INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Megyn Kelly’s Road To NBC News Paved By Donald Trump? [Opinion]

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 01:49 PST, Jan 4, 2017

Megyn Kelly has been a Fox News favorite for years, but many believe it was her notorious row with Donald Trump that made her a household name. Kelly is second in line to Bill O’Reilly when it comes to pulling in the viewers for Fox, but she offers the total package for any news channel. She is an extremely brilliant woman with the ability to offer an intelligent unscripted reply to most any question within a moment’s notice. She is not a woman who is easily stumped, as she has proven time and time again on her Fox show, The Kelly Files.

Many would also agree that Megyn Kelly is one of the few media personalities who was actually able to put Donald Trump in an uncomfortable position on live TV. Whether this is seen as an asset or an inappropriate event, she still took advantage of the situation during the Republican debate and made Trump look like a sitting duck with nowhere to turn. She has been known to stump the best of the best during an interview and with that said, her stunning good looks certainly do not hurt her on-air appeal.

For the last decade or so, Kelly was a small fish in a big pond in the news world, but that changed after she allegedly baited Donald Trump at the Republican debate. She was a popular Fox News personality for those who followed the cable news station, but if you were a fan of another network’s news, you probably never heard of her — that is, until she battled it out with Donald Trump. Bustle suggests that Kelly “experienced a new level of fame after questioning Donald Trump about some of his insulting comments about women during a Republican primary debate.”

It was immediately following that debate that Kelly took on a new image, almost like she was lining up as another opponent for Trump. This was something Trump didn’t need, as he already had his hands full at the time with a dozen Republican opponents who were all vying for the Republican ticket to the White House. This was a time when mud-slinging towards Trump was at its all-time high.

Kelly really stacked the odds against Trump, who was not only battling the other Republican candidates but the Democratic candidates as well. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were also going after him at the time, pulling apart his new fangled thoughts on politics. It was the setting of that Republican debate where it all started for Kelly after she was seen by some as taking advantage of Trump, who was not prepared for what was about to come.

Megyn Kelly’s mode of questioning started off more like a reprimand, as she came at Trump in a very serious tone of voice. It wasn’t until she finally injected a question into her long speech about Trump’s alleged insults towards women that he got to talk. As an Inquisitr article reports during that time, many in the media called her mode of questioning “more along the lines of an inquisition rather than an actual debate.” The media outlets finding fault in Kelly’s behavior at the debate included the “liberal-leaning New York Times.”

You could almost hear the loud crack as the nation’s population split in two when Kelly was done. There was one side praising Kelly for this hard jab at Trump and the other side emerged crying foul at Kelly’s moderating tactics. Megyn Kelly’s mega fame rose out of that deep gorge that opened up during the debate and split the nation’s viewers in two. Trump went immediately after Kelly, even putting her on the spot at the debate by telling her she wasn’t treating him very nicely. Out of this one debate, the Trump-Kelly feud was born, and for several months the he-said, she-said made headline news.

Back in August of 2015, many wondered if Kelly’s behavior at this debate would hurt her popularity with the Fox News fans. While there are some staunch Trump supporters who still harbor resentment over Kelly’s actions that night, she rose to national fame because of it. One has to wonder if she would have had all the different networks wooing her ahead of her Fox contract ending if not for her moderation tactics aimed at Trump that night.

Then came the day when that feud was put to rest, or at least it was put in a dormant state. Kelly was seen carrying the preverbal olive branch when she headed up to Trump’s home in his gilded tower back in April. The two sat down for a meeting that was described as “clearing the air.”

According to CNN Money back in April, “Trump’s intense dislike of Kelly — whom he has called unfair, overrated and even “crazy” — has been one of the subplots of his run for president.”

Many would agree that this subplot paved the way to world-wide fame and glory for the Fox News anchor.

Kelly is now headed over to NBC News with a new contract that has awarded her an undisclosed amount of money. Forbes suggests this contract will most likely make her the highest-paid female news anchor across the news networks. Fox put $20 million on the table to entice Kelly to stay, and despite reports that the other news networks couldn’t match that kind of money, Kelly jumped ship and sailed over to NBC for what they did offer her. According to Forbes, Kelly was offered much exposure on the network as she “will host a daytime news and talk show, anchor a Sunday night news show and work on special programming.”

Back when Kelly was rising to national fame, Donald Trump recognized that he did a lot for the ratings of Kelly’s show, and he wasn’t bashful to say so. Even if Kelly won’t admit that everything Trump touches seems to turn to gold, including her popularity, many other people do see this. Right after the debate, Kelly’s ratings were addressed by Trump as seen in the tweet below.

Will Kelly ever admit that it was Donald Trump who put her on the path to such world-wide fame, which opened the door for her to have her pick of all the different networks? Probably not. There is most likely not a thank you card in the future from Kelly to Trump for the boost to her career. In a round about way, Trump ended up paying for that boost long ago on that debate stage when it looked as though Kelly tried to hand Trump his head on a platter. Below, Megyn Kelly thanks her viewers for watching her on Fox.

[Featured Image by by Theo Wargo/Getty Images]

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