
Fat chance that will happen. Trump responded: “She should probably apologize to me, but I just don’t care.”
Any ground that Trump lost among his supporters by renewing his attack on Kelly he probably regained the next day, when he tossed a hostile reporter from Univision out of his press conference.
Jorge Ramos, a Mexican-American journalist, stood up and began loudly asking questions of Trump. The candidate responded by telling him to sit down and wait his turn — you would think a very reasonable request. Every other reporter waited to be called on before barking out a question.
Ten minutes after a security guard escorted Ramos from the room, Trump allowed him back in. The two engaged in a lively, five-minute give-and-take argument about Trump’s immigration policies.
It was great theater and got lots of play in the media over the next 24 hours. I’m sure that Trump’s supporters loved it. I could almost hear them saying, “That’s telling him!”
So far, Trump’s take-no-prisoners attitude is winning him a ton of support. Right now, he’s leading by double digits in almost every poll. Interestingly enough, two other non-politicians, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, are also climbing in the polls.
Yes, a lot of Americans are sick and tired of politics are usual. No wonder they find Trump so refreshingly different. Will they still feel the same way six months from now, when the first primaries are held?
I don’t know. But I suspect Trump will be better off if he directs most of his attacks against liberal policies and politicians — and not the hosts of Fox News or even his fellow Republicans. Do you agree?
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
–Chip Wood
The post Hey, Donald, enough of the attacks on Fox News appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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