Once again, let me state quite clearly that I do not support Trump. If he’s the eventual GOP presidential nominee, I’ll vote for him while holding my nose. He’s still better than anyone the Democrats might nominate, but, I trust him about as much as I trust Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, meaning, not much. That said, we know that Trump got in a spat with Fox News about having Megyn Kelly as a moderator, and decided to take his ball and go home for the night. So, how did Kelly respond? Well, right out of the box we get this
KELLY: So let’s get started.
Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let’s address the elephant not in the room tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening’s presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa?
You stay classy, Megyn. The other candidates have a chance to debate topics other than Donald Trump, topics of serious concern, yet, she decides to attempt to make this personal. Pathetic. And she continued on
KELLY: The divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that — your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican.
But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats’ bidding. Which is it?
Looks like Trump is living rent free in her head.
Much of the rest of the debate was an attempt by Kelly, Brett Baier, and Chris Wallace to create a food fight, rather than a substantive debate. Politico notes 10 moments, and many of them revolve around creating a fight between the candidates, and even John Kasich taking shots at Governor Rick Snyder.
Later, Cruz grumbled that Wallace seemed to be goading the other candidates on stage to attack him. “It is a debate” Wallace responded.
Then Cruz took an underhanded shot at the absent Trump. “If you guys ask one more mean question, I might have to leave the stage,” he joked.
This is serious business, and yet the moderators were attempting to create the Jerry Springer Show.
I agree with you concerning Donald Trump: he’s the last guy I’d want to see nominated. If he’s the nominee, I’ll hold my nose and vote for him, unless Pennsylvania is such a foregone conclusion that I can safely vote third party.
That said, he won last night’s debate, because his ‘boycott’ of the debate made it All About Donald!
To be realistic, the topic of Trump not being there had to be a addressed immediately so they could get right past it… and it was a pretty mild ‘bashing’, she knew the others would want to comment on it/him, and that they’d all agree with Fox that Trump’s absence was his loss- what else was she supposed to say/do to get it over with.
And she’s right anyway- Trump pussed out because he felt he had a lot more to potentially lose than gain in another confrontation with Ted Cruz
The GOP base loves that Trump
I had doubts about Trump and was leaning away from him, then he did this debate thing and won me over, also my wife who hates him. He indicated to the media that they are not the king maker and that he is willing to go it without them, that is impressive. We also learned that FOX news is just another liberal mouth piece, something I have been feeling for a few years.
Does this drive a stake through the heart of this evil banshee?
Trump will get trumpled in any one on one debate. He would be beyond an idiot to debate Cruz mano-y-mano or Clinton mano-y-womano.
Perhaps Trump is part of the liberal plot to destroy FOX “News”