Bowing out the Jan. 28 Fox News Debate in Des Moines, Iowa, 69-year-old real estate mogul and former reality TV star Donald Trump put his foot down to 75-year-old Fox News President Roger Ailes, standing by Megyn Kelly. Kelly blindsided Trump in the Aug. 6, 2015 Fox News Debate in Cleveland, Ohio. Kelly took a cheap shot at Trump, itemizing his insulting remarks on his NBC Show “Celebrity Apprentice.” You called women “slobs,” “disgusting animals” and “fat pigs,” insisted Kelly, going after Trump for his alleged misogyny. After trading insults during and after the debate, Trump and Kelly haven’t stopped feuding. Trump would have gone to Fox News’ Jan. 28 debate before the Feb. 1 Iowa Caucuses had Ailes & Co. not hurled insults at Trump. “The Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president,” Tweeted Fox News.
Fox News never owned up to its bias against Trump, trying, together with the Republican National Committee, to derail his campaign. Upbraiding Trump after the Aug. 6 debate, Ailes laid out the blueprint for making peace with Fox News. No one at the RNC, certainly not 41-year-old Chairman Reince Priebus, questioned Fox News treatment of Trump. Had everything gone as planed, Trump wasn’t supposed to be leading all national polls by a wide margin. Hurling everything but the kitchen sink at Trump since that first Fox News debate, Trump dodged every bullet, letting every insult roll off his back. Today’s decision to bypass the Jan. 28 debate gave Trump’s rivals a last ditch attempt to attack the GOP front-runner. Speaking on I-Heart Radio’s most conservative show with host “Mark Levin,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), essentially called Trump a chicken.
Cruz doesn’t get, nor do the powers at Fox News, that Trump isn’t bought-and-paid for by Fox News. Ailes runs the network like a Mafia boss, believing he can intimidate GOP candidates into acquiescing to Fox News talking points on a host of conservative issues. Trump’s rejection of Fox News speaks volumes about his campaign’s success, not kowtowing to anyone, certainly not to former President George H. W. Bush’s old communication director. Trump’s acutely aware that the Fox News’ ratings are directly tied to his presence at the debate. Ailes knows, but won’t admit it, that losing Trump pulls the rug out from underneath the Jan. 28 debate. Trump’s decision to pass speaks volumes about a sea change where Fox News no longer controls the Republican Party. “Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic principles,” insisted Fox News.
Objective journalists know that Fox News stretches journalistic ethics to the breaking point, pretending to be independent of the Republican Party. Most, if not all, of Fox News hosts and pundits are rabidly anti-liberal, promoting, since its inception Oct. 7, 1996, a openly biased GOP and conservative agenda, despite insisting the network’s “fair-and-balanced.” Ailes can’t believe that anyone, like Trump, could challenge his power over conservative, GOP-approved news and commentary. “With me, they’re dealing with somebody that’s a little bit different. They can’t toy with me like they toy with everybody else,” said Trump, explaining his decision to pass on the Jan. 28 debate. “Let them have their debate and let’s see how they do with the ratings,” calling Ailes’ bluff. Giving other GOP candidates a chance to rip Trump one more time only exposes the Party’s sour grapes.
Trump’s earned the right as front-runner to ask Fox News honor his request to exclude Kelly. Going after Trump in the first debate, exposed Fox News’ agenda to harm Trump’s campaign. After taking the GOP’s best shots, the public wants Trump more than ever, mirroring recent polls showing him with double-digit leads over Cruz, his closest GOP rival. Insisting the debate would “go on with or without Mr. Trump,” Kelly showed she, and Fox News, are more interested in grandstanding than serving the public’s interest. Iowa voters want to see the GOP front-runner in action, not the Fox News host. Pitting her ego against Trump proves that it’s more important for Fox News to assert power than compromise. Honoring Trump’s request violates no one’s ethics. Plenty of past candidates have refused to deal with certain journalists in debates for a variety of reasons..
Calling Ailes’ bluff, Trump has nothing to lose and everything to gain boycotting the Jan. 28 debate. Making himself accessible for a fund-raiser for Veterans of Foreign Wars, Trump’s followers would rather see him speak at another rally than stand on stage with the GOP’s vanquished flock. “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,” Tweeted Fox News sarcastically, after learning about Trump’s decision to boycott the debate. No ethical news network plays tit-for-tat with politicians or anyone else. Ailes’ decision to ignore Trump’s request to have Kelly off the debate speaks volumes about his need for power. Letting his talk show hosts and pundits call Trump a chicken for not debating proves that Ailes’ bias against Trump was premeditated, designed to harm his campaign.
