Trump Is Taking His Ball And Going Home, Pulling Out Of The Final Republican Debate Because Fox Won't Replace Megyn Kelly

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa —  Donald J. Trump and Fox News, the candidate who has reordered the Republican presidential race and the cable network of choice for many of the party’s voters, stared each other down on Tuesday over his demand that the news anchor Megyn Kelly be dumped from moderating Thursday’s debate, the last before Monday’s caucuses.

The network did not blink. So Mr. Trump walked.

Mr. Trump’s announcement here that he would “probably,” or would “most likely,” or was “pretty close to” irrevocably planning to skip the debate — an aide put it more directly — created a gaping uncertainty at the center of the Republican nominating contest just as it was formally about to begin in Iowa.

It was the most intense confrontation yet between two mutually dependent but increasingly antagonistic powerhouses of media and politics. Mr. Trump, who has made the presidential race into a riveting television spectacle, was overtly exploiting the ratings leverage his candidacy has created to try to bend Fox News to his will.

“Let’s see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me,” he said at a news conference here. Fox News said Mr. Trump’s refusal to debate his rivals was “near unprecedented.” “This is rooted in one thing — Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August and has now spent four days demanding be removed from the debate stage,” the network said in a statement.

On her program Tuesday night, Ms. Kelly observed that “what’s interesting here is Trump is not used to not controlling things, as the chief executive of a large organization.”

“But the truth is, he doesn’t get to control the media,” she added. Mr. Trump’s animus toward Ms. Kelly dates to August, in the first presidential primary debate, when she questioned him about his past comments denigrating women. Afterward, he suggested that Ms. Kelly had been angry at him, so much so that she had blood pouring out of her “wherever” — a remark many saw as a reference to menstruation.

In the months since, Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized Ms. Kelly as a “third-rate” reporter. And as Thursday’s debate approached, Mr. Trump began disparaging Ms. Kelly as if he were a prizefighter promoting a rematch. He called her dishonest, accused her of bias and a conflict of interest, and said flat-out that he did not like her.

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I will kill ISIS, I will handle Putin, I will build a huge wall, but oh my God the blonde lady from Fox is mean to me, no thanks. Is that what happened here? I mean part of me respects Trump for taking his ball and going home. If you can be a professional baby and get away with it (read, be very very rich) then have at it. But are we really talking about Megyn Kelly being mean to you, dude? What the fuck? You can’t do big bad Trump and stuff Rand Paul into a locker and wedgie Jeb Bush in front of America then cry when Megyn Kelly tries to push you around the debate ring. What the hell even is that? Grow up dude. If you can debate or lead or deal with anyone, do it. Stand up to Megyn Kelly. Do it. And all of these things are basically fake anyway. As we learned yesterday from the joke of the Democrat Town Hall meeting, none of this is real, it’s all for show. Just do the debate and deal with Megyn Kelly, you look like a real pussy otherwise.

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Loved this tweet. I won’t call her a bimbo only because I can’t but I just did so now you know.

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He seriously is Dave. You’re electing Dave President. I love Dave, he invented the blogging game, but President? Can’t believe he hasn’t started #GoTrumpGo.