Trump THREATENS To SKIP Debate Over Megyn Kelly!! Then Says He’ll Go… Then Says Maybe Not…
Well we knew it was coming – el Trumpo is vaguely threatening to skip the next GOP debate if Fox News doesn’t through Megyn Kelly under his campaign bus and cut her from the hosting panel.
Here’s his meandering blather:
.@realDonaldTrump suggests he may skip Fox debate if @MegynKelly isn’t fair https://t.co/KrzCfEHISH https://t.co/g8NbtTKbIF
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) January 25, 2016
In the transcript from CNN, it doesn’t get any less muddy:
Donald Trump said he would consider skipping this Thursday’s Republican primary debate if he doesn’t get fair treatment from Fox anchor Megyn Kelly — an apparent attempt to influence moderators at the final GOP debate before Iowa.
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday, Trump continued to badmouth the Fox News host who had challenged him during the first Republican showdown last August.
“I don’t like her. She doesn’t treat me fairly. I’m not a big fan of hers at all,” Trump said.
He then added, “I’d like to go to the debate… But, we’ll see what happens. It’ll be exciting.”
When asked by Blitzer if he hadn’t decided “100 percent” that he’d go to Thursday night’s debate, the Republican frontrunner again suggested he may skip.
“They’ll see, if I think I’m going to be treated unfairly, I’ll do something else,” Trump said. “But I don’t think she can treat me fairly actually. I think she’s very biased and I don’t think she can treat me fairly.”
Trump then appeared to walk back his statement: “That doesn’t mean I don’t do the debate. I like doing the debates. I’ve won every single debate according to every poll,” he said. “So, I want to the debates, they’re good for me. But, I don’t think she can treat me fairly and I’m not a big fan of hers. Maybe I know too much about her.”
Trump’s remarks about Kelly come just days after he tweeted that she “should not be allowed” to moderate the debate because of her “conflict of interest and bias.”
Yeah. No clue.
But maybe this is part of his strategy. If he’s trying to scare Fox News into cutting Megyn without committing to it, then he can declare victory if they back down.
If they don’t, he doesn’t have to concede that he lost.
So here’s what I think Cruz or Rubio should do to cut this off at the knees – call his bluff and make a threat to skip the debate if Fox follows through with his demand to sit Megyn Kelly down. Trump knows he’s in a precarious position in Iowa – he needs that debate stage. He won’t skip it. If he was sure of it, he’d be much more aggressive. This way Rubio or Cruz are able to stand up to the bully, take away his win, and declare a win when they keep Kelly in.
But then maybe that’s why I haven’t run a campaign since the 1960s.
