Donald Trump’s Newest Enemy: Fox News

New York News & Politics ^ | August 7, 2015 | Gabriel Sherman

[onyx]

Having spent the past six weeks rhetorically slashing at his Republican rivals, it makes perfect sense that Donald Trump would eventually run out of targets and find himself in a war with the party’s media arm: Fox News. At the GOP primary debate Thursday night in Cleveland, Trump’s onstage clashes with the Fox moderators, and his postdebate complaints about the network’s treatment of him, were among the most talked-about story lines to emerge from the Quicken Loans Arena. What makes the confrontation all the more dramatic was that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes has, until this point, been a booster of the Trump candidacy, even to the chagrin of his boss, Rupert Murdoch. Whether Murdoch succeeded in turning Ailes against Trump, or not, the two-hour debate leaves little doubt that the relationship between the improbable front-runner and Fox has been upended.

It was a breakup days in the making. Over the past week, Ailes and his executives had been strategizing about how to deal with Trump. The prospect that the Donald could hijack the debate presented programming and political perils for both Ailes and his star anchors. What if Trump started insulting his GOP rivals onstage? Or broke the debate rules? During a meeting at Fox late last week, according to a source, senior Fox executives discussed a more worrisome scenario: What would happen if Trump won over the audience and moved the crowd to boo moderators Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace on live television? What if Trump was able to direct his base of supporters to stop watching Fox? To prevent that from happening, Ailes needed a way to keep the audience firmly on the side of his moderators.

This political calculus might help explain why Baier opened the debate by asking all of the candidates to raise their hands if there was a chance they would not support the eventual Republican nominee or run as a third-party spoiler. After a beat, Trump’s hand was the only one to go up. The packed crowd inside the Quicken Loans Arena instantly started booing him. Baier then tightened the noose by laying out all the implications for the audience.

“Mr. Trump, to be clear, you’re standing on a Republican primary debate stage,” Baier said.

“I fully understand,” Trump replied.

“The place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod.”

“I fully understand.”

“And that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can’t say tonight that you can make that pledge?”

“If I’m the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But — and I am discussing it with everybody, but I’m, you know, talking about a lot of leverage.”

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The audience howled and hissed. Trump glared back like he was negotiating a thorny contract dispute. Whether Ailes scripted this or not, it was a triumph. While Trump may see politics as a negotiation, Ailes surely knew that the thousands of Republicans packed into the stands do not. So far, Trump has succeeded by presenting himself as the anti-politician who would save the country. Tonight, he looked like a spoiler. It could be that the visual of Trump being denounced onstage will prove to be every bit as devastating as Rick Perry’s “oops” or Mitt Romney “self-deportation” gaffes from the 2012 primaries.

It continued downhill from there. A short while later, Kelly asked Trump about his history of calling women he didn’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” Baier came back at him about his onetime support for a single-payer “Canadian” health-care system. Chris Wallace invoked his multiple bankruptcies. “Why should we trust you to run the nation’s business?” Wallace asked. Trump did his best to parry the questions and fought admirably. But to Ailes’s loyal audience, the message stood out as clearly as Trump’s hair: Fox was through with Trump.

And Trump, for his part, seemed to be through with Fox. “I thought the questions were not nice,” he told a crush of reporters after the debate. “I don’t think they were appropriate, and I think Megyn behaved badly.”

It’s not like the aggressive Fox questioning should have been a surprise. In the days leading up to the debate, Trump’s advisers expected Fox to be tough, especially Kelly, whom Trump has tangled with in the past. Earlier this week I reported that Trump’s friend Rudy Giuliani reached out to Ailes to ask that Kelly be fair to Trump. (Giuliani denied this.) In a phone call with a friend the other day, Trump grumbled about Fox's on-air treatment of him. But even Trump’s campaign was taken aback by the intensity of the debate questions. Campaign lawyer Michael Cohen tweeted that it was a “total setup” designed to “lower #Trump2016 high poll numbers.” Another Trump adviser told me that the debate was “vicious” and a “hit job.”

It’s unclear what, ultimately, convinced Ailes to let his moderators go after Trump. He may have wanted to shoot first to prevent Trump from damaging Fox in a live situation, as they say in the business. Perhaps Murdoch got to Ailes. Or, perhaps, Ailes just wanted good television. (Fox did not respond to a request for comment.)

For Trump, whether this is a flesh wound or something deeper is also unclear. He’s surged to the top of the polls by winning every fight he’s picked so far. But for Trump's troubled campaign, Ailes could prove to be a tougher opponent than any he’s faced. After all, no other candidate controls the television network that reaches the biggest block of primary voters. Those are the kind of poll numbers that are tough to beat.

[Mariner]

"You think the GOPe and their Fox News minions are going to stand for Cruz either? Your hatred for Trump is blinding you to reality."

If they can take out Trump, woe unto the remainder of the field.

And, woe unto us. Not because he is going to be our savior as certainly his is not.

But, right now he is our most effective and powerful TOOL.

Donor class, Washington Cartel, Political Class...whatever you want to call the beast who's heart is in Washington DC MUST BE BROKEN.

For all of us here, we must make this the single imperative of this election cycle as we may never get another chance.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Because I think every non-felon adult citizen has a right to vote?

[Cheerio]

I have maintained for 40+ years that if you accept a ride in the wagon you give up your right to vote. ONCE RIDING IN THE WAGON YOU WILL FOREVER VOTE FOR THE PARTY HANDING OUT THE GOODIES.

The following quotation has been attributed to Tytler, although it has also been occasionally attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville:

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

[RKBA Democrat]

Women and men should have the ability to vote. And they should also have the wisdom, sense, and good taste to not do so.

I used to wonder why we as a society spend so much time, money, and effort on the electoral system. Then I realized, elections have less to do with the selection of leaders and more to do with societal control. It’s amazing what horrors and villainy people will tolerate so long as they get a tiny voice in deciding who implements it.

[Buttons12]

Now that’s a great photo that should go viral.

Yes!!

[exit82]

You cry like the only comfort goat in a Turkish prison.

LOL! I thought I had heard them all!

[ozzymandus]

Wow, you put your whole intellect into that one, didn’t you? I’m stupid? You’re stupid. Nyahh.

[caww]

Took it over to our wonderful Freep-a-thon folks who are masters at saving great works...

[montag813]

FoxNews has become THE enemy to conservatives. Thursday was full of hit jobs against conservative candidates ONLY - Trump, Cruz and Walker - and let the others go. Only Trump got the Wallace challenge on Mexico, and Rubio — WHO WROTE THE AMNESTY BILL — got a total pass, and 2 softballs from Facebook. That abortion “question” from Kelly to Walker was disgusting. I cannot stand that bitch, and will no longer watch her show.

[UglyinLA]

The initial reaction from Fox and the blowhard who does the focus groups was that the hit job on Trump was a success. The self congratulatory smirk on the face of Megyn and the old guy who’s face doesn’t move demonstrated that they felt she succeeded in destroy Trump. Wrong.

I have always left the TV on Fox whether I am watching or not. Today, I will not turn on Fox until maybe October. Well, maybe only to watch Hannity. but that’s it. no more fox in the morning or Megyn or OReilly in the evening.

[DoughtyOne]

I agree, and I’ll be damned if some FReepers are thrilled with it.

What a bunch of A-holes.

[entropy12]

Megyn though she would score points with the bosses by taking Trump down. The bosses want RINO’s to get the nomination. It is no more complicated than that.

What will Fox News bosses do if Trump’s polling goes higher in the next polls coming out? Will Megyn become more aggressive in the next debate on Fox News?

[entropy12]

Romney was not great on social issues, but compared to the current resident of WH who hates America, Romney most certainly did not hate America. Romney talked about self deporting illegals, if I remember correctly.

[fr_freak]

Irresponsible voters are the reason this country has fallen so far so fast. For example, how many people would vote for the various entitlement programs if the money to pay for it came out of their own pockets? That was the reason for the or5ginal voting rights restrictions in the US Constitution. Unfortunately, progressives, in order to get their ridiculous ideas through, knew they have to get more irresponsible voters on the rolls. Lowering the voting age to 18 was one way, because people are never so gullible and irresponsible as when they are young, and letting indigents vote was another, because people who can't succeed on their own are more likely to vote to screw those that can.

Finally, we have women. Frankly, women just have a different base psychology than men. In general, they will happily sacrifice liberty for security, and they instinctively vote to get themselves "free" resources as much as possible, which directly results in an all-powerful nanny state. Lastly, women are, unfortunately, much more prone to emotional manipulation, especially by a politician they find "sexy". The progressives/Marxists recognized long ago that the key to getting their agenda passed was women voting. That's a fact. It probably is unrealistic to believe that we'll get rid of women's suffrage now, but we can still learn our lesson for the rebuild after we collapse.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Romney would have given us RomneyCare. Now we have SCOTUScare. If I must be betrayed, I’d rather be betrayed by an enemy than a friend. I will never vote for a liberal Republican, ESPECIALLY on social issues.

[entropy12]

Have you taken the time and trouble to study Romneycare?

If you have, please tell me what is the penalty for not signing up for Romneycare?

Yes this is a quiz for people who compare 2 different things without knowing the details.

[crager]

There it is... Best post after reading many many others.

Do you think Trump knows this and won’t kneel or back down to them?

[gleeaikin]

Don’t worry about a woman taking him down, plenty of men are competing for the “honor”. And as for his nasty comments about Rosy, he has plenty of respect for some women like one of his ex-wives who he put in charge of his Atlantic City casino with strong praise. Meanwhile here is an MSM take on the debate, with over 1000 comments from broad cross section of viewers. Interesting to compare with views here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/06/winners-and-losers-from-the-first-republican-presidential-debate/

[timestax]

[AnthonySoprano]

Anyone recall Barack Obama's comments after Sarah Palin's hockey mom joke about, the difference being "lipstick?"

He said, you can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig.

And he compared her to a STINKING OLD FISH.

The Media Loved it! And the crowd went wild.

Palin had used the term Change, and she had just rocked the convention wirh a stirring speech and the Lipstick joke.

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called 'change,'" Obama continued, "it's still gonna stink after eight years."