Donald Trump
While other Republican presidential candidates were making their final pitches before Iowa voters caucus on Monday at Fox News’ undercard and primetime debates in Des Moines, GOP front-runner Donald Trump was across town soaking up the spotlight at his own “special event” to benefit veterans, joined by his White House rivals Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.
MORE…
The event was broadcast by CNN, CBS and YouTube here, here and here.
Trump refused to participate in the prime-time Fox debate in protest of what he says was unfair treatment by Fox News executives, and the bias of moderator Megyn Kelly during the first debate six months ago.
Trump publicly suggested Fox boot Kelly as co-moderator, and Fox issued a mocking press release on Tuesday that questioned Trump’s toughness. Trump cited the statement in announcing his boycott later that day.
Shortly afterward, Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, invited other television networks to live stream Trump’s competing event at an arena at Drake University – a fundraiser for veterans hastily thrown together after Tuesday’s withdrawal – predicting it would attract higher ratings than the debate.
“People that are going to caucus for Trump – it doesn’t matter if he’s here or not,” state Rep. Mike Sexton, co-chairman of the Calhoun County Republican Party, told Politico. “They are just dedicated to this guy, and they’re going to caucus for him.”
But others claimed Trump’s refusal to participate in the debate wasn’t sitting well with Iowa voters.
“They are disappointed,” Heather Stancil, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Madison County, told the news site. “People I’m talking to think it was a bad decision.”
On Wednesday evening, Fox News pollster Frank Luntz posted a Twitter poll asking users whether they intended to watch Trump’s event or the Republican debate. With roughly 5,000 votes cast, respondents chose Trump’s event over the debate by a 2-to-1 margin.
A Monmouth University Poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers released Tuesday shows Trump still dominating his rivals. The billionaire earned 30 percent support compared to 23 percent for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Huckabee garners 3 percent and Santorum does not crack 1 percent.
Reuters had reported that Trump was predicting a “total disaster” for the debate.
“Low ratings with advertisers and advertising rates dropping like a rock. I hate to see this.”
Huckabee had tweeted an invitation for fans to join him.
“After the #GOPDebate I’ll join @realDonald Trump in Des Moines to support our vets who’ve been abandoned by @BarackObama,” he tweeted. “Hope you’ll join us.”
John Brabender, Santorum’s top strategist, told the New York Times his boss was honored to “help support our veterans.”
Fox CEO Roger Ailes and talk-show host Bill O’Reilly both tried to get Trump to reconsider his decision to forego the debate to no avail.
At issue was the decision by the network to release a press release on Tuesday that mocked the Republican front-runner.
“We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president,” Fox’s statement read. “A nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”
When O’Reilly asked Trump to “forgive” and appear at the debate, the billionaire said there must be consequences for “the stupidity of Fox and what they did.”
The Hill also reported on Trump’s dissatisfaction with Kelly at the first debate.
“I have zero respect for Megyn Kelly,” Trump said. “I don’t think she’s good at what she does and I think she’s highly overrated. And, frankly, she’s a moderator; I thought her question last time was ridiculous.”
Trump’s decision to let Fox fend for itself on the debate stage brought all sorts of ripple effects. One was that two Super PACS for Cruz pledged to pay $1.5 million for military veterans’ causes if only Trump would agree to a one-on-one debate with the senator in Iowa before the end of the weekend.
As ABC News reported, Cruz elaborated on the deal, saying: “We’ll do 90 minutes, Lincoln Douglas, mano a mano. Donald and me. He can lay out his vision for this country, and I can layout my vision for this country in front of the men and women of Iowa.”
Trump’s campaign turned down the offer, albeit with a caveat.
“If he’s the last man standing and it comes down to a two-person race, Donald Trump will be happy to debate him,” the campaign said in a statement to ABC News.
Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and one-time high-polling presidential primary contender, put out a tweet that raised the debating stakes for Trump even higher.
“My campaign will also donate $1.5 million to veterans’ cause to join debate Saturday night in Sioux City,” she wrote, in reference to Cruz’s posed challenge, the Hill found.
Joining Kelly on the moderators’ stage were Bret Baier and Chris Wallace – the same ones from the contentious Aug. 6 event watched by 24 million viewers.
Talk-radio powerhouse Rush Limbaugh commented of Trump, “‘Screw the rules,’ he’s saying. ‘Why should I willingly give them another shot at me? In a circumstance they control, why should I do it? What’s the sense in it for me? I’m leading. I’m running the pack here. Why in the world should I put myself in that circumstance? I’ve already seen what’s gonna happen.’”
Also at the Fox event were expected several YouTube “stars” to ask questions. Those included illegal alien “Dulce Candy,” who came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1994, and anti-Trump Muslim activist Nabela Noor, who supports Democratic Party candidate Bernie Sanders.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/trump-on-center-stage-at-veterans-rally/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/trump-on-center-stage-at-veterans-rally/
No comments:
Post a Comment