Trump abruptly withdraws from Fox debate in Iowa

Another example of his petulance which does not bode well for a President.

Trump abruptly withdraws from Fox debate in Iowa

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly withdrew from a debate with party rivals this week out of anger at host Fox News , leaving the last encounter before Iowa's first-in-the-nation nominating contest without the front-runner.

Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told reporters after a combative news conference held by the candidate that Trump would definitely not be participating in the debate scheduled for Thursday.

During the news conference before he addressed a large crowd in Marshalltown, Iowa, Trump expressed irritation that Fox News planned to leave in place as a moderator the anchor Megyn Kelly, whose questioning of Trump at a debate last August angered him.

He also expressed displeasure at a Fox News statement on Monday night saying Trump would have to learn sooner or later that "he doesn’t get to pick the journalists" and that "we’re very surprised he’s willing to show that much fear about being questioned by Megyn Kelly.”

"I was all set to do the debate, I came here to do the debate. When they sent out the wise-guy press release done by some PR person along with (Fox News Chairman) Roger Ailes, I said: 'Bye bye, OK'"

"Let's see how much money Fox makes without me in the debate," he added.

Trump's blunt-speaking candidacy has boosted ratings for the Republican presidential debates. The August debate on Fox News drew 24 million viewers, a record for a presidential primary debate and the highest non-sports telecast in cable TV history.

His boycott will leave Thursday's debate without the leader in the crowded Republican field not only in Iowa but nationally. Ahead of Iowa's caucuses next Monday, Trump leads in the polls over Texas Senator Ted Cruz, whom Trump dismissed as a "nasty guy" who "nobody likes."

A boycott could prove risky for Trump as Iowa Republicans seek to take one more look at who they want as their presidential candidate for the Nov. 8 election. Rivals like Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson could reap the benefits.

But Trump, a billionaire businessman and former reality TV star said he would hold a competing event to raise money for U.S. military veterans.

Trump has been engaged in a public spat with Fox News since the network hosted the first debate and Kelly asked Trump about his treatment of woman, prompting a stream of insults from the candidate.

At the news conference on Tuesday , Trump was introduced by Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has sought tougher measures against illegal immigrants.

"Everything I believe in he's doing and he's going to do it as president," said Arpaio.

Trump, pressed on his plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and deport many illegal immigrants, defended his proposal and said he would be able to persuade the U.S. Congress to go along with his plan.

"Let's see how much money Fox makes without me in the debate," he added.

Trump's blunt-speaking candidacy has boosted ratings for the Republican presidential debates. The August debate on Fox News drew 24 million viewers, a record for a presidential primary debate and the highest non-sports telecast in cable TV history.

His boycott will leave Thursday's debate without the leader in the crowded Republican field not only in Iowa but nationally. Ahead of Iowa's caucuses next Monday, Trump leads in the polls over Texas Senator Ted Cruz, whom Trump dismissed as a "nasty guy" who "nobody likes."

A boycott could prove risky for Trump as Iowa Republicans seek to take one more look at who they want as their presidential candidate for the Nov. 8 election. Rivals like Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson could reap the benefits.

But Trump, a billionaire businessman and former reality TV star said he would hold a competing event to raise money for U.S. military veterans.

Trump has been engaged in a public spat with Fox News since the network hosted the first debate and Kelly asked Trump about his treatment of woman, prompting a stream of insults from the candidate.

At the news conference on Tuesday , Trump was introduced by Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has sought tougher measures against illegal immigrants.

"Everything I believe in he's doing and he's going to do it as president," said Arpaio.

Trump, pressed on his plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and deport many illegal immigrants, defended his proposal and said he would be able to persuade the U.S. Congress to go along with his plan.

http://news.yahoo.com/trump-abruptly-withdraws-fox-debate-iowa-011258535--finance.html

Or as I have postulated before, does he really not want this and is looking for a way out?

 

Trump is making a big mistake.

 

It will be very interesting to see how this strategy plays out for Drumpf.

 

The man is nothing but hot air and he has no stomach for debate. Which, if nominated, will be destroyed by substance from either Clinton or Sanders. He cuts deals, he doesn't debate substance. He wings everything without a plan. The man is a walking disaster.

 

I hope he does pull out. Someone needs to poke out the eyes of the blind media. Kelly puked on him without warning and without cause. When the debate mods start grilling Old Cankles on why she has repeatedly called women bimbos, and in fact, called their complaints Bimbo Eruptions, it will be deemed fair game. 'Til then, nope.

I giggle with glee at Trump's puking back on Kelly. She deserves it.

 

Poor Kelly.

What's Fox News Channel going to do now ?

I bet they are reading Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal."

To understand Trump you have to read the "Art of the Deal."

Fox can go Obama and throw Kelly under the bus or make a deal, compromise. Fox will offer a deal to Trump that Kelly will provide a note from three doctors confirming that Kelly isn't on her period this Thursday night.

Trump will up the demands that blood hounds be on stage to sniff out any flowing blood.

 

Everything about this election cycle continues to surprise me. We'll see if this hurts Trump, helps Trump, or makes no difference.

 

He actually did well in the last debate and OK in the previous. And no he will either Clinton or Sanders if it gets to that. There have been no Democrat debates just Democrat lovefest.

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ROFL FOX doesn't need to do anything, they don't need Trump but Trump may very well need them.

 

Trump has to have everything his way or no way. Sort of reminds me of Senator's Reid and McConnell, my way or the highway approach. But this may be a good thing for the other candidates. It gives them air time and a free hand in attacking Trump without any rebuttal from him. At least on the air. You can be sure his twitter account will be busy.

It his decision, he will either reap benefits from it or it will harm him by letting others finally get some spot light time.

 

And the Trump slogans of cutting deals and surrounding himself with great people, sound more like a sales pitch coming from a Mafiosa boss, than a serious presidential candidate. The man is a total joke. And anyone with any common sense knows that.

 

It all comes down to making a profit and FNC/FBC have been making a whole lot of money from the Republican debates where as nobody is making any money from the Democrat debates because who the Democrats have running, a lying felon and a socialist, two burned out hippies from the sixties who's brains are so fried from LSD trips during the sixties they don't know it's time to move on in life and just fade away.

 

What some are saying, if Trump doesn't show up, the debate will still be all about Trump.

 

He was probably fearing a moderator ambush i.e. her throwing what he has said in his face out of spite. I don't think this really hurts him that much. The media stories will be more "Trump pouts" than "Bush's amnesty program". It will still keep the others off the front page which is all he really needs to do at this point until the field narrows.

 

There are three active threads on three different PF forums all with the same topic, Trump dumps FNC.

Is there a PF mod available to combine all three threads into one thread ?

 

He is just threatening !!

 

Absolutely. Kinda hard to portray yourself as a manly conservative when you're scared of a girl...

 

Exactly. If the pundits are right, Trump needs to be taken down in either Iowa or New Hampshire or he will sail to the nomination. I am not sure they are right. But by skipping the nomination, every other candidate is free to say whatever they want about Trump. Trump leads in Nevada and South Carolina and in every Super Tuesday/SEC primary state that has had a poll done within the last couple of months.

Skipping the debate because he has a hard one on for Kelly, may help him or it may be the beginning of a reversal. Who knows, his decision.

 

You really think he has no stomach for debate? The talking head class seem to think that on the last debate, it was his best performance. I'm sure Trump debating either Clinton or Sanders would be worth watching, and considering how Trump made Clinton back off, I think she has more to worry about than him.

That said, I don't understand this strategy at all. Skipping the debate when he's so close in Iowa with just a few days to go seems foolish. On the other hand, he's made all kinds of decisions that have paid off that people said were stupid, so this may be part of a deep strategy.

I'll have to check Scott Adams blog to find out what he thinks Trump is up to.

 

It will help him immensely. The MEDIA is part of the problem. A Big Part!

Go, Trump!

 

But Trump has a smart phone and a Twitter account.

Trump always tweets stupid things that would end anyone elses run for political office but when it comes to Trump tweeting, he just keeps going up in the polls.

 

So he is a girly man. ???

 

I agree. Not showing up, sends a weird message to his base.

As for best performance, talking down, by out condescending your opponents is not really serious debating, but he did win in that category. When it comes to detailed policy changes and how they will be implemented when asked by serious people, he will have so many "oh my God what do I say now moments", he won't be able to keep up. You can only go so far with "cutting deals" and "surrounding himself with good people". He sounds more like a guy auditioning for a spot playing the role of the president in the movie "Idiocracy II" than a real president.

 

It also is important to remember that FOX is a for-profit corporation and recall what they did in the last Presidential Republican primary.
One after another, Fox would build up a candidate, get viewers over the exciting of someone rushing up in the polls for a few weeks until #1. Then Fox would declare a scandal about that candidate blowing the candidate away and off the map - building up another.

In that method, Fox systematically built and destroyed every Republican candidate, leaving only Romney, the Republican to the furthest left. Fox did this in the prior election, systematically building and destroying every Republican candidate, leaving then McCain - again the Republican to the furthest left.

The goal of Fox as been clear. Now? To incessantly try to break Trump, to endlessly declare everything he says and does is a scandal, that he is a despicable person. Fox wants to go thru the pack, to lead to the Republicans most on the left. The last couple weeks Fox has diverted to instead wanting to destroy Cruz - so the others can unite with Fox against Trump.

This may have been Trump's only real play, and he may not have had any good one. Aires of Fox does NOT want Trump to be the Republican nominee. He wants Bush. So incessantly Fox talking heads are trying to tear Trump down for their employer of their multi-million dollar jobs. The only hope Trump has is that people realize that the media - all of it is 1.) only in it for the corporate money and 2.) the media IS THE ESTABLISHMENT. Things are as THE MEDIA has made it to be. Because people are sheeple and believe the media when it tells them what to think, do, drink, eat, what is funny, what is bad - everything.

Trump has to hope people can not be totally controlled by the media. But that is likely impossible for anyone. The media does control society and the media is the establishment.

 

I can't really blame him. If you watch her show she is definitely biased. MSNBC treats Trump more fairly than Kelly.

 

Trump is unique, I read an article which I can't find on Trump. It was talking about why conservatives like Trump. It said Trump is not a conservative, he is not an ideologue, that is why conservatives like him. I am still trying to make sense of that.