According to New York Magazine, Donald Trump thought that skipping tomorrow's Fox News debate would both send a signal that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are not serious contenders and stick it to Fox at the same time.
Gabriel Sherman wrote yesterday morning:
According to a highly placed source familiar with the matter, Trump's thinking was that he could send a powerful signal that he no longer considers Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio credible rivals for the nomination. Bowing out of the Fox News debate would have the added bonus of sticking it to the channel's chief, Roger Ailes, and star anchor Kelly by depriving them of the ratings. "Why give them the audience?" the source explained. The last Fox debate without Trump pulled in 12.5 million viewers, down 50 percent from the first GOP debate.
When I called Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks last night to ask about this, she said Trump will "definitely" attend Thursday's debate. My source later explained that Trump changed his mind because he wanted to maintain the element of surprise.
You may recall that Trump pulled out of the last Fox News debate very shortly before it happened, though he had started balking a few days before.
Will Megyn Kelly ask Trump tough questions tomorrow night or will she pull her punches? Will there be fireworks between these two nemeses? And will Marco Rubio and/or Ted Cruz join in? What happens tomorrow night and with whom is anybody’s guess.
Caricature of Donald Trump by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license.
While time limits make most policy issues superficial sound bites, at least there are policy questions. Enter Der Furor who proves he has almost no grasp of policy but he’s great at mouthing off to work a crowd.
That’s why his fans love him. It’s the anti-politically correct crowd tired of respecting non-whites. So when Klandidate Donald Trump unloads a bunch of bigoted and inaccurate smears of “Mexicans” they’re ecstatic. Forget The Donald has trashed our relationship with Mexico so badly their president is literally cursing the guy. That’s just more proof to the Archie Bunkers he’s their guy. 👍
There’s no way to take down the guy. Because no criticism of him will ever stick since his fans are turned on, not off, by his nastiness, bigotry (though they rationalize it as not being politically correct), and hijinks. The only hope is Republicans turned off by his vitriol will stay home. Unfortunately, most would vote for Satan as long as he’s registered GOP.
Can uninspiring Hillary woo enough independents to her cause? Keeps me up at night. 😉