Tonight will be the last Republican debate before the Iowa Caucus, but the GOP candidate that is leading in most polls will not be on stage. Donald Trump has decided that he will not be n participating in the debate; instead he will be hosting a benefit to raise money for Veterans, this was revealed via his Twitter account on Tuesday.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016
The reason for Donald Trump opting not to take the stage has to do with “Fox News” overseeing and Megyn Kelly being a moderator. The first debate that featured both left a bad taste in Trump’s mouth, due to a heated exchange between Trump and Kelly that has resulted in an ongoing fued. The tiff has snowballed into Trump refusing to do any interviews on the network.
Trump camp manager @CLewandowski_ confirms to WaPo that Trump is “definitely not” participating in Fox New debate. “His word is his bond.”
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) January 26, 2016
Should I do the #GOPdebate? https://t.co/cjTywwIl85
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2016
Not to be without his own assertions for the Republican party, Rush Limbaugh went on a tirade on his show Wednesday.
Limbaugh said,”Okay, where are we on the situation here with Trump and the debate? So far Trump says he’s not showing up. He claims he’s not showing up because Megyn Kelly is going to continue to be a moderator. And if you believe that, I can give you substantive reasons. And it’s all in The Art of the Deal. Trump is not that hard to understand if you pay attention to him and read his books. In The Art of the Deal, one of the things that he makes a huge deal about is being able to know when to walk away and have the guts and the courage to do it.”
He continued, stating “Trump is so far outside the formula that has been established for American politics that people who are inside the formula can’t comprehend it. They don’t understand why somebody would want to venture so far outside it, because it is what it is, and there’s a ladder of success that you have to climb. And somebody challenging it like this in more ways than one, as Trump is doing, has just got everybody experiencing every kind of emotion you can: They’re angry, they are flabbergasted, they’re shocked, they’re stunned — and all of it because he’s leading.”
Trump decided to enter the “No Spin Zone,” sat down via satellite with Bill O’ Reilley. Never one to shy away from confrontation, O’ Reilley tried telling Trump he was making a mistake,
“You’re running for president. I believe you want to improve the country. I believe that personally,
y
ou lose an opportunity to persuade people that you are a strong leader.”
Later on in the interview the quabble with Kelly and Trump came up:
“Kelly’s question was within journalistic bounds,” O’Reilly said after saying that he would have asked a similar question had he moderated the debate. “In your Christian faith, there is a very significant tenet. And that’s the tenet of forgiveness, And I think you should forgive not only journalists who come at you in ways you don’t like, but I think you should be the bigger man and say, ‘You know what? I didn’t like it. … But I’m not going to take any action against it.’ Don’t you think that’s the right thing to do?”
Trump’s response, “It probably is. But it’s called an ‘eye for an eye,’ I guess, also. You can look at it that way,”
It is hard to recall the leading party candidate opting not to participate in a debate, but then again we should not be surprised by anything that Donald Trump is up to. Harboring grudges, insulting women and minorities, claiming he could shoot someone without losing support, kicking puppies, stealing candy from babies…. Ok, I can not confirm the last two on that list.
What we can anticipate, is that tonight those whom associate closest to the ideals of the GOP will get their message out and they won’t have to worry about Donald Trump interrupting.
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