Fox News Just Saved Donald Trump Campaign From Taking A Massive Hit
Fox News has emerged as the No. 1 enemy of the Donald Trump campaign following a contentious week in which Trump decided to boycott their second hosted debate and counter-host a rally for United States Armed Forces veterans at the same time.
For years, the network has been sometimes-fairly and sometimes-unfairly criticized as a “research arm” of the Republican party, as evidenced in this recent piece from the Washington Post.
Of course, the same could be said of the majority of non-Fox-affiliated American newspapers and television stations for the Democratic party since at least the 1990s, but I digress.
Anyhow, Fox News released a surprisingly snarky and unprofessional press release when Donald Trump began to publicly consider dropping the debate appearance due to moderator Megyn Kelly.
Included in the press release was the following.
“We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — 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.”
In the first debate, Kelly targeted Trump with a question that implied he had sexist views toward all women and not just a couple of women with whom he’d had disputes in the past.
The question ignored women with whom Trump has entrusted his various businesses, even his presidential campaign, over the years as well as his support of Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion activities in an all-too-frequent display of moderator-stealing-the-spotlight.
The question was inarguably a leading one and, at the worst, possessed a phrasing that lacked basic journalism ethics. Naturally, Trump took issue, though his response managed to win additional support from the far-right wing of the party in spite of the Fox News host’s efforts.
Following that incident, Trump’s poll numbers swung upward and have continued to grow ever since, which I touched on in a recent piece for Inquisitr.
But here’s the thing.
Fox News had Donald Trump right where they wanted him. “The Donald” had taken to social media to ask his followers whether he should drop the debate because of Megyn Kelly. It was a questionable move that allowed opponents to crack jokes about how big bad Donald was afraid of the mean lady lawyer.
If the network had left well enough alone and allowed Trump to do things his way, that could have played to his supporters as childish and insecure more than anything he’s done so far.
But then, Fox News gave him the out.
When the press release hit, Trump was able to backtrack his comments and play it like he was only “considering” dropping the debate because of Kelly. The PR gave him appropriate ammunition to make it about how childish Fox News was being towards him instead of the other way around.
It also gave him a chance to refine the narrative surrounding his decision to drop out, thus keeping the macho aura alive. Then last but not least, he was able to counterattack with a surefire cause to further bolster his supporters’ opinion of him.
Fox News opened up all of that to Trump because it couldn’t resist the opportunity to send out that press release, and now they are paying the price for it.
FOX debate advertising rates falling like a rock! Tune into my special event for the Veterans at 9pm EST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
The “debate” tonight will be a total disaster – low ratings with advertisers and advertising rates dropping like a rock. I hate to see this.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
But what do you think, readers?
Did Donald Trump win the exchange with Fox News, and if so, will it be enough to secure the Republican nomination? Sound off in the comments section below.
[Image via a katz/Shutterstock.com]
